Contact Us / Business Hours View My Account Status Frequently Asked Questions Internet Security Shipping and Returns Directions Site Map   Charity and Fundraising Events Corporate Art Program Long Island Artists You can scroll through the entire list of questions and answers by looking down the page, or you can choose a general category of questions from the list shown below. If you have difficulty answering any questions, please contact us. Questions About: Our Company |  My Online Order |  Shipping and Returns Custom Framing |  Plaques |  Definitions of Art Terms Certificate of Authenticity |  Custom Orders   Questions About Long Island Picture Frame    How long have you been on the Web?  Does LIPF have a Showroom that we can Visit?  Will you Custom frame my Personal Item if I mail it to you?  How long does it take to have something Custom framed?  What if I am Not Happy with my Item when I receive it?  What Types of Payment do you accept?   Questions About My Online Order    What can I do if I’m Having Trouble Completing my online Order?  What is an “Order Status”?  What do the different Types of Statuses mean?  How do I check the “Order Status” of my Purchase?  How can I Track my Purchase?  Why does my Tracking Number comes back as Not Valid?     Questions About Shipping and Returns    How would my item be Shipped?  How do you Calculate the Shipping cost?  What is your Return Policy?  My item came Damaged. What do I do?  Do you Deliver?  Do you Ship to Alaska and Hawaii?  Do you Ship to PO, APO or FPO addresses?   Questions About Custom Framing    What is Matting?  Is Matting always necessary?  What does Acid Free mean?  What is an Acid Burn?  What is Foxing?  What is Conservation Framing?  What is Conservation Mounting?  What is Dry mounting?  What is Stretching?  What is a V-Groove?  What type of Glass is used?  What is a Shadowbox?  What thickness Mirror do you use?   Questions About Plaques    Can you custom Engrave any Plaque I want?   Definitions of Art Terms    What does Limited Edition mean?  What is a Serigraph?  What is a Gicleé?  What is a Lithograph?  What does Mixed Media mean?  What does Facsimile mean?  What is an Off Set Lithograph?  What does AP, EA & PP stand for?  What is an Edition?  What is Impressionism?  What is a Bas Relief?  What is an Etching?  What is a Woodcut?  What is the Framed Size?  What is the Medium?  What’s the difference between Print Size, Paper Size, and Image Size?   Questions About Certificate of Authenticity    Why is a Certificate of Authenticity (also known as a COA) important?  How do I know my item is Authentic?   Questions About Custom Orders    I have a Favorite Movie but its not listed on your site can you Create One for me?  I have a great Idea for a Piece that’s not on your web site how drop I let you guys know about it?       Q: How long have you been on the web? A: LIPF.com has been an active, ongoing effort to bring all our of custom made pictures together for viewing and online purchase since the month of July, 2003.       Q: Does LIPF have a showroom that we can visit? A: Yes our showroom is open 7 days a week. We are located at 4780 Sunrise Highway Massapequa Park NY 11762 Map LIPF Our showroom hours are as follow:  Monday 10 am – 6 PM Tuesday 10 AM – 6 PM Wednesday 10 AM –8 PM Thursday 10 AM – 8 PM Friday 10 AM – 6 PM Saturday 10 AM – 6 PM Sunday 12 PM – 6 PM       Q: Will you custom frame a piece or display if it is sent to the store? A: Yes. LIPF will gladly custom frame your item if you mail the item to us. Please call us, and a design consultant will discuss your framing options. If you would like to visit our gallery our showroom hours and directions are listed at the top of this page.       Q: How long does it take to have something custom framed? A: The custom framing process usually takes approximately two weeks once we receive your item via shipment. There are certain circumstances that the process may take a bit longer. If you visit our gallery, we do offer a Custom Framing while you wait service. This service is available on in stock moldings and mats.       Q: What if I am not happy with my item when I receive it? A: LIPF makes every attempt to satisfy our clients. If you are dissatisfied with a custom frame order that you placed over the Internet please call our customer service dept. at 516.798.8400 immediately after you receive your order. If it something that you purchased off our web site you may return the item for a full refund less the shipping charges.       Q: What types of payment do you accept? A: We accept all major credit cards - American Express, Discover Card, Mastercard, and Visa. In addition to these credit cards and cash, we also accept checks in person at our retail store.       Q: What can I do if I’m Having Trouble Completing my online Order? A: Contact Us for assistance. If you prefer, we can take your order over the phone. 