Frame Corner

Beware: Take your art elsewhere.
Despite my specific request to not use dry mount tissue on my signed and limited edition lithographs, screen prints and a watercolor (20+ pieces), this store did so and I did not find out until much later down the road (I didn’t think to open up the pieces I had framed once I brought them home).
The owner misled me when I first went to his store. He told me he had experience properly framing valuable art and had been open for a number of years. When I found out that the store did exactly what I requested they not do and asked, the owner’s reply was, well I didn’t think you would sell them. huh???
All but three of the pieces he framed were fully (every square inch) adhered with adhesive to foam core board inside the frame, under the mat. He insisted (and still does) that the dry mount tissue he used was ‘archival’ and ‘should be’ reversible. At first, I was hopeful that he was using something other than what I knew to be bad but the sad reality is that he did not. I spoke with the manufacturer of the dry mount tissue he says he used. The manufacturer would not provide any guarantee for their tissue on my pieces because it was used inappropriately (they explicitly say not for use on limited edition or signed art) and told me that trying to reverse the process is likely to ‘stretch’ and ruin the art even further.
After hours of research on framer forums, art forums and reading articles about this archival tissue — it is not intended to be used for works on paper that have value because it changes the condition of the piece permanently and degrades the value. Maintaining the value of any work on paper (regardless of whether it is art or a baseball card) lies in maintaining original condition.
I had another framer look at my pieces as well as two different conservators of art on paper and an art appraiser in the hopes that the pieces could be restored. The costs for partial restoration (once dry mounted it can never be fully reversed because the adhesive absorbs into the paper and cannot be removed) outweigh the cost of trying to replace the pieces.
Ethical framers will explain to a customer (because most customers, including me, are not experts in the framing process) the difference in types of mounting so that the customer has a say in how their pieces are treated. It costs more to have pieces mounted using methods that preserve art in its original condition (or as close to its original condition as possible). Dry mounting is apparently easy and costs less whereas corner, hinge /​wheat paste mounts (there are other types of mounts too) take skill and time but are considered non-​degrading and fully reversible. Ethical framers also have integrity and stand by their work.
This shop is not one of those places. As a business, claiming to be a professional with experience, when you’ve caused the value of someone’s property to be denigrated due to your own ignorance or purposeful negligence, you have an obligation to make it right.
So, if you have had items framed here, it might look nice on the outside, but underneath, I’m sorry to say you might be looking at what I ended up with.
Besides the glue reality, there is so much double sided sticky tape (all the way around entire prints) to hold the mats down (it’s in a frame and the piece itself is adhered to a board, why on earth do you need to use so much friggin tape?) — in a few pieces of art, whoever applied the tape, applied it over the corners of the art!
Surprisingly, he used corner mounts on three pieces. Unfortunately for me, two were low value pieces. The third is a large piece and it was too heavy for the corners he used (should have had hinges according to the conservationist), fell out of the corners inside the frame and is stuck to the double sided sticky tape mentioned above.
Sick over the unprofessional work of this shop and that a collection for which I exhausted so much emotion, time and money building, not to mention framing, is effectively ruined.
There has been no resolution. He refused to work with me other than offering to try and re-​heat my pieces to pull them off. No apology, no acknowledgement that his methods are ruining his customer’s art.
I filed a complaint with the better business bureau and in local claims court. No one responded or even showed up. The owner says he has no insurance and is bankrupt yet they are still open the last time I drove by.
I spent a lot of money here in good faith and got burned. I hope this post helps someone else avoid the same terrible experience.