<p>My wife's grandmother is a locally celebrated artist.  She recently was forced to move to a retirement home and she has gifted us with several of her original works.  They are mostly watercolor on some sort of high quality paper, along with a few Acrylic on Canvas.</p>

<p>While I doubt these works will ever become highly valuable like a Warhol or Dali, they are very beautiful and are incredibly meaningful to my wife and I.  I would like to protect them and be able to pass them on to family in the future.</p>

<p>I plan to have them professionally matted and framed(probably at Michaels) but is there any thing I should do or have done to them first?  I do not think that the artist did anything to preserve them.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-26T20:26:27.747Z
I feel this would be better served as two questions, one focused on the watercolors and one on the acrylics... the preservation recommendations are likely different for every medium, so it will be more useful to searchers and taggers to make this two questions.
Catija
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-26T20:39:46.507Z
I guess I was looking for a more generic punch list of things to do rather than how to do those things.
Chad
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-26T21:09:23.393Z
Sure, but there's likely not a generic punch list for two such different forms of art. What could be beneficial to acrylics may destroy a watercolor, so don't expect them to be the same :)
Catija
<framing>
What needs to be done to original art before having it framed
Chad
# What needs to be done to original art before having it framed

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-26)

My wife's grandmother is a locally celebrated artist. She recently was forced to move to a retirement home and she has gifted us with several of her original works. They are mostly watercolor on some sort of high quality paper, along with a few Acrylic on Canvas.

While I doubt these works will ever become highly valuable like a Warhol or Dali, they are very beautiful and are incredibly meaningful to my wife and I. I would like to protect them and be able to pass them on to family in the future.

I plan to have them professionally matted and framed(probably at Michaels) but is there any thing I should do or have done to them first? I do not think that the artist did anything to preserve them.

**Tags:** framing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I feel this would be better served as two questions, one focused on the watercolors and one on the acrylics... the preservation recommendations are likely different for every medium, so it will be more useful to searchers and taggers to make this two questions.  
> **username_0**: I guess I was looking for a more generic punch list of things to do rather than how to do those things.  
> **username_1**: Sure, but there's likely not a generic punch list for two such different forms of art. What could be beneficial to acrylics may destroy a watercolor, so don't expect them to be the same :)  

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