p.1 #1 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
I like to display some of my photographs by putting them in mats and then placing them in different places around my home, I rotate the images shown to keep the viewing fresh, and I also change where I place them. This works well for me and other people like it also. It helps the photographs to really be seen.
I have been buying precut mats to do this, but I have begun to wonder whether I should start to cut my own mats, which would give me more choice over sizes and framing of the photos. I probably would stick with white mats, but I might sometimes introduce a subtle color.
I am thinking about buying a mat cutter, which range very broadly in price and vary somewhat in size.
What I don't know is how difficult it is to cut a mat so that it actually looks good. I am concerned that the mat cutter would ber too difficult to use well when it is only used occasionally and that it would become a piece of clutter in my office and workspace.
I would appreciate some insight from anyone with experience with cutting mats and with mat cutters.
Also, any recommendations on which mat cutters work well would be welcomed.
p.1 #2 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
I have a Logan matte cutter and have been cutting my own mattes which allows me the freedom to choose different print sizes. It does take a bit of detailed work to get proficient cutting mattes so you’ll waste some matte learning. The biggest issue is the space required to cut and store the mattes. I get uncut sheets in 32x40 sizes and these need to be stored somewhere and you’ll also need a large surface where you can cut the sheets with the cutter. There can also be substantial wastage with odd sized mattes as you try to get the most out of a 32x40 sheet.
Personally if the mattes are just for hanging prints in your house, I’d just stick to standard sizes and order them already cut to size.
p.1 #3 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
I just started cutting mats in the past year or two. I had avoided it because I thought it would be a hassle and frustrating. I'm not someone who deals well with putting things together with precision. However, I just watched the Logan tutorial video, bought the cheapest mat cutter (301 push style) and it's been much easier than expected. Hardest part was squaring the bar.
I'm only cutting 4-ply but it's not a problem at all. For smaller size mats (e.g. 11x14), I just buy them in bulk from a place that uses an automated cutter. No way to beat their price and convenience. The real benefit is for larger mats which are more expensive to order and costly to ship. I buy my mats in size 32x40 from a local wholesale company that delivers by truck (for free if you meet the minimum order of around $100 which comes out to about 10 mats).
p.1 #4 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
Cutting mats really stresses me out because I worry about making an error and sheets of mat board are pretty expensive if you get the high quality boards. When I needed mats for an exhibit, I ordered them from Matboard Plus (https://www.matboardplus.com/). They have custom sizes and standard sizes. Reasonable prices and I was very happy with the products. I ordered a folder containing samples of the matboard so that I could see the colors/ranges of white and choose from those. It worked out really well.
I do have a Logan mat cutter and used that for cutting the backing boards, which was easy.
p.1 #5 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
I decided to use my local frame shop for occasional mat cutting: they use a professional-grade cutter and the results are perfect. They can also help you choose the style of mat and framing from the many options, especially if you want to go beyond the (often sterile) black frame and plain white mat. Some will negotiate a price for higher quantities.
p.1 #6 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
I'm not an expert. All I can tell you is my experience. Many years ago, I purchased an expensive matte cutter to prepare for an exhibit. It was at a library, so nothing fancy, but I felt I had to do a nice job cutting them. I can tell you there was a bit of skill involved - very careful measuring, hold your hand just so making the cut. If you failed to hold your hand just so, the cut cut would wander, mostly in the corners. If I let some months go by without cutting mattes, I'd waste some boards relearning. Well, my wife thought she'd like to try it. We were at an art fair and there was man demonstrating the Alto matte cutting system. It was not very expensive and I was not impressed. Nonetheless, we bought it and she tried it and right off the bat, she cut some nice mattes. I tried it too and found that it easily cut nice straight mattes, no corner wanders, very consistent operation. It's well made and it's possible to make some very fancy mattes. I sold my expensive matte cutter and use the Alto exclusively. So, as I said , I'm not an expert, but I've used it on and off for 25 years and I think it's a pretty good tool - sturdy, well engineered, easy to use and a good value for the money. It came with a good set of instructions not translated from Chinese and I purchased 2 books published by Alto which expanded my knowledge and horizons. Others have mentioned the problem with matboard storage ( they come 32x40 ). I keep them under a bed or beneath a flight of stairs. They need flat dry storage conditions or they will not be useful next time you need them. If I was to give one piece of advice it would be to change the cutting blades often. I also strongly advise mounting the photo on 3/16 Gatorfoam or equivalent board. In my limited experience, photo paper exposed to humidity changes will over time badly warp regular matte board. Inkjet paper is much more stable than paper that's been chemically processed. Gatorfoam is very strong and seems immune to humidity changes. I believe that archival versions are available.
p.1 #7 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
What size and type of boards do you use? The basic Logan cutters are fine for 4-ply 1/16" board. You can use multiple layered mats to frame your work to increase the depth. Just be aware that layered mats with tightly spaced boarders will show errors in parallelism more obviously than a single mat. If you're doing this with any regularity, I suggest at least getting a cutter with adjustable stops and a squaring bar.
Higher end cutters can be worthwhile if you're making double or triple layer mats. They are stiffer which makes it easier to get consistently parallel cuts with. A metal mounted cutter is better than one mounted to wood particle board. They are less likely to warp over time due to humidity or if you need to store it upright for lack of a dedicated work area.
p.1 #8 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
jeffbuzz wrote:
What size and type of boards do you use? The basic Logan cutters are fine for 4-ply 1/16" board. You can use multiple layered mats to frame your work to increase the depth. Just be aware that layered mats with tightly spaced boarders will show errors in parallelism more obviously than a single mat. If you're doing this with any regularity, I suggest at least getting a cutter with adjustable stops and a squaring bar.
