Acrylic photo prints, made from your family photos.

You design an Acrylic Print in your browser. Choose a size first: The Portrait and The Masterpiece can be landscape or portrait, and The Centrepiece, the size the editor recommends, is always square. Then pick a layout and fill it with photos from your family's shared Library, or upload new ones as you go, which adds them to the Library for the whole family.

The Portrait and The Masterpiece share a 3:2 shape (24 ÷ 16 and 36 ÷ 24 both make 1.5), so a 3:2 photo fills either one in Solo without trimming, while a landscape 4:3 photo loses about a ninth of its height. On a landscape print, Duo's two spaces are taller than they are wide, so two upright photos suit it best, while Grid's four spaces are landscape-shaped.

Preview shows the print in its true proportions before you pay, and designing is free on any plan. The editor needs a screen at least 1,024 pixels wide, so use a laptop or desktop rather than a phone.

When you order, Ancestorii renders a print file at 300 DPI (dots per inch): 7,200 × 4,800 pixels for The Portrait, 7,200 × 7,200 for The Centrepiece and 10,800 × 7,200 for The Masterpiece. It goes to Prodigi, the print company Ancestorii works with, which makes the print and posts it. Production starts as soon as payment goes through, so an order cannot be cancelled after checkout.

An acrylic print is a photograph shown behind a clear sheet of acrylic instead of under glass in a frame. Ancestorii describes its panel as crystal-clear acrylic with vibrant colour depth, and its Terms describe the photo as printed behind polished acrylic glass. Prodigi, which makes the prints, describes the acrylic as high-gloss.

Acrylic glass is a plastic called polymethyl methacrylate, or PMMA. POLYVANTIS, the company behind PLEXIGLAS acrylic glass, gives colourless PLEXIGLAS a light transmission of 92% and describes it as “as transparent as glass, half as heavy, and free of optical distortion”. It also calls the material impact-resistant and resistant to UV and weathering. Those are figures for PLEXIGLAS in general, not a specification of the panel on your print.

The float mount is what lets the panel hang without a visible frame. Prodigi describes it as an invisible floating subframe with a built-in mounting system on every size over 8 inches, which covers all three Ancestorii sizes, and the float-mount hardware is included with every print.

All three sizes ship to 20 countries: the UK and Ireland, 14 more in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (the full list is in the questions below). Checkout does not accept addresses outside those 20.

You choose the speed at checkout, and delivery is charged on every order:

• Standard: £4.99, $5.99 or €5.99, taking 10 to 14 working days.
• Express: £8.99, $10.99 or €9.99, taking 5 to 7 working days.

Both are estimates rather than guarantees. You get an email when the order is confirmed and a tracking link when it ships, and the Orders page shows whether it is printing, shipped or delivered.

Each checkout is for one print, so to give the same photo to two households, order twice and pay delivery on each. Because every print is made to order, it cannot be refunded unless it arrives damaged, defective or materially different from what you ordered. If that happens, email support@ancestorii.com within 14 days of delivery with photos, and Ancestorii will arrange a replacement or refund at its discretion.

Dust is the main job. POLYVANTIS, writing about PLEXIGLAS, says that in most cases a soft, lint-free cloth or a sponge is all it takes, moistened with water and a small amount of washing-up liquid if needed.

There are two things to avoid. First, never rub acrylic completely dry: POLYVANTIS says this charges it with static, which attracts dust, and can scratch the surface. Second, leave the household sprays in the cupboard, because it warns that window cleaners and other cleaners containing alcohol damage the material, and that furniture polish can leave streaks.

Then think about light, because the photo behind the acrylic is still a print. Writing about the care of its collections, the Library of Congress explains that light damage is cumulative: dim light over a long period of time is just as damaging as bright light over a short period. It also notes that sunlight is generally avoided for displaying light-sensitive items because it is too intense, contains high levels of UV and is difficult to control.

With the hardware included, the main decision is the wall itself: somewhere direct sun does not reach, and not straight opposite a window if you want to avoid reflections.