Ampersand Pastelboard Trial - Finale

I've finished my pastelboard painting of orchids and now have it framed. While, I'm not sure I like the frame, I LOVE how easy it was to frame the board. I like the look of unmatted pastel paintings, to me it gives them more a look of an oil. With the pastelboard, all I had to do was put Ecnospace spacers on the glass, but the board on the spacers and close up the frame. How easy is that? The money that I spend on the extra cost of the board, I more than made up for in not having to purchase conservation matboard and mounting, not to mention the time saved in cutting the mats. So all in all, I rate the Ampersand pastelboard an A. Its easy to use, blends very nicely, can frame up without mats and the pastels go down well on it. The downsides are the cost, and the fact that it is very easy to get groves and lines in the board (from the labels or from very minor rubbing). You've got to be a lot more careful with this board that you'd think. But these grooves can be filled in with pastel, and in my mind, the positives can far outway the negatives.


Frametek econospacers can be purchased at Framing Supplies or from Frametek Direct. They are adhesive backed. All you need to do is peel off the adhesive and stick it on the glass, in the rabbet of the frame. It comes in quite a few different sizes and definitely makes framing pastels much easier, as it gives you the extra space necessary so that any loose pastel dust falls to the bottom of the frame, rather than on the glass.


I then put the Pastelboard against the spacers and closed the back of the frame. Pretty darn easy.

Copyright 2008 by Just Plain Pix                                                                       Contact us at:  info@justplainpix.com