Light Impressions/Exeter, Gallery White
More than 2 months ago, I placed an order with Light Impressions for Exeter matboard, "Gallery White." Does anyone know of another vendor for this board? It is the only board I've used since the early 1980's. Any other mat will clash with the rest of my work. If the Exeter is now obsolete, I must come to grips with changing the matboard altogether. If so, it is something I want to do only once. Almost all of my work is black and white. Suggestions?
DeDe
After using Light Impressions for over twenty years, my recent experiences have been disappointing. I have switched to Archival Methods in Rochester and receive full orders in four or five days. Their Museum Bright White is a good replacement for the Westminster bright white at LI. They may have a replacement for the Exeter board that you are using.
http://www.archivalmethods.com/Produ...&Productid=155
I suggest contacting Lumiere in Rochester by telephone.
The guy who owns Lumiere was the founder and owner of Light Impressions, and was the person who introduced their Exeter and Westminster boards. He sold the business, but when the new owners then moved it to Los Angeles and immediately starting diluting both the product line and the quality of service, he decided to start over and opened Lumiere. Therefore, he not only knows who actually makes the boards, he's in a position to know who can provide them today
You could also try Talas in NYC...they're very good
I think something's up with Light Impressions. I placed a large order more than about a month ago and the stuff is coming in in dribs and drabs. The invoices that have arrived so far have an insert saying that payment should be made to a third party - a credit company of some sort.
Lumiere Photo in Rochester, NY sells mat board which is the same which is sold by Light Impressions under the product names Exeter and Westminister. Full disclosure:
I am the original founder of Light Impressions and sold the company in 1995. I started
Lumiere Photo in 2000. The mills we use for the manufacture of our mat board are the original mills which I used when I owned LI.
You might want to try ArtCare Board from Nielsen & Bainbridge. I wrote an article about it in 2000--mostly an interview with the inventor. http://www.superiorarchivalmats.com/sam/index.html
What I learned from the interview and also after having tests done on my prints and on David Graham's color prints was that all 100% all-rag acid-free museum board is simply not good enough--it left the photographs susceptible to damage from pre-acidic gases. As a result, ArtCare is the only mat board I will use. It has billions and billions of micr chambers that actively trap pollutants. It also has a wonderful smooth surface.
WHen I wrote the article I encouraged a friend of mine, who has a custom bookbinding company, to invest in a computerized mat cutter (he already had a guillotine) and offer ArtCare board to photographers. Although most all high-end frame shops use ArtCare board exclusively, photographers were generally not aware of its existence. My friends bookbinding business became too demanding and he let his company, Superior Archival Materials run down. Paula's and my assistant, Richard Boutwell, to make some extra money, started to fulfill orders for Superior. But it was chaotic at the bindery and my friend had really bowed out of the business completely. So he wrote off the 40x60 computerized mat cutter and gave it to me.
Right now, myself and Richard are Superior Archival Materials--now with a name change to Lodima Archival Materials except, for the moment the URL, which is still http://www.superiorarchivalmats.com. That will be changed soon.
Our prices are significantly lower than the "old" Superior. The bookbinder charged rent, phone, and electricity to the business; we need to do none of that.
We often provide next-day service--and will be able to do so all the time when we get our own guillotine. We have purchased a guillotine, but first need to build an extension onto the building that now houses the computerized mat cutter and a machine that makes straight cuts--but makes then one cut at a time. We expect the addition to be finished in 6 weeks to two months and to have the guillotine brought in immediately after.
Here are two comments we recently received:
"The mats arrived sometime before I got home on Sunday. They are exactly what I needed. The window mats are cut perfectly. Brilliant job! They were very well packed and arrived intact, despite UPS's best efforts on the box."
"The matts arrived this morning. They are perfect and they are beautiful. And this is fantastic board. Will certainly order more in the future and recommend you to others."
Give us a try. All orders are treated as custom orders. We can supply as little as one mat in any size up to 40 x 60 (although shipping on only one mat would be way too high to be economical).
We also can supply, at great prices, NIelsen frames and other ArtCare products, and negative and print storage boxes and folders for negatives, although these items are not yet on our web site.
Michael A. Smith
Michael, I would never doubt your scholarship on this topic, but as an observation... I have never, since 1980, experienced a print failure quite as dramatic as those you illustrate when archival board such as Light Impressions Exeter or Westminister has been used. In fact, even a 1982 print hung with non-archival board hasn't failed to that extreme... although it has degraded. These prints are hung in a typical residential setting.
Good luck on your venture. I'm sure there is a market for super high-grade museum board and it is nice to hear that it will be available and more affordable than before.
Thanks for your comments. Well taken points.
Thirty years is not a long time, however, to evaluate the archival qualities of products. The tests that were done were advanced aging tests. In addition, pre-acidic gases, which are created by the decomposition of storage materials as well as coming from the environment, were blown through the back of the mat board. Only ArtCare board protected the photographs. And dry mounted photographs fared better than hinge-mounted ones.
I have been told that the National Archives and the Library of Congress now use only ArtCare board and ArtCare boxes. There is a reason they do. Items in their possession are intended to last hundreds and hundreds of years.
Now, most photographs do not have to last that long. But if the cost is comparable, or only marginally hgher, why not use the best materials? And as I mentioned, the surface is perfect. ArtCare board looks great as well as performs better than others.
Michael A. Smith
I keep quite a range of boards in inventory. Artcare is a rather stiff board which will
leave quite a sharp edge to the bevel opening when you cut it; so you need to relieve this edge a tiny amount with a burnishing bone or you might actually get
abrasion on your background mount from expansion/contraction of the board over time. It is also buffered rather than neutral, so is not appropriate for all types of
photographs (certainly inappropriate for albumen and acid-mordanted DT prints).
I also dislike the look of it for certain traditional applications. For a lot of black and
white work I use Rising ragboard, which seems to be of better consistency in thickness and quality than the Light Impressions ragboard ever was. I personally get
it at a better price too; but I always buy wholesale in full cases. I am extremely
skeptical that many of today's color prints will last as long as ANY of these boards!
A few days testing of an inkjet sample in an accelerated aging chamber hardly makes me confident in the marketing hype of 500 years permanence or whatever! I've heard this kind of marketing BS many times before, and am well aware of the
abuse of these tests in analogous situations. Wilhelm has made a valuable contribution, but taking him as the Bible of permanence is pretty naive. There are
just too many untested variables; and in reality, there is no substitute for time itself!
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