Fixing military medals

[John Andreae]

Hi

I'm doing a shadow box of military memorabilia and would welcome any advice on fixing medals to the backing matt. Some of them have pins which I guess I can use to fix them but there are a couple which are simple medals with no fixings or bars. The customer is happy for these to be glued on but I would like to use an adhesive which won't damage them but is also going to be able to hold them in the long term. Any experience of this would be welcome.

John

[Not your average framer]

I would not personally recommend using an adhesive at all. Medals naturally oxidise over time and develop a patina which looks natural and in keeping with the age of the medals. In the event of the owner one day wishing to unframe these medals the area where the adhesive was applied would look different to the area where a natural patina had developed.

The normal broach bars can be passed through a slot in the mountboard and retained from behind with a couple of thichnesses of mountboard inserted between the reverse side of the mountboard and the pin on the broach bar. If the medals on the broach bar are court mounted this will often be all that is required, but if the medals are able to more freely on the medal ribbons then discrete sewing in place onto the mountboard is the normal method.

[John Andreae]

Thanks Mark that's useful. Can you advise on medals with no ribbons or fixing points at all? I think I saw somewhere that you can get tiny clips to hold them?

Jon

[An Old Master]

I would also advise ressearch on what order medals should be presented in - or the
'order of precedence ' as it is known. This information is usually included when medals are presented, but if not available, can be obtained through the Imperial War Museum. Military types are sticklers for this sort of thing.

[Roboframer]

You'll find that info on line easily.

As for the coin type medals a shaped melinex mount would be good .....

Trace the shape and add 'legs'. Tape a sheet of melinex over it and carefully cut the shape out - aiming to cut juuuuust inside the pencil line on the curves

coin mount 003.JPG (93.13 KiB) Viewed 13806 times

Cut it out completely so that you have a template to position and mark where the legs will pass through the mounting board

coin mount 004.JPG (92.98 KiB) Viewed 13806 times

Pass them through the board and position the object.

coin mount 005.JPG (97.67 KiB) Viewed 13806 times

Adjust, tighten and tape the legs down at the back - that's it mounted (to the left is one I did earlier)!

coin mount 006.JPG (163.76 KiB) Viewed 13806 times

coin mount 007.JPG (94.38 KiB) Viewed 13806 times

[JohnMcafee]

A brilliant tutorial.

[StevenG]

No messing, straight to the point. Excellent.

[Not your average framer]

Class!

[Roboframer]

If you have a CMC you can cut melinex shapes with anal precision by putting the sheet of melinex under a mount board offcut and increasing the blade depth a fraction - assuming you/your software is capable, mine isn't and I'm not!

[John Andreae]

Thanks fantastic! Didn't expect a full tutorial!

[prospero]

Nobody expects the Full Tutorial! Our chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear. Our two weapons...............

[Steve N]

Well done John (Robo) 1st class tutorial

[Roboframer]

Well thanks all, but it was quicker than trying to explain it!

[sable filbert]

Very nice job that!

One imagines there is no adverse reflections, once glazed?
My chums find ancient silver and gold coins (when lucky detecting!), would the plastic take anything away from the surface patina?

[Roboframer]

Possibly, but going by the above obviously unprofessional photos, what say you?

[The Common Framer]

Hi

Following some advice by most of the people in this thread .. I mounted some coins as per the attached picture. 5mm foam in a mount sandwich as it was a two side piece.CMC is required - fortunately I have a local company that I contract to do all my tricky cuts! This is the unfinished result - eventually had a plaque in bottom right hand facing corner. The offset nature of the coins and the bright white mount are to "reflect" the fact that these coins are from Sochie Winter Olympics ..i.e. this is a ski run. (Use your imagination please!)

Just another idea however - the melinex method is one I will definitely try when needing to show the whole item (front and sides).

Thanks for the tutorial.

Maatt