516.798.8400. To make phone ordering easier, please have the exact title or SKU of the piece you would like to order ready before your call. The easiest way to phone order is to add whichever items you’d like to purchase into a shopping basket. Then View your Cart and print out that page, and give us a call. Our phone number will appear on this sheet, and you can refer to the product information contained on this sheet for ordering.       Q: What is an “Order Status”? A: LIPF.com custom frames all pieces once they are ordered. We do not stock these items assembled on the shelf. This ensures our customers will get an absolutely brand new custom framed piece with no wear, fading, or scratches on the frame which is a common problem with reselling framing items. We are not resellers of custom framing, we custom frame our own pieces and they are delivered once - directly to you! Because of this 24-48 hour period, we inform our web customers through the “My Account” section of their “Order Status”.       Q: What do the different Types of Statuses mean? A: Full Payment Received - This status is displayed from the time immediately following your purchase until the individual medium(s) and framing materials are pulled for assembly. Order in Progress - This status is displayed from the time we have begun to assemble your piece(s) until they are completed and logged in our web ordering system for shipping. Completed - This status is displayed once the piece has been assembled, packaged, and shipped. At this point, there will be a tracking number in the My Account section of our site for you to track your package’s location with.       Q: How do I check the “Order Status” of my Purchase? A: When you receive your purchase receipt by email, you will receive a username and password (whether you register or checkout without registering). You this username and password to log in. Once logged in, you will be taken to the “My Account” page. This page lists all of your previous orders within the year. Click on the order you would like to look up. On the top right section of your order summary, your order status is displayed. It is updated immediately whenever there is a change.       Q: How can I Track my Purchase? A: When you receive your purchase receipt by email, you will receive a username and password (whether you register or checkout without registering). You this username and password to log in. Once logged in, you will be taken to the “My Account” page. This page lists all of your previous orders within the year. If your Order Status is marked “Completed”, scroll to the bottom Shipment Section. The shipment(s) will have their own tracking number listed. Click on the tracking number to track your package(s).       Q: Why does my Tracking Number comes back as Not Valid? A: With UPS WorldShip software, tracking numbers are generated as soon as we enter the package information into the system during the day time. This tracking number is not scanned in by a UPS representative until he or she picks up our daily shipment at the end of the day. Therefore, tracking numbers have a short period of time on date the order is completed and shipped from when the number is not valid until it is entered into the UPS system and can report its whereabouts. Our pickup time when packages actually get scanned in is at 6PM daily.       Q: How is my item Shipped? A: We make every effort to package your item with the up most care. Our preferred shipping carrier is United Parcel Service (UPS). We use better that industry standard packing cartons and each piece is wrapped in commercial grade bubble wrap.        Q: How do you Calculate the Shipping cost?  A: We offer free UPS Ground shipping on orders totalling over $100. The total in order to qualify for our free UPS Ground shipping must be over $100 including any discounts or specials whcih are to be applied and before any taxes are added on. Each piece we sell is packed, measured and weighed. Those measurements get passed along to UPS during checkout. Real-time shipping rates are displayed for your each shipping service offered.       Q: What is your return policy? A: If your item is not damaged and you would like to exchange or return an item, please enclose your invoice and merchandise in the original packaging. Send the box to us via insured UPS or insured mail to the addresses below. We cannot accept returns sent C.O.D. LI Picture Frame - Return Web Site (Clearly marked on the box) 4780 Sunrise Highway Massapequa Park, NY 11762 If your item is damaged, visit our Shipping and Returns page for instructions.       Q: My item came damaged. What do I do? A: Visit our Shipping and Returns page for return instructions.       Q: Do you ship to Alaska and Hawaii? A: Yes. We advise our customers to complete the checkout process through UPS.       Q: Do you ship to PO, APO or FPO addresses? A: No, we do not deliver to a PO, APO or FPO addresses.       Q: Do you deliver? A: Yes lipf.com does deliver to The New York & New Jersey area. Typically we would travel 20 miles West of Manhattan, NYC and all of Long Island. Orders must be equal to $1000 or greater to qualify for this service. Certain restrictions may apply. Please call customer service to see if we deliver to your area. 516.798.8400.       