Often when framing movie posters, lithographs, serigraphs or any valuable and irreplaceable paper, custom framers will recommend the use of spacers to keep the glass away from your item or even suggest a mat to accomplish the same task. First of all, if you are framing something of value, glass shouldn't be used at all. The most obvious downside of any type of glass is that it is heavy and it can break. If breakage occurs, it is going to scrape or cut your item. An unobvious negative aspect of glass is that moisture entrapment can occur and cause your item to stick to the face of the glass and thus ruin your item. Most conservation framers use genuine UV filtered plexiglass, typically 1/8" thick. Genuine plexi glass is not to be confused with lower grade plastics like styrene, Lucite, PETG, or any low grade acrylics. Genuine plexiglass is a high quality product and is often extremely expensive in a retail store. Many sellers on the internet use the word 'plexiglass' generically for anything that is plastic. Most always they are misrepresenting what they are actually selling; being able to do so because of the consumers' lack of knowledge of brands and terms. Many times a framer will use some low-grade plastic that scratches easily, changes colors over time and can stick to the face of your items.

A spacer was originally designed to keep glass away from your collectable to stop the problem of moisture entrapment and sticking. Often someone has an autographed item, poster or valuable paper and doesn't want the glass sticking to their piece which glass commonly will do. All in all, you can see that the basic problem here is the use of glass in the first place. In addition, spacers are ineffective on larger items. Let's say you have an original movie poster that measures 27x41 and is not mounted to a hard material as we never mount collectable items. If you frame that poster with a piece of glass or plexiglass with a spacer, you have left a ¼" of spacer in front of your 'non-mounted' poster. If you actually turn your frame sideways you will notice that the whole middle of your poster is touching the glass or plexiglass. By leaving that spacer in front of your 'non-mounted' item, it is able to warp into the spacer, sag and cause rippling to the poster that can only be fixed by expensive linen backing and/or restoration or by mounting it to a hard material, such as foam core or mat board, and again -we never mount original items-� as it is considered a devaluation of the item in the hobby. Spacers are a product that framers often use to drive the cost of your frame job up. My response is if they don't work for your item, then why spend one cent on them. There are still framers that use matting as a spacer, but most mats are 1/8" thick and are not going to hold your item away from whatever you are using in front of it. Again, if you turn the frame sideways you will see your item touching the whole middle of the front product, especially the larger your item is. When you are using genuine UV filtered plexiglass, not plastic styrene, etc. you can actually lay the plexiglass right on top of your item. Genuine UV filtered plexiglass won't stick to your pieces, even if it has autographs on it. It is manufactured in such a way that you don't get the sticking or bonding problem you would with glass or low grade plastic products.

I have made frames for the Motion Picture and Television studios for over twenty years. In addition, I frame for many of the top collectors of original movie posters, music posters and other paper memorabilia all over the country. In my desire to promote consumer's knowledge, I write articles that appear in books and websites all over the world about framing collectables so that you may make informed choices when framing any of your artwork and posters. You don't have to spend an arm and a leg; you just have to use a few specific materials! We ship hundreds of wholesale custom made frames each month to customers who want to protect and display their items, whether they are valuable monetarily or just a sentimental keepsake. I tell our customers constantly, "All that matters to the long term preservation of your item is what's touching it is in the back and what's touching it in the front". Always feel free to contact me, I'm always happy to help another collector. (800) 463-2994