Is PG material archival?

I was wanting to make some frames for a friend. One or two of the pieces are from fairly respected artist, so I was wondering if PG plywood or solid wood is archival. I would hate to spend the time making the frames only to cause damage to the pieces.

Iā€™m going to go on a limb here and guess no.

Archival-quality framing and components have a lot of different levels but I donā€™t know of any archival level framing that would allow direct contact of a piece with a wood frame (I guess it would be the very lowest level on the scale).

Thatā€™s why everything is going to be hinged with hinge tape or corners, at the very minimum. Along with acid-free backer, mat, etc.

We do have someone that may know quite a bit about that though, I think - @bridget?

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solid wood is ā€œarchivalā€ in these sense that will last a very long timeā€¦

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It will generally outlast the artwork :slight_smile:

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In the context of framed art, ā€œArchivalā€ means that none of the material used to frame the art contain any chemicals that will attack the art. Raw wood contains lots of things that will leach in to or attack other materials like paper or linen. Archival frames are most often made of metal for this reason.

I would not put an archival piece of artwork in a laser cut plywood wooden frame.

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I think the reality in the art world is that frames are disposable. Yes, in the strictest sense, eventually the mat, the backer, etc will leech from a wooden frame. When that happens, the work is removed from those components and reframed - which is why non-destructive techniques are used to hang artwork (self-adhesive hinging tape, gummed linen tape, etc.).

Yep, took some of the shared knowledge from this thread and got my google on. Looks like Iā€™m suppose to envelope it in an acid free safety net (matting board) to shield it from the toxic world that wants to destroy it.

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Wood is not considered to be archival and no paper based artefact should be placed in direct contact with wood or left in a confined space with wood if you want to keep the artwork for the long term. Wood gives off acidic compounds which, in a confined space will over time, lead to the breakdown of the paper fibres. Processed woods such as plywood and MDF usually give off VOCs and therefore are not suitable eitherā€¦there are coatings you can get to limit this.

So always make sure there is a barrier material between the wood and the objectā€¦this is often a function performed by the window mount and back board. Make sure both those pieces are of high quality archival material - pH buffered for paper artworks, non-buffered and pH neutral for photographic material and some textiles.
Also, make sure that the artwork is never in direct contact with the glass as this will lead to problems.
ā€¦hope this helpsā€¦
Sorry for the delay in answering,
busy busy busy.

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