Let’s Get Shadow Box Framing with Nicole!

Hey folks! I’m a long time tape user, but a newbie to shadow box framing. However, thanks to Pro Tapes® the process was super easy!

The four Pro Tapes® products I used to create this shadow box frame were:

• Pro® Flocking
• Pro® 410 ATG (along with our Pro® ATG HD Dispenser gun)
• UGlu®
• Pro Gaff®

Step 1: Gather Your Items to Be Framed

Your first step is to gather all of your items and tools:

• Any items that you want to frame
• The shadow box itself (I bought a premade one)
• And most importantly, tape!

For this project, I used items from my wedding that I have been meaning to frame.

Step 2: Prepare your Layout

Don’t wing your layout – practice it first! I laid out how I wanted all of the pictures and items arranged in the shadow box to figure out what the best layout would be.

Try different combinations until you find the one you like best.

Step 3: Create a Velvety Background with Pro® Flocking Tape

This specific shadow box I used as my base came with a canvas background, which I wasn’t a fan of. I wanted to have a darker background. This is where our first product comes in!

Pro® Flocking tape has an amazing permanent acrylic adhesive that allows the product to stick to low surface energy materials. In this case, it adhered to the canvas backing like it was always made to be there.

The liner that is included with Pro® Flocking tape made it easy to apply it to the canvas background gradually. It gives you time to apply it carefully and rub out any creases that might come up.

If the velvet of Pro® Flocking gets dirty, dusty, or covered in pet hair (pet owners will understand), I have a simple PRO tip: Use a lint roller! A lint roller works wonders for fur and dust removal.

Step 4: Stick down photographs with Pro® 410

With our new background complete thanks to Pro® Flocking tape, it’s time to mount our pictures. For that, I used Pro® 410 ATG tape, which I applied using our ATG dispenser.

I used Pro® 410 to adhere the pictures for multiple reasons:

1. It is a thin tape, so you won’t get any lines or bumps coming through the front of the photo
2. The acrylic adhesive on the Pro® 410 is strong enough to bond to a variety of materials, such as the flocking fibers on the new background I made

I applied Pro® 410 to the back of the printed pictures along all 4 sides. This ensures the best bond and prevents pictures from peeling off once the shadow box frame is hung up.

Step 5: Stick Down Bigger Items with UGlu®

Next, I used UGlu® to hold down bigger and odd-shaped items to the flocked background. This double sided tape comes in a variety of convenient shapes and sizes. Thanks to the paper backing on each piece of UGlu®, you can also use scissors to cut it down to even smaller pieces as needed.

I used UGlu® to attach thicker cardstock invitations, as well as a homemade magic wand and homemade mini lightsaber. The wand and lightsaber are as thin as chopsticks in some areas, so being able to cut the UGlu® strips down to smaller pieces was really convenient here.

Even with some of the unevenness of the items, UGlu® adhered really well to them. That is the magic of UGlu®: your objects do not have to be perfectly flat! It works incredibly well with odd shapes and uneven surfaces to ensure a fantastic bond.

Step 6: Finish the Edges of your Shadow Box Frame with Pro Gaff®

Lastly, I used black Pro Gaff® tape in Black along the inside of the shadow box frame. Instead of leaving the sides grey like the original shadow box frame had, I wanted to match the new background I created and give the frame more visual depth.

Just so you know, you don’t have to use the same colors as me for your frame! Pro Gaff® comes in many different colors, which gives you tons of creative freedom. You can mix and match as you like to fit your color palette or to match the décor around your frame.

Final Result

Considering this was my first time ever custom framing with a shadow box, I had tons of fun doing it! I feel inspired to take on more custom framing projects in the future.

What made everything that much easier was working with Pro Tapes®’ high quality products! If you’re thinking of taking on your own shadow box framing project, I highly recommend them.

LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT TAPE? ASK THE PROS!

We offer many more tape solutions for picture framing. Reach out to us, and our experienced customer success team will be happy to help you find the tape that meets your needs. Contact us today at sales@protapes.com.

The post Shadow Box Framing with Pro Tapes® appeared first on Pro Tapes®.

As a custom picture framer, there are many things to consider to ensure your custom framing work meets archival standards. The goal is not only to make the client’s art or memorabilia look good; it must also be preserved and protected.

Archival custom picture framing is achieved by using inherently acid-free materials. You must also consider sealing the frame to prevent any dirt or dust from entering.

• What type of glass should you use? Silicate or acrylic? You want to use a glassing with UV filtering.
• What type of frame? Metal or wood?
• Should you use decorative, conservation or museum grade mat board?
• What type of hardware and hanging systems should you employ?

On top of discussing these options with your client, you must also educate them on how to properly store their framed work. Remind clients to:

• Store their framed piece away from intake or outtake vents
• Be aware of swings in temperature and humidity where the framed piece will be displayed
• Keep the framed piece away from direct sunlight

Pro Tapes® can help you with the critical art of archival picture framing. Below, we’ll take a look at three tapes that can help you create archival framing.

For Permanent Picture Framing Solutions

Pro® 410 ATG is the ideal pH Neutral adhesive transfer tape to use for permanent bonding. It can be applied by hand or via dispenser gun.

Pro® 410 ATG has a double coated tissue carrier with an acrylic adhesive. The solvent based acrylic adhesive won’t yellow over time. It has excellent resistance to ultraviolet light.

