framing a crystal cross

Dove Cottage Crafts · Post by **Dove Cottage Crafts** » Fri 01 Jun, 2007 7:41 pm

Hi all.......I am busy framing a crystal cross and now the customer decided that she would like the cross to be "raised up". I am using a forest green undermount only with no top mount at her request. Any ideas on raising the cross other than a thin piece of glass under or silicon. It would be imposible to cut a green cross of several layers to prop the cross up as the thing is very "frilly" round the edges.

PS Is silicon OK to use with crystal

THANKS........Carel

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Sat 02 Jun, 2007 7:59 pm

What are the dimensions, including thickness and I'm assuming you can see through it?

Dove Cottage Crafts · Post by **Dove Cottage Crafts** » Sun 03 Jun, 2007 7:26 am

Hi John.....The lady did not leave the cross with me as I am doing a sample frame first but the cross is about 3 inches by 2 inches and about 1/4 inch thick and is see through. I am using a glass template at the moment.

Thanks and regards from South Africa.

ross · Post by **ross** » Sun 03 Jun, 2007 8:26 am

Is the cross one designed for wearing - if yes, then presumably it has a chain or other means of using it - use this to fasten cross within frame unit and allow it to hang loosely
As for raising it, a black core matt-board mounted on to 5mm black Fome-cor could be used to establish a raised base on which the cross wouls sit, now raised some 6-7mm above thematt-board at the back of the frame unit. I would leave the raised segment in a rectangular shape, but bevel the edges at 45 degrees to highlighted the raised border

Ross

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Sun 03 Jun, 2007 9:18 am

I've raised things like this by making a tiny cushion - fabric of your choice - crushed velvet is good and you could also peel off the surface of a suedette mount - but that's very fragile, free though, if from an offcut!

Piece of mountboard - say 5x4" piece of 2oz quilt wadding on top but slightly smaller - cover in fabric, wrap around and secure on back with fabric glue. Then, for a nice touch and to hide the folds at the corners, cut a mount slip (fillet) to fit, but mitre it the wrong way so the finished edge is on the outside and the rebate will go under the back of the board.

Make it flush at the back and fix it in place with P90 or something to the board you make it flush with, it'll not be too stable at this point but once you fix it to your mount it'll be solid.

I wouldn't use silicone, on pretty much anything - regardless of the advice some of our 'experts' give in our pretty useless trade mags here - sorry, mustn't rant. Anyway, any adhesive you use, you will see and you don't want that. Thin mylar strap or even invisible thread at the most inconspicuous place.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Sun 03 Jun, 2007 9:23 am

Another idea,

From frame front to back......

Glass
Spacer (such as econospace)
Museum glass, carrying cross
Spacer
Mountboard
Backing.

To mount the cross you'll need to cut a small strip of mountboard the same colour as mount and fasten the cross to it as in the other method above, then that can be adhered to the museum glass.

Dove Cottage Crafts · Post by **Dove Cottage Crafts** » Sun 03 Jun, 2007 6:26 pm

Thank you very much John and Ross......very interesting. Ross....the lady for some reason does not want the chain....I dont understand why as it is a lovely silver chain. John...I did actually cut a piece of felt and thought about a little box to lay the cross on....glad to know I am on the right track. Like the idea of trapping the cross between glass and the slip....sound good. A friend of mine who is a gem stone cutter also came to visit today and he has some other idea which he told me about...on the lines of a U shape type of clamp and then hang the cross from this....not sure about his idea. Many thanks for your advice......Regards....Carel

realhotglass · Post by **realhotglass** » Sun 03 Jun, 2007 9:03 pm

Carel,

I've helped framers here put together projects like Robo mentioned . . . using museum / reflection free optically coated glass inside a package, usually numerous levels of reflection free glass, with small items mounted to these glasses (glass lollies, metal seahorses, etc).

Using plain UV glass (with some reflection) on the outside, it looks like the items inside are floating randomly.
I have pics of one early project if anyone wants to see.

I will one day find a lot of aquarium type glass items (random size / coloured fish, seahorses etc, some glass 'weed' and the likes) and make a glass aquarium.

I UV glue the items in place.
You need at least a tiny (2mm dia or so) flat to flat area for some UV glues to work properly, but then I have Italian glues that work better with gaps.
It is pretty much invisible, and extremely strong.

2 x 0.5mm dia spots near the top and bottom of the cross would hold it easily and faithfully.
A couple of minutes in good full midday sun, or using a special (expensive) light for about 30 seconds will see it fully cured (5 second tack with proper light).

The nice thing is it is fully reversible from glass / crystal type materials, by a special technique.

UV glue people can be hard to track down, so not sure what you could find locally there.

Try a few glass companies, or if that fails a windscreen place . . . they usually have UV glue to fix some rearview mirror parts back onto windscreen replacements.