Custom Framing – Island Matting

The framing technique used for this watercolor piece is called “island matting”. The term island matting derives from the idea that the artwork is floating like an island, surrounded by matting. A key benefit of island matting is its ability to allow the edges of the artwork to remain exposed, while keeping with the appeal of traditional window matting.

For this project we chose to float the watercolor inside an oyster colored fabric mat, leaving a small amount of “breathing space” between the art and the mat. To mimic the beauty of the frame’s white gold finish, a matching silver fillet was inserted around the mat opening. The final product (pictured above) reveals this exquisite framing technique.

island matting

island matting