textile art

Mrs C · Post by **Mrs C** » Mon 27 Jul, 2015 2:45 pm

hello Forum members

I have a rather lovely piece of textile art to frame for a new customer. We discussed the various ways it could be done (though I did say at the moment, I'm not certain of the best way). I know there has been discussion in the past about the use of tapestry tape for textiles and I too am against it in the main - most definitely for Conservation standard framing. I normally use the lacing method but in the case of this particular piece, the customer wants to see the raw edge, which all adds to the quality of the piece. Therefore it can't have a window mount either.

The easiest way would be to tape it obviously, leaving the edges free to sort of 'float mount' it. But we don't want to do that do we!

Could I put some lining material or similar behind it and craft glue it down? How do I sew lining to it though? The material isn't very thick so stitching might show. Guess the client could invisible stitch it maybe?

Any suggestions welcome. Photo attached.

David McCormack · Post by **David McCormack** » Mon 27 Jul, 2015 3:03 pm

How about some foamboard some wadding and some calico? Wrap the wadding around the foamboard and then lace the calico over the wadding and foamboard to make your backing. Than tack the artwork to the backing with thread the same colour as the art. This way the edges will show and then frame with some glass spacers. Probably better suggestions to come from others...

Mrs C · Post by **Mrs C** » Mon 27 Jul, 2015 3:11 pm

thanks Dave, that sounds a good idea for the backing, but still not sure how well I could invisibly tack the artwork to calico.

David McCormack · Post by **David McCormack** » Mon 27 Jul, 2015 3:27 pm

Could you ask the artist to give you some of the thread they have used... the dark blues/turquoise? I'm sure you could hide some small single stitches here and there.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Mon 27 Jul, 2015 3:27 pm

I'd full-support stitch it, on to mount board, preferably alphamat or alpharag artcare.

Mount board is harder to get a needle through than fabric and foam board, but it gives you more choice of colour, is more archival - and you have it in stock - win-win.

When I have to do a lot of stitches I make the needle holes with a home-made awl, basically a load of small circles of mount board with a sharp needle pushed through them to expose just 5 or 6mm, taped all around and backed with a bit of wood to stop the needle poking out the back and going through your thumb.

But of course there are thimbles and rubber needle grippers.

caro · Post by **caro** » Mon 27 Jul, 2015 3:53 pm

For making holes in mountboard you might like to consider getting a 'pricker' which is a tool used by bobbin lace makers specifically for making holes in card. on www.make-lace-with-us.co.uk/shop there are five different styles to choose priced around £4 to £5. it consists of a small wooden part which fits in your palm and this is fitted with an screwable/threaded grip - very similar to the part in a drill which holds the bit, so you can select the size of needle you want to use, fit it in and tighten up.

Post by **Tudor Rose** » Mon 27 Jul, 2015 4:23 pm

I'd also sew it - either to fabric wrapped board or to a board itself. Looking at it there are loads of places to hide stitches, they just need to be small, neat and discrete. If you are going into board then definitely make the holes in the board before trying to push the needle through. That's a handy link from caro for the lace maker's tool. I usually do a line of holes to hold it along one edge and then work down the board, lifting the material as I go to make the rest of the holes. Then after holding it up as it would be in the frame, check for any areas that aren't holding well and add extra stitches at those points. So a full support in other words, as Robo said. Things like this look more daunting than they actually are and as you are able to lace, then this will be piece of cake

It will take a bit of time but will be worth it.

As for tapestry tape - I would never use on fabric it no matter what level I was working to, same goes for craft glue.

Mrs C · Post by **Mrs C** » Mon 27 Jul, 2015 7:15 pm

many thanks everyone, very helpful.

Not your average framer · Mon 27 Jul, 2015 11:01 pm

Roboframer wrote:Mount board is harder to get a needle through than fabric and foam board.

I like to cheat a little when it comes to stitching onto mountboard and use an identical size needle in the chuck of a small electric craft drill.

It may sound surprising, but it will literally drill a nice neat hole through the mountboard with incredibly little effort at all. It's the same principle as drilling holes for frames with nailed together mitred joints, by using a nail to drill the holes.

IFGL · Post by **IFGL** » Tue 28 Jul, 2015 4:58 am

Is it better than using the equivalent sized drill bit?

Jamesnkr · Post by **Jamesnkr** » Tue 28 Jul, 2015 8:35 am

Good question, IFGL. I too was going to suggest a needle in a dremel but see NYAF got there first. I hadn't realised that you could buy 0.3mm drill bits.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Micro-Mini-Dril ... ahb35js-21

It's a bit like the question "why would you use a nail to drill a nailed-together mitre joint rather than a drill bit" that has been bemusing me for a while having first read it here.

markw · Post by **markw** » Tue 28 Jul, 2015 11:45 am

Using a tag gun can work - you can normally find somewhere to hide the tag - if not the tops can be painted to match the fabric colour. quicker than sewing - but both have their place as a solution to fixing down textiles.

SPF · Post by **SPF** » Wed 29 Jul, 2015 9:32 am

I had a similar problem, we chose to mount the textile with hooks and eyes as the customer wanted to be able to remove the textile the framing to had to be easy to open for this purpose.
The eyes were riveted onto 2200 micron solidcore board (slightly smaller than the object) and the hooks were carefully stitched with matching thread to the back of the textile. The riveted board was then glued to another piece of 2200 solidcore which was acting as the mount and once dry the textile was fixed to the hooks on the floater mount.

Post by **prospero** » Wed 29 Jul, 2015 11:36 am

How about direct contact overlay?

Strikes me that stitching would be tricky. If you stitched though the blue border the feathery top would tend to flop down. What about laying it on a slightly padded board covered with a grippy-type fabric like velvet. Suede mountboard might work if you padded directly behind the piece. Maybe with stitch or two just to locate it. Put thin acrylic on top and tape the edges. Then put the whole thing in the frame with a very thin spacer just to lift the glass off the acrylic.

Just a thought....

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Wed 29 Jul, 2015 3:48 pm

DCO mount explained here http://www.thegrumble.com/index.php?thr ... ost-841061 you only need one sheet of acrylic, no glass spaced from it - and it should be abrasion-resistant acrylic so the fabric or whatever, cannot abrade the acrylic, not vice-versa.

Not necessary though (and not a method I'm keen on anyway) you can stitch right up to the bottom of the frayed edges, if they still flop forward then you can do something about that too.

The Framers Forum

textile art

textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art

Re: textile art