The Archival Cel Frame

The window is cut for standard Japanese production cels, roughly 10-3/8" wide by 9" high, with a 3/8" contact surface on every side. That overlap holds the cel flat and lets the mounting strips carry its weight — and it is deliberately generous. Tighter laps of 1/8" or 1/4" leave no margin for a slightly off-square trim or a cel that will not lie perfectly flat, and cels are often cut a little small.

Western and English-language production cels are generally larger, and the frame handles them without modification. A bigger cel simply sits further under the mat, so the contact surface increases rather than disappearing — structurally the safer direction. The trade-off is that more of the image edge is covered.

If you would rather see the whole image, we will cut the window to your cel at no extra charge — any window that fits inside the 18" x 14" footprint is the same price. Send us your dimensions and we will size it to keep the same 3/8" contact surface. Cels larger than that footprint need a different frame, which we are happy to discuss.

The same applies in the other direction: a cel trimmed below standard, or one that is warped and will not sit flat, gives less than 3/8" of contact and needs a purpose-built support. In every one of these cases, just contact us before ordering.

Additionally, these frames are designed and optimized for Level 0 A-D strip emitters. While the Artcare™ materials can certainly support higher emitters by actively trapping acetic acid, a frame is inherently not the best environment for an actively degrading cel. Cels emitting at higher levels should ideally be placed in open, isolated, or actively conditioned storage rather than framed display.

A tighter border would look fine and preserve worse. Two things scale directly with the size of the frame, and both of them are doing preservation work.

Absorption area. Every square inch of Artcare mat and backing board is scavenging surface. Shrinking the frame to a narrow margin around a 10-3/8" x 9" cel removes scavenging mass from the enclosure — the cel emits the same amount of acid either way, but there is less material available to trap it.

Dilution volume. The 1/4" spacer runs the full opening, which is where the roughly 63 cubic inches of front-side air comes from. A smaller opening reduces that volume on the same face that our testing identified as the slowest to clear.

So the margin is not styling. It is the part of the frame that buys service interval.

Yes. Two window mats sit beneath the cel and one sits above it, providing physical space to accommodate multi-layered cels without compressing the paint layers. However, from a strict preservation standpoint, we advise separating multi-layer setups.

Stacking cels creates trapped micro-environments that hinder transport dynamics, locking acetic acid between the acetate layers where scavengers cannot reach it. While separation is best for longevity, the frame is engineered for flexibility, allowing you to make the final choice between original multi-layer presentation and optimal preservation.

Vintage backgrounds are highly active sources of VOCs and moisture. Pressing a cel directly against a background creates a "stagnation sandwich" that traps off-gassing acetic acid right against the paint, preventing it from ever reaching the frame's buffering materials. Our system is optimized for a single-cel, "floating" display to ensure unobstructed gas diffusion.

To prevent paint delamination and sticking, the cel is entirely suspended within the frame, ensuring no painted surface touches the acrylic glazing or the solid backing board. We achieve this through an asymmetric spacing system.

The back of the cel is separated from the main scavenging board by 1/8" of engineered spacing (two inner mats). Because our stress testing revealed the front face of the cel as the primary stagnation weakness, we open the front side up to roughly 3/8" — one inner mat, one outer mat, and a custom-cut 1/4" acrylic spacer.

The spacer is the important part. Earlier revisions built the front gap out of stacked matboard, which sets the paint back from the glazing but fills the gap with board. The spacer replaces two of those mats with open air across the full 18" x 14" opening, so the clearance is larger and the volume is actually available for acid dilution.

It is the finding that drove the current stack design. Acid does not clear evenly from both sides of a framed cel — the front face clears far more slowly than the back, and the reason is geometry rather than materials.

The back mat sits open, directly behind the cel, with negligible transport distance. Vapor leaving the back of the cel reaches scavenging material almost immediately. The front is different: the mat you can see is on the outside of the stack, because anything between the cel and your eye would hide the image. Vapor leaving the front face therefore has to travel laterally across the opening before it reaches anything that will absorb it.

We tested front-side versus back-side absorption directly, and back placement outperformed front. Rather than fight that with more material, we treated the front as a dilution problem instead of an absorption one. The 1/4" spacer opens roughly 63 cubic inches of free air across the full 18" x 14" opening (0.25 x 14 x 18), so the slowest-clearing region is also the region with the most volume to dilute into.

The standoff has a second benefit. Holding the glazing off the mat face means the acrylic is never in contact with the display surface, so any residual surface charge acts across a gap rather than at a contact point — which is part of why we pair the spacer with anti-static Optium glazing.

