Photo Mats

Colorful Photo Mats

Can someone please tell me what photo mats really are? Are they like the place mats that we put on our dinner table?  Or are you actually talking about the one hour photo mats that I’ve been used to seeing all around my area? Well… not exactly. It looks like I need to do a little bit of clarification here, I’m not talking about the one hour photo development stations; nor am I referring to place mats that have a photo on them as part of their designs. When I say photo mats, what I’m actually referring to are the colorful paper and cardboard border pieces that you put around you photo. These serve a dual purpose… not only do these photo mats protect your precious photo or memento; they also secure it to the backing board.

Well, that answer certainly wasn’t anything like I was thinking it would be. As I don’t know very much about this subject, can you please give me as much information as possible about photo mats? I would be happy to share what I know with all of you. Photo mats come in a wide variety of colors and textures that are meant to add that little extra special touch to whatever you are framing. Most of them are made from a cardboard core that is covered on one side – or in some cases both sides- with colorful art paper that give it the decorative style and appearance that it has.

Wow! I wasn’t expecting that at all! You certainly seem to know quite a bit about photo mats. Would you mind telling me about the colors and textures that I’d be able to find?
Well, to say that they come in just about any color imaginable would be an understatement. Mind you this: not every dealer or store will have every color available. Different stores or dealers will carry different styles, textures and colors that manufactures make photo mats in. You’ll be able find them in some of the basic colors such as: Blue, Brown, Black, Red, Yellow, Green, sometimes Purple, maybe even Orange, Gray, and the most basic of the colors- White. You might also find Sunflower, Goldenrod, Tan, Beige, Lavender, Teal, Turquoise, many shades of Gray and maybe even some that are Pink. You won’t know how many different shades and colors are available until you start looking into this. One thing I can tell you is that if you start by doing an Internet search, you will be overwhelmed! You’ll be able to get a good idea of what’s available when it comes to both colors and textures of photo mats. Textured photo mats  provide both an interesting feel for your fingers, but they also provide a very different visual experience. The textured look is in and very hip and hot today. That doesn’t say that it will always be that way however. You really need to begin any research on the Internet, print out what you’re interested in, then go to your favorite store and browse to your heart’s content. The salespeople there will be able to help you to find what you’re looking for.