Q: What is Matting? A: Matting is the process of using a paper or rag board used over artwork to separate it from the glass. Mat board generally is made up of three layers: the face paper, the core and the backing. Mat boards come in a wide variety of thickness’ (plys), colors, textures and compositions, and many acid-free mat boards are for conservation framing. Mat boards can be carved, cut or painted to add decorative elements to the frame design. Various colors and textures can be stacked, spliced and combined in numerous ways. Mat board usually has a whitish material in the center so that a white line (bevel) shows when it is cut. However, some mat boards also have black or colored cores, resulting in a colored bevel when they are cut. Cores may be the same color as the face paper or a contrasting color. Colored-core mat board expands the design possibilities for framers.       Q: Is matting always necessary? A: No. Matting is not always necessary on a piece. There are some advantages and disadvantages to matting you piece. Speak to one of our framing consultants about the pros and cons of matting your specific piece. Advantages: In some cases matting is important, if you are framing a photograph or glossy print we recommend matting, it keeps the glass of the image so water spots do not appear between the glass and you work. Matting can also enhance your piece. The matting enhances colors or textures that you would like to emphasize in the piece. Matting is great way to enlarge a picture if the piece is a bit small for an area. Matting can add about 4” to 12” to an overall size of the piece. Disadvantages: In some framing jobs matting is not really needed, Such as framing a movie poster. Less is more in this case unless you need the piece to be larger than we do recommend matting the piece. Size restrictions, Matting does add additional size to the overall piece, so when determining if you would like matting keep in mind the space you have to hang your piece. You don’t want to mat a 16” wide piece if the space only allows for a 20” picture.       Q: What does acid free mean? A: A term used to describe adhesives, papers, mat boards, and other framing supplies that have no acid in them. Acid-free materials should be used when framing works of art on paper. Mat boards, mounting boards, tapes, envelopes and other framing materials all are available in acid-free varieties. Some have been chemically treated to remove impurities; others, such as those made of 100 percent pure cotton rag, never contained acid and are generally the best choice for framing fine art. Using acid free materials will preserve the life of your art or collectable.       Q: What is an Acid Burn? A: Acid burn is a brown line or brown coloration on paper that is the result of prolonged contact with acidic cardboard or other materials. Acid burns often are seen on the face of paper artwork that was matted with acidic cardboard mats.       Q: What is Foxing? A: Mold growth on paper artwork (typically appearing as brown spots). Foxing is found particularly on old prints, graphics, maps, letters and other documents. This process can be drastically accelerated by hanging these types of pictures over a bathtub, spas, or in basements - be aware of high humidity levels!       Q: What is Conservation Framing? A: A process using materials and techniques to ensure the artwork is not damaged by framing. Hinging the artwork instead of mounting it, using high-quality acid-free boards and mats, using non-staining paste, and glazing with conservation glass or acrylic are generally accepted procedures used to help preserve artwork. The same procedures are sometimes referred to as "preservation framing."       Q: What is Conservation Mounting? A: Conservation mounting is the process of attaching the artwork to the backing board in a way that will not harm the art. Materials used include rag board, rice or wheat paste, and mulberry hinges, or other inert (no deteriorating or non staining) materials and processes. Many framers call this process "museum mounting" or "preservation mounting."       Q: What is Dry Mounting? A: Dry mounting is the process of using dry adhesive tissues to mount paper artwork or photographs to a board using high heat and a dry mount press. This process usually keeps the piece from buckling and or warping in or out of the frame.       Q: What is Stretching? A: A support frame made of wood onto which the canvas of oil paintings or needle art can be mounted. A stretcher has adjustable corners that allow for periodic tightening (stretching) of the canvas.       Q: What is a V-Groove? A: A V-Groove is the process of cutting two close, facing bevels into mat board so they form a "V".       