Traditional framing can "clamp" the cel, which increases buckling and edge stress as the acetate naturally shrinks. We utilize Lineco archival mounting strips to cradle the cel with minimal restraint, avoiding zero compression. This floating geometry allows the cel to respond to minor dimensional changes without mechanical tension.

No, their use is highly recommended but ultimately optional. We specify Lineco strips because they provide gentle, reversible support while allowing the cel room for both thermal and hygroscopic expansion across its entire surface area.

Additionally, the physical thickness of the strip creates a micro-boundary layer of air around the perimeter of the cel, which helps prevent edge-compression acid traps. However, our system is highly flexible; if you are uncomfortable applying the adhesive strips to the backing board, you can simply rely on the natural compression of the mat stack to hold the cel in place.

Everything needed to mount a cel safely, so nothing has to be sourced separately — apart from one flat-head screwdriver, which you supply:

• The 18" x 14" aluminum frame, shipped assembled apart from one side rail
• Tru Vue® Optium Museum Acrylic®, already seated in position with its protective masking film still on
• The full Artcare™ mat stack and backing, plus the 1/4" acrylic spacer
• Art-Sorb for RH buffering, with a test certificate generated from your own frame's material
• Lineco archival mounting strips for the cel itself
• A wall cleat with screws and anchors — the recommended way to hang the frame
• Wire hanger hardware in the parts bag, if you would rather hang from a wire
• Spring clips — four fitted to the frame, four spare in the parts bag
• A microfiber cloth and a pair of nitrile gloves

A-D strips are deliberately not in the box. They have a limited shelf life, so a pack sealed in a frame for years would be past its useful life by the time you needed it. Strips are sold separately for pre-purchase testing, and fresh ones come with each service kit — which is when a retest is actually due.

It arrives built. The rails are joined, the Optium glazing is seated, the full mat stack is cut and assembled in order, the Art-Sorb is in place, and four spring clips are already fitted. Nothing about the preservation build is left to you.

Two things are left, and only you can do either one. Place your cel, and put a cleat on the wall.

Your cel isn't in the frame because it can't be — the artwork is yours and it never passes through our hands. One side rail is left removable purely so you can get it in. And every frame ever made needs a fixing on the wall; ours ships with the cleat and the hardware for it rather than leaving you to source them.

The sequence, start to finish, is about twenty minutes:

• Put the gloves on first. Fingerprints on the inner face of the glazing or on the mats cannot be cleaned once the frame is closed.
• Remove the one side rail with a flat-head screwdriver (not included) and slide the stack out far enough to work.
• Mount the cel on the Lineco strips — bottom and both sides, with the top left free so the cel can expand.
• Peel the masking film from the inner face of the acrylic. It ships installed but still masked, which is deliberate: the film protects that surface through shipping and handling, and it is the one face you can never reach again once the frame is closed.
• Reassemble and tighten. Snug is enough — the stack is designed to be suspended, not clamped. Fit all eight spring clips, two per side.
• Then hang it. Fix the supplied cleat to the wall and lower the frame's top rail channel onto it. Wire hangers, if you prefer them, snap into the vertical rails — but only after the frame is closed, since hardware in the back channel fouls the stack going in.

A printed copy ships in the box. Online: Assembly & Mounting Manual · download PDF.

On a wall cleat, which is what we recommend and what ships in the box. The cleat screws to the wall on three fixings, and the channel on the back of the frame's top rail drops over it.

Three reasons it beats a wire on a hook. The load is spread across three fixings rather than concentrated on one. The frame sits flat against the wall instead of leaning out from a wire. And once it is hung you can slide it left or right to centre it without touching anything you drilled.

One detail worth knowing if you supply your own screws: use low-profile heads. A domed head standing proud of the cleat face holds the frame's rear edge off the wall and stops the channel from seating.

Wire hanger hardware is included too, in the parts bag, if you would rather hang the traditional way. It is not fitted to the frame, so it adds nothing unless you choose it — and it should only go on once the frame is fully assembled.

Step-by-step for both methods, including the corner inspection to do after hanging: Assembly & Mounting Manual · PDF.

The top corner brackets have been load tested at 20 lb — four times the frame's 5 lb weight — with no separation observed. That validates the design, not any individual assembly, which is why the manual asks you to inspect the corners after hanging and whenever the frame is moved.

We use aluminum because it has high thermal conductivity and rapid equilibration with ambient temperatures, which eliminates internal "hot zones". Unlike wood assemblies, aluminum also avoids common off-gassing concerns associated with resins, finishes, and adhesives.

