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Ellen Collins MCPF

Ellen Collins MCPF

PPFA Vice President
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Loc
Hagerstown, MD; you've driven by here
Company
Howard's
I am chair of the Certification Board, and we are finishing up the new CPF exam. We will have two versions of the exam: one in Imperial (inch) measurements and another in metric. We don't want the metric to 'read' like a document that was written by a non-native English speaker, if you know what I mean (Please to have fits upstairs...)

I have noticed recently that some of the framing/art I have seen is measured in the following format:

645w x 390mm

Is this a standard nomenclature?

Also, what are the 'standard' size mat widths in mm as there are in inch. 2 1/2", 3" etc.

And how about standard sizes? 16" x 20" equivalent? We would like to know a few standard mm frames with their rough inch equivalents.

Ormond has said that he will help us do conversions, but I would like to hear from several geographic areas so I can actually LEARN kind of how the standards work in the non-Imperial world.

Any help is appreciated.
 
In Europe many framers measure in centimeters instead of mm's, so 1 inch becomes 25 mm or 2.5 cm or 2,5cm. I use bordersizes of 50mm with 55 mm on the bottom often.

You'd be surprised as to how many framers in Britain measure in metrics nowadays. Even framing literature from that part of the English speaking world is mostly in metrics.
 
Kai Vanuffelen said:
In Europe many framers measure in centimeters instead of mm's, so 1 inch becomes 25 mm or 2.5 cm or 2,5cm. I use bordersizes of 50mm with 55 mm on the bottom often.

You'd be surprised as to how many framers in Britain measure in metrics nowadays. Even framing literature from that part of the English speaking world is mostly in metrics.
Click to expand...

This is why we will be publishing the exam using both measuring systems. It only seems polite...

Still hoping to hear about standard sizes for frames measured in mm or cm from someone.
 
The metrication of the CPF Exam is probably aimed at the potential growth in the Australian and Canadian framing industry, where many framers measure in metrics. The size of the borders also has to do with the width of the frame, so in my shop I do not aim for standard sizes.

One day you can translate the exam into Spanish and French to cover most framers in North America.
 
One of the problems with metrics is, that the names of the increments are too long.
Inch is easy to pronounce and write, as it only consists of four letters and one syllable, whereas
centimeter has four syllables.

You can find abbreviated forms in certain cases.
Kilogram becomes kilo
Kilometer becomes k

Then there are the ones we have, but do not use; decameter (10 m), hectometer (100 m)
The liters we do not need, as they are actually cubic decimeters.

On the other hand, there isn't anything smaller than an inch with a specific name as far as I know.
It will be good to have a name for 1/64th of an inch - one hair will do, so 1/8th inch becomes 8 hairs.

When someone in China talks about 8 kg, then those 8 kilos in Argentina will be the same length.
 
Being a builder during New Zealand's transition into the metric system my clients and I often engaged in the bi-lingual dialect between the different units of measurement from feet & inches(Imperial) into metres & millimeters (Metric) and visa versa. Also please note that 'down under' we refer to the larger dimension first, i.e 4" x 2" timber instead of the Northern Hemisphere 2" x 4" lumber. Now being a framer and with my wife being a professional photographer and photographers generally still use inches over here so being bi-lingual has it's advantages and so too does agreeing with the wife at all times. Note I do not use Centimetres (CM) as that unit is used in the dressmaking/textile industry. Here goes my imperial/metric conversions so: 1" = 25mm (approx) therefore 4 inches = 100mm (approx) so a 20'' x 16" translates to 500 mm x 400mm (actual is 508 x 405), a 10 x 8 = 250mm x 200mm, etc. With regards to borders and such I usually measure in 5mm (3/16") or 10mm (3/8") increments, 2" converts to 50mm, 3" is 75mm and 4"=100mm (all approximately). I certainly don't notice the missing odd 1/16" or 1.68mm. Hopefully all is clear as mud in a pig pond during a swine fest. Cheers,

Keith
 
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