Q: What type of Glass is used? A: We use several different types of glass. Our regular or standard glass type is 1/8” thick clear glass. Non-Glare also known as Reflection control: (Available upon request at an additional fee) Non-glare glass is a reflection control glass used in rooms with intense lighting. Conservation clear also known as UV Protection: (Available upon request at an additional fee) Conservation clear glass blocks harmful UV light. This glass is essential for conservation framing. Museum Glass: (Available upon request at an additional fee) Antireflective technology coupled with UV-blocking properties. An ultra protective, is a nearly invisible sheet of glass the ultimate glazing option. Plexiglass (Available upon request at an additional fee) The same characteristics as our regular glass but will not break.       Q: What is a Shadowbox? A: A shadowbox is a frame that has depth. It can accommodate anything that is three dimensional such as a baseball, baseball cleat, football, hockey skate, microphone or any item you can imagine.       Q: What thickness mirror do you use? A: We use 3/16-inch mirror for clarity and depth.       Q: Can you custom engrave any plaque I want? A: Yes lipf.com can customize any plaque you desire and any size up to 12” x 24”. The two choices we have available at this time are black plaques with silver or gold text.       Q: What does Limited Edition mean? A: A limited edition print is one in which a limit is placed on the number of impressions pulled in order to create a scarcity of the print. Limited editions are usually numbered and are often signed. Limited editions are a relatively recent development, dating from the late nineteenth century. Earlier prints were limited in the number of their impressions solely by market demand or by the maximum number that could be printed by the medium used.       Q: What is a Serigraph? A: A stencil method of printmaking in which an image is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. This is also called silkscreen process and screen-printing. A serigraph is a print made by this method.       Q: What is a Giclee? A: With the advent of giclee (zhee-clay) the art of fine art printing has become even more precise. Because no screens are used, the prints have a higher apparent resolution than lithographs. The dynamic color range is greater than serigraphy. In the gicleé process, a fine stream of ink-- more than four million droplets per second—is sprayed onto archival art paper or canvas. The effect is similar to an airbrush technique but much finer. Each piece is carefully hand mounted onto a drum, which rotates during printing. Exact calculations of hue, value and density direct the ink of four nozzles. This produces a combination of 512 chromatic changes (with over 3 million colors possible) of highly saturated, nontoxic water-based ink. The artist’s color approval and input are essential for creating the final custom settings for the edition.       Q: What is a Lithograph? A: In the graphic arts, a lithograph is a method of printing from a prepared flat stone or metal or plastic plate, invented in the late eighteenth century. A drawing is made on the stone or plate with a greasy crayon or tusche, and then washed with water. When ink is applied it sticks to the greasy drawing but runs off (or is resisted by) the wet surface allowing a print-- a lithograph-- to be made of the drawing. The artist, or other print maker under the artist's supervision, then covers the plate with a sheet of paper and runs both through a press under light pressure. For color lithography separate drawings are made for each color.        Q: What does Mixed Media mean?  A: This is where the artist uses more that one medium, such as watercolor and acrylic paints, Glass, wood and metal all in the same piece of art.       Q: What does Facsimile mean? A: A facsimile is a copy of the original. The word facsimile is often used to represent the signature on a piece of art, document or photo.       Q: What is an Off Set Lithograph? A: An off set litho is created by the printing process in which an inked image on a metal or paper plate is transferred to a smooth rubber cylinder and then to the paper. This is also known as a poster or print.       Q: What does AP, EA & PP stand for? A: The meaning of AP (Artist Proof) A small group of outstanding prints for the artists use which have been set aside from the other limited edition prints. The meaning of EA (European Artist Proof) A small group of outstanding prints for the artists use which have been set aside from the other limited edition prints. The meaning of PP (Printers Proof) A small group of outstanding prints for the printers use which have been set aside from the other limited edition prints.       Q: What is an Edition? A: An edition is a group of identical prints that can be numbered and signed by the artist. Open Edition: An unlimited number of prints Limited Edition: Prints that have a known number of impressions, and are usually signed and numbered by the artist.       Q: What is Impressionism? A: Impressionism is referred to as the most important art movement of the 19th century. The term impressionism came from a painting by Claude Monet. His painting was titled Impression Sunrise. Impressionism is about capturing fast fleeting moments with color, light, and surface.