lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

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rubyred25
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lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by rubyred25 »

hi guys, rookie looking for abit of helpful advise

I've been asked to frame this picture - its 22cm x 31cm on lightweight thin fabric (not sure of exact material) that a friendly neighbour brought back from Vietnam but I'm not sure how best to go about mounting it correctly before framing (I'm new to framing and previously only framed oils and photos)
Any advise would be appreciated thankyou debbie :D
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prospero
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by prospero »

Got a press? :D
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rubyred25
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by rubyred25 »

Hi prospero, unfortunately not yet
I'm collecting framing equipment as I'm going along (only started learning framing early march - which I really enjoy) I've managed to buy a secondhand morso guillotine, cassese underpinner, keencut mountcutter, point guns etc and when I frame for friends/family I tend to put payment towards buying the next tool/equipment needed
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Justintime »

Wessex do a self adhesive foamboard F08, which has a low initial tack, allowing you to reposition before applying pressure (with a roller?).
Before I had a press, I got to know my local signage company, who would mount prints etc for me, it's not the cheapest method but the cost was passed straight on to the customer with a markup.
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rubyred25
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by rubyred25 »

Good idea Justin :D

I'm going to pop into our local printers/signage shop to see I they can help me out - a thought for the future once I've saved up for a secondhand press what size would you recommend as a good starting point?
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Not your average framer »

Foam board sounds like it makes pretty good sense, at least there aren't any limiting issues with your existing availability of equipment. Self adhesive foam board has already been mentioned, which makes sense, but I'll just throw in another foam board option which may, or may not appeal. I would be quite tempted to pin the fabric onto ordinary foam board by inserting dressmaker pins into the edges of the foam board, but I don't know what sort of fabric this is and if the fabric is silk, then I'd probably do it another way.

This method makes it completely reversible and allows you to readjust the pinning until it right and then go ahead and frame it with the pins left in place. The dressmarkers pins that I buy are from "White croft essentials" which have a minimum order value, or you can buy them from "Morplan" in a smaller quanity. The pins are made from stainless steel, with ABS plastic head and are rustproof, which means there's no problem framing with the pins left in. As you say you are a rookie, maybe this option might one that you might be more comfortable with at this stage.

As you feel more experienced, you will be able to develop you own choice of preferred method, or you may already have another preference already, take your pick, the methods mentioned so far are all reasonable methods.
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Justintime »

Ruby,
I was looking at the 600mm wide Drytac cold laminator (for affordability, the next size up was way more) before I came across a Hotpress 260 (approx 850x1150) for a very reasonable price.
When the time comes, I can recommend doing the free 1 day training at Hotpress/Drytac in Bristol. Steve Goodall is a great teacher and is always at the end of the phone when I can't figure something out from my book.
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Justintime »

I'm talking about secondhand equipment...
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rubyred25
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by rubyred25 »

thankyou mark,

My neighbour did mentioned that she thought it maybe silk but was not 100% sure. I am going to buy myself some of the dressmakers pins you mention as they sound like they will be useful for other things too, and I already have some 5mm foam board in my stock.
Think I'd prefer to try this type of method over sticking it down mainly due to my lack of experience - but i will also buy some sheets of self adhesive foam board to practise the technique using my own photos/fabric etc
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Justintime »

Justin George GCF(APF)
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Rainbow »

I'm pretty new to textile/fabric framing - I've only done a few and I don't actively promote yet it as a service. So my first thought for this lightweight fabric might be wrong, which was the tight-fit method. What do the experts think to this?
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by YPF »

Depending on the value of the art and depth of customer’s pockets I would consider:

Donor strips sewn around all 4 edges to allow standard lacing (the trick here is to ensure correct weight of thread to use). In this example there is not a great deal of useable space around the image.

Sew to a piece of fabric larger than the art and then lace/pin as required to supporting board. Again, correct weight of thread is key.

Lightly bond to a self adhesive board, making sure the image does not pull out of square when bonding.

The fabric looks to be very thin, care needs to be taken if inserting needles and thread. Personally, if it’s a piece of tourist art, I would prefer to bond it to a board and then double mount in 2 shades of grey
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by prospero »

There is a method I used on silks and wotnot. You pre-mount dri-mount Film leaving the release paper on the upside.
Slightly smaller than the art if you won't it floated. The when it's cool, peel the release paper and position the thingy on the
tacky surface. Give it a quick squeeze in the press. Literally bring it up to pressure and take it out straightaway. This will hold
it, but it won't form a permanent bond. You can peel it off again with care.

Without a press you might get away with cold-mount sticky board. I don't trust the stuff. :roll:
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Not your average framer »

The tight fit method is also known as the Newberry method, I used to use this method a lot when I first started and it does work quite well, but I did think that it did not give me the full control I wanted, because when the fabric needs pulling a little more in a particular position, there are times when the tension required is to great for the friction that is produced in the tight fit part of this method and things don't stay put.

I'm not knocking this method. It is a very useful method and has it merits, but I like to get the edges of an image completely straight and completely square, plus I don't want anything to move afterwards ever. Yes, I will admit that I am extremely fussy and not everybody is as fussy as me.
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rubyred25
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by rubyred25 »

Many thanks to you fellow framers :clap: really appreciate your thoughts & wisdom on my problem and will be practicing all techniques mentioned. Thankyou Debbie :D
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Rainbow »

As Mark says, the tight-fit method is aka the Newberry method, and it's explained in detail in both the books mentioned in this earlier thread about framing silk:
https://www.theframersforum.com/viewtop ... f=6&t=3658

I've got both the FATG book and the Kistler book, and they're both excellent.
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Steve N »

we have had a few of these in, in the beginning I tried doing them in a conservation way, but on giving the customer the price, normally met with the reply of " What!, I only paid a quid for it!!" :shock:
So now just slap it on a bit of self-adhesive board :sweating: , on something that size you don't need a big set up, just a hand roller to put that baby down :rock: :clap:
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Re: lightweight fabric picture - how best to mount

Post by Not your average framer »

You certainly won't lose anything, but giving the Newberry method a try as it is fully reversible and if you think the fabric may be silk, it is probably the fabric best suited to this method., especially as getting the silk to press down evenly behind the foam will be less problematic that with heavier fabrics.

I'm not saying that their are not those who use this method for fabrics other than silk, because there are those who do and I've come across examples of doing this. A custumer who at one time lived in the U.S. brought in two pictures to be reframed and they were framed by the Newberry method, but they were thin canvases and behind the foam board the canvas had cuts at the corners to allow the canvas to lay flat.

I understood that these were bought as framed and were probably low value tourist items. It would not be best practice to be cutting the fabric like this with anything which had anything other than no meaningful value and needless to say if the fabric was silk cutting the fabric at the corners to achieve the same result would be out of the question, as it would allow the silk to frey to pieces.

If the fabric is silk and as a result of being so thin, there are times when too white a background behind the silk can look a bit odd, or un-natural and there have been times when I have offered customers a less than totally stark white behind the silk to avoid this effect. This has been achieved with a slightly off white conservation quality mountboard of the customers choice. The purists may possibly say that it should be cotton museum board, but the value of the artwork might not be considered as justifying the extra expense,

Having said all that, lots of items on silk are often framed as cheap as possible, because they were sometimes bought very cheaply and the customer does not want anything other than an economic framing job.
Mark Lacey

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