Photo Mats

[rawphotos]

<p>Where can I buy the fancy custom cut photo mats. Like the real nice ones you see that have the corners special cut or the extra areas cut for a different part of your picture?Thanks for any help. Jim</p>

[george_ghio]

<p>I cut my own. There are a number of types of mat cutters on the market. If you constantly need mats cut you may as well do it yourself. I use a hand cutter from Logan. I find it quite a nice tool, easy to use. You can view their products at www.logangraphic.com/products/. They are by no means the only suppliers so shop around.</p>

[david.wagle]

<p>A halfway decent standard mat runs about $4 around here, custom cut mats are $15 or more. I can cut my own for $1.50 or so in materials. It takes less than 10 minutes to cut a mat and mount a print. Since a good mat cutter can be had for $100 or less you can see it doesn't take many pictures to pay for the expense.</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>You can get standard and custom-cut mats at www.matcutter.com but unless you order a bunch the shipping will kill any price advantage.</p>

<p>As both George and David said, cutting your own is much more economical and rewarding. I cut all my own except when I'm having a show and need a bunch all at once.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

[devon_mccarroll]

<p>That's the type of work that art and frame shops do, but as others have said, it gets expensive very quickly. If you're planning to do alot of framing, a mat cutter would be a good investment.</p>

[ted_raper1]

<p>I agree with everything above; I photograph for gallery exhibits and as such many of my prints are matted and framed. The most recent exhibit I did, 25 prints - the single most expensive part of it was the mats (because I had them custom cut). I already had a lot of the frames from previous exhibits.</p>

<p>So if you're going to do it a lot, invest in - and learn to use - a mat cutter. </p>

[James G. Dainis]

I think Jim is asking about fancy cut mats, ones that don't have just straight edges. Most mat cutters cut straight lines. I'm not sure how well a rotary mat cutter works. I tried using a hand held mat cutter on 100% rag, museum quality mat board. That stuff is hard. I kept ending with up turned corners.

[rawphotos]

<p>James is right. I work long hours at a full time job and shoot photos as often as I can. I would rather pay the $15 and buy a precut fancy mat. Is there any companines that sell the mats? (Not just straight cut rectangles).</p>

[davidmackenzie]

<p>Jim, take a look at Documounts.com. I use them and find them reasonable and responsive.</p>

[richardsperry]

<p>http://www.goldenstateart.com/</p>

<p>I have only made one purchase from this company, so far. Very reasonable.<br /> And they will custom cut stuff, for very reasonable as well.</p>

<p>But they kinda work on larger number of mats.<br>

But it's close to what I would pay for the mat materials uncut.</p>