Linen Hinging tape

[+Rafe+]

Morning all,

I feel as though I am going mad... has anyone else had issues with Lineco Linen Hinging Tape and getting it to stick?

I am hinging a window mount to the backing mount, the boards are LJ Minuet (8627) the tape is lightly moistened, left to absorb and go a bit tacky and then I am lightly burnishing the tape down leaving it with weights for over an hour.

Three times now the tape has failed, I am about to do it again for the fourth time but thought I should get some feedback .... Am I doing something wrong, have I got a dodgy batch, is this a know issue ...

Thanks as always

[Not your average framer]

Your not the only one who has this problem. The reality is that there really could be a much heavier coat of the water based adhesive of this tape and if you are using this tape to stick to surfaces which are too absorbent, then too much of this water based adhesive can soak into those aborbent surfaces and not leave enough adhesive at the surface to produce an effective bond. I stopped using this tape a long time ago, as I don't find it very effective in most cases. It is also a lot of money for a rather disappointing product.

[+Rafe+]

Thanks Mark, glad I'm not going mad ... in this case at least!

What did you then change to instead of this product, if I can ask?

All the best

[Gesso&Bole]

I use the Lion one, Cloth tape conservation product number 4952. It works well for me, and comes on smaller and larger rolls

[+Rafe+]

Thanks Jeremy I will give that a whirl!

[Not your average framer]

I mostly use 90 grams per square meter gummed paper tape for hinging mounts to under mounts. Not everyone knows this, but the heavier weight gummed paper tapes also have a much heavier coating of gum on them. The normal 70 gram gummed paper tapes are not very effective in my opinion and they are not very opaque, so that you can almost see through them. Obviously if you are using the gummed paper tape for hinging mount then the gummed paper tape should have a wide clearance from the artwork, to avoid contamination.

90 gsm gummed paper tape is enormously strong and works very well. I also have a huge reel of white comservation hinging tape which is thinner, but sticks well. I think that it probably came from Robert Sraggs in Birmingham, I have had this for a very long time and it's hard to remember for definite. Heavy weight gummed paper tape is my preferred way of covering rear face of my stacked moulding frames. It's a very permanent tape which stays stuck and looks the business.

It's not much use for frames to hang on damp walls and there are quite a few of these damp walls in old Devon houses and cottages. Sekisui self adhesive kraft paper tapes and waterproof backing boards are what I use for sealing the backs for waterproof framing, with an air tight waterproof taped up sandwich inside. I use a separate waterproof backing board for backing the taped up sandwich and another for sealling the back of the frame, because the Sekisui tape destroys the waterproof coating on the backin board if the tape is ever removed.

I hope that at least some of this will be helpful.

[+Rafe+]

Brilliant insight Mark! Thank you

[Tudor Rose]

Don't forget that as we get into the colder and damper months of the year, the temperature of your workshop and the humidity level can have an effect on the ability of tapes to work efficiently.

[Tudor Rose]

Meant to also say, for a pre-gummed hinging tape we either use the Larson-Juhl cotton rag gummed, or the Lion version. We've found both to be excellent and not given us any problems.

I wouldn't be looking to use a brown paper gummed (or self adhesive version) tape within the mount package at all, even if kept at a distance from the artwork.

[Not your average framer]

You really need to know how to do waterproof framing in the rural parts of the west country. Lots of the older housing around here would not pass modern building standards, some buildings don't even have any foundations either. They are just standing on top of the soil. Most walls are not flat and straight, floors are rarely level, stair cases down have stair trends that are on the level. It quite an education. Knocking nails into many of the old wall for hanging pictures is not a great idea as lump on whatever the wall is made of are likely to fall out of the wall. Picture often get hung from the old pine beams in walls. You would think that it would be Oak beams, but it is mostly old pine beams. The exposed beams in the ceilings are often very deep and smaller picture often get hung on the sides of these ceiilig beams. There's lots of little knooks ad crannies, many of them include shelves, which a never level and small pictures are often stood on these shelves surounded with all sort of old nick nacks. These home used to be warm and dry in the days when people had old fashioned fires.

Now that so many have central heating, there is no air from the fire to drawer the damp air away, so damp walls can be a very common thing. Doors and windows don't generally fit well, so these homes can be a bit drafty. It's a conservation area, so changing doors, or windows is a problem. The old doors and windows are not square, so getting new ones made is a big problem. Strange as it may sound, I have adapted to providing framing which is in keeping with these old homes and this is a significant part of my market. I sell quite a lot of old style oak frames. I also proce rustic oak and pine frames, which are also popular. There quite a few homes which are barn conversions, getting busines from these customers can be a bit hit and miss, many of them does shop in the town, but a few do. Some of these people have these as second homes and bring me their framing for both of their homes, so this can be helpful. Old style frames are often popular around here. There are a few mouldings which pass well as old fashioned country style frames and stuff like that, so taping the backs of frames with gummed paper tape and dustying it up a bit works well.

I expect that this helps to explain why I an called "Not your average framer".

[Not your average framer]

I do not use the gummed paper tape for mount packages for anything that matters and even when I use gummed paper tape, I allow 40mm clearance. Wide mount borders, with non textured smooth mountboards are the norm around here. They did not have textured mountboards years ago and it is my trademark to specialise in things which look old. I do very well with narrow Oak frames with oversized wide mounts, as were popular in the 1920's and 1930's. They look great with black and white, or sepia photos. It's a very different market here in Bovey tracey! Trying to sell the really modern stuff around here is very hard!

[Justintime]

Re backing tapes, I was using the Sekisui tapes for a few years. I still have some framed examples from 3 years ago and sadly the Sekisui is not holding up very well and that's in a temperature and humidity stable studio, no damp, no extremes. Maybe it doesn't stick so well to the waterproof coating on the backboards. It's rare that we see work again once it leaves, so its interesting to have some on display to check how our work is lasting. Now I've invested in a commercial tape dispenser I love gummed brown tape.
Gone completely off topic again...

[Not your average framer]

It depends upon the surface which it is stuck to! It is supposed to be a packaging tape and sticks really well to cardboard boxes, sadly not so well to the rear of pine mouldings, unless you prime them with acrylic medium. It sticks well to that and it sticks well to the waterproof layer on my waterproof backing board, unfortunately too well and if you try to move the tape in removes the waterproof coating as you remove the tape. I use a heat gun to soften the adhesive on this tape to make it easy to remove, otherwise it can pull some of the strands of the woodgrain away from the frame.

Unfortunately any adhesive residue is not particularly easy to remove from the frame afterwards and it is best scrapped away using a little white spirit and an old mount cutting blade. Unfotunately pine mouldings sometimes feel a bit waxy and need to be sanded down a little to stick anything self adhesive to the pine and this does not help. It seem to stick really well until a hot, humidy summer comes along, if you have not lightly sanded the rear of the pine mouldings first. I'm not really sure why this is!