Proper Way To Measure A Mat

Mat mathematics to determine the opening of the mat measure the artwork.

Proper way to measure a mat.

Mat will be cut from a 60 x 72 piece of material. First be sure you understand the two different measurements associated with a frame mat. Custom matting requires precise measurements the most important dimensions are the outside size and opening size. A 2 to 3 border is typical for most art work but it can vary.

The biggest challenge customers face when ordering their matboards is getting the right size matboards to match their artwork. A diagram pictured right is often a helpful way to lay out your current calculations and ensure the final calculation is correct. Use total size of the overall mat to determine which product size to order. Now that you have your mat window size and your frame size all you need to determine is width of the mat border.

Mat will be cut from a 60 x 60 piece of material. The mat must cover at least 1 8 of the artwork on all sides in order to prevent the edges from peeking through or actually falling through the mat opening. The mat border width will be 1 2 of the difference between the frame size and the mat window size. Determining the proper mat size and mat opening for a print or photograph is one of the more confusing issues facing novice framers.

There is the overall size of the mat which is about the size of the inside of the frame. Modular right remember drawings do not have to be drawn to scale. Just make sure that your measurements are accurate.