Higher end cutters can be worthwhile if you're making double or triple layer mats. They are stiffer which makes it easier to get consistently parallel cuts with. A metal mounted cutter is better than one mounted to wood particle board. They are less likely to warp over time due to humidity or if you need to store it upright for lack of a dedicated work area.
It sounds like you have a lot of experience with this! The more I read about it, the more I think I should buy mats that are professionally precut by a large-volume maker. I think that if I invested in a good quality cutter and then good quality boards, that I would have a learning curve that would cost more than buying custom-cut mats as I need them. Plus, I would create more clutter and storage needs in my workspace.
My use is going to be occasional. There are to have propped up in various place in my home as a rotating display of my prints. I'll also give some to people who want one.
Thank you for your advice. By revealing some of the complexity, you helped me to reach a decision.
p.1 #9 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
tonyespofoto wrote:
I'm not an expert. All I can tell you is my experience. Many years ago, I purchased an expensive matte cutter to prepare for an exhibit. It was at a library, so nothing fancy, but I felt I had to do a nice job cutting them. I can tell you there was a bit of skill involved - very careful measuring, hold your hand just so making the cut. If you failed to hold your hand just so, the cut cut would wander, mostly in the corners. If I let some months go by without cutting mattes, I'd waste some boards relearning. Well, my wife thought she'd like to try it. We were at an art fair and there was man demonstrating the Alto matte cutting system. It was not very expensive and I was not impressed. Nonetheless, we bought it and she tried it and right off the bat, she cut some nice mattes. I tried it too and found that it easily cut nice straight mattes, no corner wanders, very consistent operation. It's well made and it's possible to make some very fancy mattes. I sold my expensive matte cutter and use the Alto exclusively. So, as I said , I'm not an expert, but I've used it on and off for 25 years and I think it's a pretty good tool - sturdy, well engineered, easy to use and a good value for the money. It came with a good set of instructions not translated from Chinese and I purchased 2 books published by Alto which expanded my knowledge and horizons. Others have mentioned the problem with matboard storage ( they come 32x40 ). I keep them under a bed or beneath a flight of stairs. They need flat dry storage conditions or they will not be useful next time you need them. If I was to give one piece of advice it would be to change the cutting blades often. I also strongly advise mounting the photo on 3/16 Gatorfoam or equivalent board. In my limited experience, photo paper exposed to humidity changes will over time badly warp regular matte board. Inkjet paper is much more stable than paper that's been chemically processed. Gatorfoam is very strong and seems immune to humidity changes. I believe that archival versions are available. ...Show more →
Thank you for this, and for the alert on humidity problems. I think I am going to go the precut mat route. My needs for mats are very limited and getting set up and learning to do them is for my use case more trouble than it is worth.
I am concerned about the humidity problems and curling since I plan to put these matted photos out around the house, propped up in various locations--sounds like a recipe for curl!
Have you ever tried the cellulose museum quality boards? They are expensive, but I wonder if they would resist humidity and curling better?
p.1 #10 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
Speed Mat by Easterly I think is the best. Wall mounted, cuts perfect single, double, triple uniform or multi-mats in a jiffy. Two sizes, I have the bigger 40x60. I’d sell it to you cheap and include a whole bunch of mat board and dozens of aluminum frames, but I’m in California and crating and shipping would be a lot.
p.1 #11 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
When I started cutting mattes 55 years ago, there was no Gatorfoam. All my chemically processed prints pretty quickly warped all the mount boards I tried. This was in Connecticut, very humid in summer. I discovered Gatorfoam and archival inkjet processing at about the same time. I no longer drymount the prints as I did back in the 1970s, as inkjet prints won't tolerate the heat. It's possible to purchase Gatorfoam archival boards and use 3M archival adhesive. Warping is no longer a problem and I've not had prints lift from the boards, either. I have no experience with cellulose museum boards, so I can't comment on them.
p.1 #12 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
FWIW re actual mounting. All my mat and mount boards are archival material including the foam-core mount board. I hinge mount the print to the mount board with archival mounting tape in 2 to 5 3" sections depending on print width. As such the print "hangs" between the mount board and usually for me a double-mat border. Finally the mount and mat are cut slightly smaller than the groove in the frame to allow the entire package to "float" inside the frame. As such even very large prints are not affected by typical humidity induced swell-shrink changes and remain visually "flat" in the frame.
p.1 #13 · Advice wanted on mat cutters and cutting mats
I have been cutting my own mats for 10 years using a $100 Logan cutter. It is really easy to do a quality job of matting using readily available and relatively inexpensive 1/8" mats. I have a 17" printer and most of my prints are 16x24 on 17x25 paper. I use 20x28 mats and Nielson aluminum channel frames.
There is a big advantage to using mats of this size. I buy half sheets of matboard; i.e., 20x32. There is not much waste and the half sized sheets ship at standard, instead of oversized, rates. I typically use inexpensive white, Crescent matboards. They are not rated as "archival" but I have never seen an issue and they are pH buffered. Some of my mats have been used and reused for 10 years and I cannot see any signs of yellowing.
Back to the cutting procedures: there are tons of instructional videos available. Cutting is typically even easier than shown in the videos. It is also very easy to do double matting, easy but expensive.
