The Framers Forum

Hi there,

Am wondering what everyone uses for weights? Scratching about and have used jars of jam today, but need something slightly more practical. Any recommendations folks? Loathe to buy decorative glass weights due to the cost.

Thanks for any advice.

Little plastic containers filled with sand mixed with PVA glue work quite well. I've got a large quantity of the plastic container and lits that are used by Chinese take aways for putting sauce into, I use them for mixing paint. Something like that would probably make a good mould for sand mixed with PVA. Best to leave it a few days for it to set, before popping it out of the mould.

I use pickle jar weights, they are glass, smooth and much cheaper than paperweights

I've been picking up paperweights from charity shops over the last few years. Around £5 or under usually. That's for keeping new work flat on the table.
For glueing mats together etc, I have some home gym weights in a range of sizes.

I use offcuts of glass. Take eight pieces of 8cm square glass and cover in handy wrap and you have a cheap and easy paperweight. If it gets tatty, just wrap it again. I keep a range of these handy and they are ideal for jobs like float mounting and hinging. Ideal way of using up scraps of glass you'd otherwise throw away.

On the workbench I use off cuts of glass with mountboard stuck top and bottom. On the counter I have small white socks filled with rice.

Handy wrapped glass squares.

I have a few small plastic tupperware tubs on the counter, 2 for screws, 2 for d-rings, and 2 for ferrules, so I just use them if I ever need paperweights.

Handywrapped stacks of 2mm aluminium, mostly 5x4", but sets going all the way up to 16x20". Very useful for taming prints from the 44" printer.

Start with corners and edge centres held down by 5x4 stacks, then if the paper is still curly (and some of the alpha cellulose materials are really meant to be springs), trimmed prints held under larger stacks. rewrap when needed.

On occasions (i.e. to bond subframes), I've resorted to using MacPro computers as weights - 19" square, and 25KG. I keep a small stack of them in the corner for such purposes. Weigh distribution aided by sheets of aluminium, forex and so on.

Must tidy that corner.

I use ceramic coasters to hold down artwork

Find these in junk shops and flea markets, stick a piece of mountboard on the bottom

As Justin mentioned I have a few glass weights I purchased from charity shops.

I also have about 12 other weights made from old spice jars. Sainsbury’s own brand come in little glass jars. I have filled these with v-nails. I used to have a Minigraff underpinner and used my old supply to fill these up.

Work a treat, perfect size and good weight.

I then have a few dumbbell plates, also bought from charity shops.

I love all these ideas. I think I'll start saving glass jars so that I can upcycle V-nails. I've got used V-nails sitting in a tub just waiting for a use for them

At the moment I'm using ceramic coasters, with these paper coasters underneath just in case the ceramic ones get grubby.
https://www.lakeland.co.uk/9433/200-Soa ... -Coasters-

Some great ideas here! I love the reuse of MacPros
In case anyone is interested, here is my lovely collection of paperweights.
I've been mistaken for a collector, but I promise I'm not buying any more now!

Rainbow wrote: ↑Thu 18 Jun, 2020 3:29 pm I think I'll start saving glass jars so that I can upcycle V-nails. I've got used V-nails sitting in a tub just waiting for a use for them

I didn't mean V-nails, I meant used blades!

Used blades, still using them for weights as well, while trying to work out what to do with them.
A box of old hard drives - incredibly dense, still waiting to be fully decommissioned before disposal. As they can't be used for anything technological, I guess they qualify as paperweights.

Show and tell...