Glossary

On this page you will find explanations of some of the terms used on this site.

Aperture

The opening in the mount which shows your work.

Double mount

A double mount involves two pieces of mount board, which may or may not be the same colour. One of the pieces (the upper mount) has a larger aperture than the other (the under mount). The upper mount then sits on top of the under mount so that some of the under mount shows through. The under mount can be a contrasting colour, so that a thin line of that colour surrounds the work.

Fancy cut

From our point of view, a fancy cut mount is one with anything other than a standard rectangular aperture. The fancy cut mount may involve multiple apertures, it may involve a cut of a shape other than rectangular, it might just involve a rectangular cut which is not of our standard size. All fancy cut mounts will need to be quoted for individually; please fill in our printable quote form with your requirements and we will he happy to quote for your needs.

Multiple aperture

A mount is said to have multiple apertures if it has more than one opening through which work may be seen. This is distinct from a double mount; while a double mount requires two apertures to be cut during its construction, the placing of the upper mount on top of the under mount results in only one aperture being visible.

Some examples of multiple aperture mounts might be a title box below the main aperture, or several small apertures in a single mount to take multiple photos. We will be happy to quote for your requirements; please fill out our printable quote form with the layout you require, showing all relevant dimensions, and return it to us for a quote.

Single mount

A single mount is cut from one piece of mountboard (as opposed to a double mount). Don't confuse this with a mount having only one aperture; although our standard single and double mounts have only one aperture, there's no reason why you can't have a multiple aperture single mount.

Under mount

The under mount of a double mount is the lower of the two mounts which make it up - it is the one whose colour will show around the aperture of the mount.

Upper mount

The upper mount of a double mount is the one which forms the main colour of the mount; it has a wider aperture than the under mount so that some of the under mount's colour can be seen around the aperture.

Weighted

Most usually, a mount is cut so that the left and right borders, and the top and bottom borders, are of equal width. Occasionally it is required that one or both pairs of borders should not match (most often it is required that the bottom border should be wider than the top, to allow for the addition of a name or other information to the mount). Such a mount is called weighted. We are more than happy to cut weighted mounts but would require that you fill in our printable quote form with the exact details and dimensions required and return it to us for a quote; it is easier than attempting to take all the necessary information for a non-standard mount online.

Work

A general word for whatever you are surrounding with the mount. Photos, pictures, documents, drawings, craftworks, prints...