The Framers Forum

Hi all,

I've been asked to mount a Chinese ink painting on thin handmade Chinese paper on a silk backing. The silk will form a scroll and the piece will be suspended from the wooden dowel at the top end of the scroll. It is quite a good piece and must be done to conservation quality. I assumed that a starch glue would be punted onto the reverse of the piece to bond it to the silk. Now I am worried that the glue will set hard and be brittle so that it will crack every time the scroll is rolled up for storage. The client is Chinese and wants authenticity. The work is about 1' (30cms) x 5' (150 cms).

Can anyone advise? I tried the Chinese forum but my Mandarin is a bit rusty

Digby

This doesn't sound like 'framing' to me - it's a painting on flimsy paper and you need to wet mount it on to silk and it's to be hung as it is; not in a frame, yes? I'd not entertain that and even if I would I'd make it clear that if the customer wants to roll it up, that's his/her problem.

I've had these things for framing, but they've always already been bonded to the silk backing/surround, most have dowels top and bottom which are very handy.

Someone asked me to mount (and frame ) one of these once. It was 12ft long. I politely declined.

There is obviously a time-honoured method for sticking them to silk. I wouldn't want to learn on a customers work though. Like a lot of jobs that are loosely allied to framing, you need a specialist.

Hi Digby,

Have you completed this?

I've just framed a horizontal scroll which ended up about 2200mm long.