Hi everyone,

I was directed here by someone at Golden paints, and it seems like a great forum. I hope this is not a problem that has already been addressed, but I am having some trouble with framing artwork that I've made with acrylic on Yupo. The issue is that I often have to ship my framed artwork, and so framing with glass is not an option, and acrylic paint on Yupo seems to have a tendency to stick to plexiglass.

Most of my framed paintings are on 26 x 20" or 40 x 26" sheets of Yupo, and are framed in a shadowbox frame. But even with a generous amount of space between the artwork and the plexiglass, and with extra bonding material holding the artwork to the backer board, the surface has a tendency to buckle and make contact with the plexiglass, at which point the acrylic medium bonds to the plexiglass.

Has anyone here had similar problems, and have you found a good solution? I'm thinking the answer is probably to more securely mount the artwork to the backer board (usually foam core), or to somehow create a protective layer over the surface of the painting that will not stick to plexi. I'm currently experimenting with a removable varnish coated with furniture polish (lemon clean pledge... it was recommended by someone at Liquitex!). My preliminary results indicate that the polish eats away some of the varnish, though. I'm using multiple media, and some of the watercolor in the piece I experimented on got eaten away.

Thank you for your help.

Blake.

I don't personally work for or am affiliated with legion in any way.

I would consider treating it like normal fiber based papers that you plan on applying large amount of liquids to. Tape the paper up on a sturdy flat board before use and saturatie it with water via a wet sponge and letting it dry before actually working on it. Normally helps for papers like stonehenge and the like.The buckling inside the frame may also be due to it being assembled in a humid environment. Also if you are using a low grammage paper try increasing it, heavier weights can usually handle more ink/liquid load.

I also do not work for Legion, but do have art and framing experience.

It sounds like the Yupo need to be mounted on the foamcore much more securely. Have you tried an archival mounting film? They are very strong and will keep your Yupo flat on the backing board. Acrlyic paint doesn't really want to be under glass or plexi, but if you must use it then I would make sure you continue framing in a shadow box style, using a spacer between the artwork and glazing layer.

The best option I can think of would be to mount your artwork and then varnish the painting instead of using glass or plexi for glazing. If it's acrylic you can do a barrier coat of acrylic medium (so your varnish will be removable) and then any artist's quality varnish. I really like the Golden MSA Varnish in the spray format, which contains UVLS to protect your piece. Personally I just use the spray varnish right on the Yupo and paint layer, but the barrier coat is highly recommended by Golden.

Best of luck!