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Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Thu 25 May, 2023 10:12 am
by whitbyframer
Hi all.

I've got an artist who paints on very heavy, expensive paper. I'm having trouble getting any tape to hold the artwork onto the mountboard. I'm using T-hinges fastened to a backboard using PH70 hinging tape. They were hanging in an unheated gallery space last year and she took them home over the winter, but as soon as they gone back into the gallery the tape has let go again. :sweating:

When I'm testing the tape on the art paper it's really not gripping very well. Any ideas what else I could use?

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Thu 25 May, 2023 10:18 am
by Justintime
I suggest forgetting self adhesives altogether, they can't handle changes in temp and humidity and shouldn't be trusted for hinging at all imho.
Find a white acid free gummed paper or cotton rag tape that's slightly lighter than the paper, as a minimum.
Up from that, some Japanese hinging tissue of the correct weight for work, with starch paste.

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Thu 25 May, 2023 12:00 pm
by Rainbow

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Thu 25 May, 2023 2:51 pm
by JKX
Platform mount or mounting strips, you can make your own mounting strips from melinex or from paper (1 ply board)

No adhesive to fail

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Thu 25 May, 2023 3:49 pm
by Justintime
Or you could just pinwheel around the work with 2500mic mountboard and bond the window mount to the pinwheeling, job done, no fixing necessary.

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Thu 25 May, 2023 4:20 pm
by JKX
That sounds like a sink mount, which would be great if the artwork was on board you could make flush.

2.5 mm board would be far thicker than the paper, so it would surely be free to move back and fore?

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Fri 26 May, 2023 9:35 am
by prospero
I would agree about taking adhesive out of the equation.

But this type of self-adhesive tape needs to be burnished firmly to maximise the grip. Just pressing it on and rubbing
it with a finger does not do it. :wink:

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Fri 26 May, 2023 10:32 am
by Justintime
@JKX 1.4? 2.5? whatever works!!

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Fri 26 May, 2023 5:32 pm
by JKX
Nope, still don’t get it

Four bits of mountboard fitted around artwork and then window mount bonded to those 4 bits is not “job done”.
If you lift that away your watercolour will still be on the table, so there’s more to do.
You’d need an under mount and if the artwork isn’t fixed to that it’ll slip between it and the strips of board.

So the under mount will need to be bonded to those 4 bits of board as well, and right up to the aperture they create too - and that needs doing with the artwork in place. Not happening!

Then. whether you use 4 or 8 ply board to make those spacers, it’ll still leave too much play. The heaviest watercolour paper is only 0.9 mm thick, so that’s how thick your spacers would need to be, and I bet this particular one isn’t even that thick.

It’s still a sink mount, sink mounts are not for work on paper or anything two dimensional really.

Maybe a piece of board could be dropped into the aperture that is created but that would just be a platform mount but with ten times more work!

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Fri 26 May, 2023 7:11 pm
by Justintime
Of course you need an undermount! That's what you're pinwheeling onto...
I know I've only been doing this for 6 years but jeez...
Most heavy painted paper I get in is cockled to f#@k so in this case which is the case in my mind, this would and has been a perfect technique. .

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Fri 26 May, 2023 7:25 pm
by JKX
Right, so this is a type of shadow mount for cockled artwork.

Is this artwork cockled, it's not been mentioned? If not - platform mount (for me) If so, I'd want to be using hinges that work, so tissue/paste.

PH 70 tape shouldn't really go anywhere near an original

I've done a bit of watercolour (and stuff) and one reason I'd buy really heavy paper is that it does not need to be stretched and won't cockle - the stuff I mentioned is more like card than paper.

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Tue 30 May, 2023 8:52 am
by whitbyframer
The artwork is not cockled in any way - perfectly flat :)

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Tue 30 May, 2023 9:17 am
by StevenG
Hi, I don't mean to take this post off on a tangent but I'd like some tips on using non self adhesive tapes. My concern is that the 'wet' will soak through and be visible on the front or it'll generate a 'tightness spot' on the front that will make it obvious there the hinges are. Maybe I'm using hinges that are too wet? Any pointers - it's something I'd like to utilise more but I just don't have the knack of the process

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Tue 30 May, 2023 10:13 am
by JKX
You could always just start a new thread :-)

I assume you want to use these tapes on more valuable/important stuff.
They may be better than self adhesive tapes (but the worst are probably worse than the best self adhesive!), but should not be used for the very best, for the very best you either need to use no adhesive at all or the best there is, and the best there is, you make yourself and the same applies to the hinges.

I don’t know why but there seems to be huge reluctance amongst uk framers to learn the art (and it is one) of cooking fresh paste and wet-tearing Japanese tissues, from a stock of varying weights and shades.

The same principles regarding moisture will apply though - all you need do is learn how wet your tape should be - with paste it is generally left until not shiny.
You have no control over the consistency of water but you can cook paste to something you can practically roll in to a hall if you like - and then thin it with water if required.
Tapes do not have feathered edges - some may be “deckled” but not feathered but most are not and even if you wet tear the end (most framers just don’t do that) you cannot do the same to the sides.

You can also pay less for the best than you can for some gummed tapes like hayaku and once adept it is every bit as convenient as you can pre-tear strips in advance - oh and also any width you like!

Much more

Re: Tape not holding a piece of artwork in place

Posted: Tue 30 May, 2023 11:11 am
by Justintime
I have a no.12 paintbrush just for moistening tapes, when using water on gummed tapes. I brush the tape a few times to activate the adhesive and that is usually perfect. It is a fine line between just right and too much and weight of gummed tape needs to be lighter than weight of paper work.