Test Data Validation:

This plot demonstrates the frame's predictable thermal behavior. Over this one-week test, the ambient room (Controls 1 & 2) cycled between ~66.3°F and ~71.3°F (a ~5°F Delta). The internal frame temperature mirrored this swing almost perfectly, tracking between ~67.1°F and ~72.3°F. Because the Delta T is consistent, you can confidently monitor the room environment and know the frame temperature, without requiring internal sensors or worrying about variance.

We use high-grade acrylic to completely eliminate the risk of shattering. If a frame falls, glass can shatter into shards that will instantly slice through and destroy an irreplaceable cel. Acrylic is shatter-resistant and significantly lighter, reducing structural strain.

The frame uses Tru Vue® Optium Museum Acrylic® to provide maximum 99% UV protection alongside anti-reflective optical clarity and anti-static properties.

View the Tru Vue® Glazing Datasheet for comparison.

During development, we rigorously tested more budget-friendly 99% UV acrylics, but we consistently ran into issues that compromised the display experience. Standard acrylics suffer from heavy glare, scratch easily during routine cleaning, and hold static charges that attract dust to the inside of the frame.

Because the Archival Cel Frame is engineered as a zero-compromise showcase piece, we standardize on Tru Vue® Optium Museum Acrylic® to ensure the clearest, safest view possible.

Coming Soon: If you are looking for a more accessible entry point, we are actively developing a streamlined Minimalist Display option. This bare-bones frame will maintain our core Artcare™ preservation mechanics but utilize standard 99% UV acrylic, a reduced mat profile, and standard foam backing to offer safe, budget-friendly display.

A fair question, and one we took seriously, because the spacer is the one component we deliberately placed in the cavity directly in front of the cel.

The spacer is laser cut to size. Laser cutting acrylic can leave residual monomer (MMA) on the freshly cut faces. Every spacer is therefore washed with deionized water and aired out before it goes anywhere near a build, so no cutting byproduct is sealed in alongside the artwork.

Deionized water matters here rather than tap: it rinses the cut faces without leaving dissolved mineral residue behind on a surface that sits inches from the cel.

Most standard "archival" or "acid-free" framing materials are purely passive. They are neutralized with calcium carbonate to ensure they do not introduce acid into the environment. However, animation cels generate their own acetic acid (vinegar syndrome). Standard passive materials cannot effectively absorb or neutralize this off-gassing.

Artcare™ utilizes proprietary MicroChamber® technology, embedding active zeolites and buffers directly into the material. This allows it to actively trap and neutralize the acetic acid emitted by the cel itself, drastically outperforming standard passive materials in preservation applications.

Yes! It is a common myth that only stark white mats are archival. Every colored mat in our design studio is 100% cotton rag, acid-free, and lignin-free. The pigments used in these museum-grade materials will not bleed, fade, or off-gas, meaning you can safely incorporate vibrant accent colors without risking your cel's chemical environment.

Ideal conditions are 70°F or lower. Because the aluminum frame is designed to trend with the room, you should monitor the room environment, not inside the frame. Remember: colder temperatures mean slower hydrolysis.

The frame uses Art-Sorb to actively buffer against rapid humidity cycles. However, no frame is perfectly leak-tight—it will eventually equilibrate with your environment over long periods. Therefore, ambient room relative humidity (RH) should still be managed to a stable 50% ± 5%.

Test Data Validation:

This plot illustrates the aggressive buffering power of the Art-Sorb layer. During a one-week test, the ambient room experienced massive humidity swings: Control 1 fluctuated between 49% and 68.8% RH, while Control 2 swung from 48% to 65% RH. Meanwhile, the microenvironment inside the frame remained incredibly stable, only varying between 52% and 54.6% RH. This protects the cel from the rapid hygroscopic expansion and contraction that causes paint to fracture and delaminate.

Conservation or Museum acrylic/glass blocks 99% of UV rays, but extended exposure to visible light still causes fading. Avoid direct sunlight entirely—it heats the frame and accelerates degradation.

There is a misconception that frames need vent holes to "breathe". Experimental studies show that standard paper and board materials reversibly absorb acetic acid, meaning if the ambient concentration drops (like when "airing out" a frame), the acid desorbs right back into the air. Vent holes primarily enable uncontrolled humidity cycling. Instead of venting, our system maintains a stable, low-equilibrium environment by using Artcare™ materials containing MicroChamber zeolites to permanently trap and neutralize the acid internally (Read the Zeolite Technical Paper).