At 89 oz per inch, it is super strong and ideal for object or memorabilia framing. It is also great for mounting artwork, attaching dust covers and adhering mats.

It’s a highly versatile product and can adhere to a wide variety of substrates such as cloth, paper, vinyl, rigid and flexible plastics and more.

For Fillets, Slips and More for Picture Framing

Pro® Fillet Tape is the go-to adhesive tape to adhere to the backside of fillet or slip.

The premium grade polyester carrier and acrylic adhesive are highly resistant to ultra violet light.  The solvent based acrylic adhesive is pH Neutral. 

Pro® Fillet Tape’s high tack was designed to adhere to metal as well as wood. It’s a fantastic product for creating decorative linings and increasing the depth between the artwork and the glass.

For Hinging the Work to be Framed

Hinging is the process of mounting artwork by suspending it with tabs of tape. Professional picture framers love to use our Pro® Artist Tape for hinging, and here’s why:

Pro® Artist Tape is engineered with SRA technology (Synthetic Rubber Adhesive). This single sided tape is repositionable and removes cleanly. The White color in particular is pH Neutral and won’t yellow over time. It also will not stain or ghost after removal.

Looking for the right tape to suit your needs? Ask the Pros!

We offer many more tape solutions for professional picture framing. Reach out to us, and our experienced customer success team will be happy to help you find the tape that meets your needs. Contact us today at sales@protapes.com.

The post Archival Picture Framing: The Top 3 Tapes You Need appeared first on Pro Tapes®.

More about our tapes featured in the video – specialty tapes for framers

Pro® Fillet Tape

Forget about messy glues or cutting other tapes to size. It can also be used to adhere smaller keepsake items when shadow box framing. Want to find out where to buy Pro® Fillet Tape? Use the form below and we’ll connect you with a dealer.

Pro® Felt Tape

Many framers will use additional strips towards the bottom of the piece to replace using typical rubber bumpons which can fall off over time or leave their own impression on your wall. Pro® Felt Tape is also great for quickly lining the sidewalls of a shadow box frame. We’ll have more on that in an upcoming video where we mount a football jersey in a shadow box frame using Pro® Felt Tape.

Pro® ATG

ATG tapes are adhesives dispensed by an Adhesive Transfer Gun (ATG). Pro® 154 and Pro® 410 ATG tapes are must-haves for any professional framer. They can tackle most tasks where glue would be the typical go-to. ATG tapes are becoming more popular amongst scrapbookers, card makers and other hobbyist who favor the cleanliness,  zero-dry-time and ease of applying ATG tapes over the use of glue. Pro Tapes® makes two popular ATG products.

Pro® 154 ATG tape is our most popular ATG tape. Its dispensed with our Pro® ATG dispenser and as its dispensed, the liner is consumed by the gun leaving only adhesive behind. It’s the simplest one-step application of uniform, strong, clean adhesive. Perfect for professional framing and all crafts.

Professional framers use Pro® 154 Adhesive transfer tape to apply dust covers, splice dust covers together, floatmounting and generally any task where messy glue would otherwise be an option.

Pro® 410 ATG tape is similar but infused with a tough membrane to give it extra holding power. You’ll notice the difference as soon as you apply it. Its stronger, has more adhesive tack and a more tape-like feel than its Pro® 154 counterpart. Pro 410® is for heavier-duty applications when a stronger bond and more durability is required. As you’ll see in our video, framers find Pro® 410 particularly useful when bonding a mat to a foam core board or building out the back of the mat to adjust for the height of fillets.

Pro® 183 Kraft

Pro® 183 Kraft Tape is a diverse product for which professional framers find countless uses in their shops. It’s a lightweight kraft paper tape and easy to tear. Most commonly, it’s used by professionals to wrap their finished framed worked in kraft paper.

To find out more about any of these products, please complete the form below.

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How these tapes are being used in this video

To start, we have our fillet assembled and our mat prepped with a reverse bevel ready to accept the fillet.

Next, Pro® Fillet Tape is applied to the backside of the mat close to the mat opening.

Then we strip away Pro® Fillet Tape’s release backing so the mat is ready to receive the fillet.

The fillet is installed, just add a bit of pressure to engage the adhesive qualities of the tape.

As you can see, most fillet installed into a mat opening will expose roughly up to 1/8″ thick of fillet material on the back of a mat. Apply Pro® 410 ATG Tape to the back side of the mat in order to securely lay down foam core strips to hold the fillet in place and make a level flat surface more receptive to hinging the printed artwork.

Using our blue Pro® ATG HD Dispenser apply Pro® 154 double sided ATG Tape to the outer edge of the backside of the picture frame.

Apply the backing paper over the exposed ATG to bind it to the frame.

Then use a safety razor to gently trim the excess backing paper away.

After attaching your picture frame wire hanger, use the Pro Tapes® Pro® Felt Tape cut in small tabs (seen here) to keep the hanging hardware from scratching the wall it hangs from. Some framers will uses larger 3″ strips to completely cover the hardware.

Finally, nothing makes for better presentation than using Pro® 183 brown kraft tape when wrapping your frame job!

The post Watch a professional framer use Pro Tapes® adhesives to frame with fillets appeared first on Pro Tapes®.

Please check back on this post continually for updates on framing tape instructional how-to’s and tips featuring step-by-step videos.

The post 6 Framing Tapes a Professional Framer Can’t Be Without appeared first on Pro Tapes®.