The Framers Forum

Hi Everyone,

I am wondering what suggestions you folk have if you were to frame a wooden penny whistle. The penny whistle is a gift from Bolivia, and is made from wood. It is approximately 40 cm in length and 5 cm in width. The wood is a fairly light colour and has colours in segments - as it represents a totem pole.

So far, the info I have received has been fantastic, so many thanks to all who have contributed.

Regards,
Kathy

Without seeing the whistle my first thought would be to consider the use of polyester (Mylar/Melinex) straps. Once suitably mounted then a deep rebate moulding to avoid a box hanging out of the back of the frame.

I've not done one but here's my thoughts.

Cut a strap of melinex at least twice as long as the whistle and feed it through it, in the mouthpiece and out the other end, it might be an idea to taper it at the round end to reduce the amount of curve it will have to make, but maybe just at that point and then widening out again.

Make slits in the mounting board juuuuuuuuuuuust under each end of the whistle and juuuuuuuuuust long enough for the strap to squeeze through; pass the strap through the slits and secure on to double sided tape on the back of the mounting board, then put more double sided tape over that, fold the excess back on to that and then put a strip of 3m 810 magic tape (or something like) over the lot. It's not going to go anywhere!

If it holds it firmly with no play (ha ha) then that's it - a pretty much invisible job. If there is play, then one or two skinny straps around the body will cure it - in fact they would even hold it themselves, but there'd be no prevention of lateral movement.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the suggestions. I have had a closer look at the penny whistle, and the openings are extremely narrow, no more than 3 millimeters. Guessing I will have to come up with another idea, as I don't think that I will be able to pass anything through, as it is also curved at the top.

Regards,
Kathy

You can cut Melinex straps as narrow as you like, but not having a penny whistle to hand I can't really relate to the problems of threading a narrow flexible thing through one.

Here's another idea, use the finger holes, or one of them, the one nearest the mouthpiece. Cut an elongated 'T' of Melinex, wrap the 'bar' of the shape around the whistle over the hole and pass the 'leg' through the hole and out of the end.

Kathy wrote:the openings are extremely narrow, no more than 3 millimeters

Hi Kathy,
If you cut a strip of Mylar to 3mm width and then pull it between your two hands, I think you will be very surprised just how strong it is.

The force required to stretch it enough to break it, will soon make you understand why Mylar is such a good material for so many difficult object framing problems. Don't worry Mylar is almost certainly still in the game as potentially the preferred method!

Before anyone can suggest anything further, can we see a photo to give us a more detailed idea of the best way to take this forward for you. This will help to understand how to ensure that the Mylar straps can be arranged to have the lowest possible visual impact.

Thanks, will take a picture this weekend and add it to the post for further advice.

I would just like to re-iterate my thanks, this forum is fantastic.

Regards,
Kathy