This frame is a preservation-oriented display system, not a corrective treatment. It does not stop hydrolysis or correct active vinegar syndrome. The system manages acetic acid emissions after they are released. Preservation is environmental control first; you must maintain stable temperature and humidity, as no frame can override physics.

No, we do not use "black box" marketing terms. The frame relies on proven, industry-standard Artcare™ technology to scavenge acetic acid. We achieve superior protection through Transport Dynamics—an oversized 18" x 14" body that increases internal air volume for natural acid dilution.

Furthermore, our own internal stress testing revealed that the front face of a framed cel is the most vulnerable to acid stagnation. To combat this, the frame pairs a specialized mat window geometry with a custom 1/4" acrylic spacer, opening a full-perimeter plenum in front of the cel for much more aggressive acid uptake from the cel face.

You can, but it is not highly effective for continuous monitoring without compromising your display.

Because the Artcare mats and backing actively scrub acid, placing an A-D strip against or behind the matboard will artificially skew the reading. As our stress testing revealed, the front face of the cel (the airspace between the cel and the acrylic glazing) is where acid clears the slowest. To get an accurate reading, the A-D strip would need to be suspended in this front viewing window, which significantly impairs the visual presentation of your artwork.

By retesting it — and you should expect the answer to change eventually.

This frame has a stated design basis: it is built around A-D Level 0 emitters and has been stress tested up to Level 1. That envelope is defined by the cel's emission rate, not by the frame, and emission is not static. Degradation is autocatalytic, so the acid a cel produces accelerates its own production. A cel that tests Level 0 today will not test Level 0 forever. Every cel eventually leaves the envelope. That is a property of the material, not a failure of the frame.

When to test. Twice: once before you order, to confirm the cel is inside the envelope in the first place, and then at each service interval in the table above. When the frame is open to replace the backing board and top mat, the cel is already out and handled — retest it then, before it goes back in.

A-D strips have a limited shelf life, so we do not pack them in the frame where they would age out before the first retest. They are available separately, and every service kit includes fresh ones.

How to test. Outside the frame, following the strip instructions — the cel sealed in a small container or bag with a strip for the specified period, then read against the reference card. Do not read a strip that has been sitting inside the frame; as covered above, the scavenging mats will skew it low.

What the result means:

• Still Level 0 — reframe as-is and continue on the standard interval.
• Level 1 — the frame still supports it, but move to the shortened service interval. Scavenging capacity is being consumed faster.
• Above Level 1 — do not reframe. The cel is outside what this frame is designed to handle, and enclosing an actively degrading cel concentrates the problem. It needs conditioning or isolated storage first.

We would rather tell you the frame has a boundary and hand you the means to check it than imply it has none.

It is a test of your material, not a datasheet reprinted from the manufacturer.

Before a frame ships, we pull a sample of the same conditioned Art-Sorb going into that build and run it for 24 hours in a sealed jar alongside a logger recording the open room. The certificate carries the resulting plot: the jar holding near 50% RH while the room swings underneath it.

The room swings because of temperature, not because we chose a bad day for it. Relative humidity is relative to what the air can hold, and that capacity climbs steeply with heat — so a room cycling through a normal thermostat range moves ten points of RH or more with no change in the actual moisture present. The jar sample sits in that same room and sees the same temperature cycle. It holds its setpoint anyway. That is the comparison the certificate is making.

Two reasons we do it this way. Buffering claims are easy to make and hard to verify after the fact, and a plot of the actual material is checkable in a way a specification sheet is not. And it functions as a quality gate on our side — conditioned silica gel can arrive off-target or drift in storage, and a sample that does not hold its setpoint over 24 hours does not go into a frame.

The certificate is a snapshot of the material at the moment it was packed, not a warranty of frame performance over years. What happens inside the sealed frame afterward is covered by the one-week validation plotted above.

The aluminum frame body can be wiped with a clean, dry microfiber cloth. For the Optium Museum Acrylic, use an acrylic-safe cleaner and a soft, dedicated microfiber cloth. Never use ammonia-based cleaners (like standard Windex) or paper towels, as they can scratch the surface or degrade the anti-reflective UV coatings.

Replacement intervals are based on conservative maintenance scheduling for the frame’s active preservation materials, not direct prediction of cel condition. Because hydrolysis continues over time, cel emission rate may increase during service life. Routine service therefore focuses on preserving scavenging margin by replacing the backing board and one top unobstructed mat at defined intervals.

Art-Sorb: The Art-Sorb sheet must be replaced annually (once a year) to ensure it maintains its active relative humidity buffering capabilities.