The Framers Forum

Right. I'm not having a go at Mary Evans. And this is not a dig at FATG or conservation standards.
I sincerely appreciated what I learned from Mary's video lectures.
(and I have since re-done several of my early photo framings to comply with what she taught)

Having watched Jim's video of Mary Evans going through the procedure of producing a simple frame, one of the things that she was quite emphatic about was 'T' hinges.
She stated that the stalk of the 'T' should not be greater than 8mm and most usually 5mm, where it is fixed to the rear surface of the artwork.
Can someone please explain to me why only 5mm (or possibly 8mm)?
And what circumstances would suggest that 8mm would be more appropriate than 5mm?
Weight?
Size?
What is the break-off point?
What would be wrong with putting more than 5mm or 8mm onto the rear of the artwork?

And if I put 15mm on the rear of a piece of artwork, would I be shot at dawn? Or later in the day?

TIA
Jack

It is all about creating as little damage as possible to the artwork, whilst providing sufficient support. If the hinge needs to be removed at some stage in the future, it is a painstaking process, so as small an area as possible makes sense.

So, a large print, on heavy paper, would need more of the hinge in contact.

I can't speak directly for Mary, but I would suggest that the 5mm and 8mm are sensible guidelines to follow rather than an absolute value.

15mm = firing squad offence.

OK. thanks Jim.
That certainly makes a lot of sense.
Even allowing for Mary's assertion that gummed tape is easily removable with the application of 'a little dampening of the tape'.
I did wonder at the time, when she said that, how 'a little dampening of the tape' would affect a valuable piece of artwork.

So, for a photograph which is displayed for presentation, rather than with preservation as the primary factor, I would stand a reasonable chance of getting through the day; if I used a 14mm hinge?
It sounds to me that practical experience is the criteria, rather than definitive rules - though I can see that some sort of guideline/rule is required, whilst the experience is in the development stage

Thanks for your time

Hi Jack,

I gave a talk recently about conservation framing and anticipated being asked about how much of the tape should encroach onto the artwork so I demonstrated that 5mm of tape is all that’s needed to support even the heaviest of paper.

The tape in the photo is attached to the card by 6mm.
This is the tape I’ve used:
http://www.lionpic.co.uk/product/RAG-HI ... ,1661.aspx

When cutting paper tape you should always tear it and not use scissors so you don’t get a sharp edge.
BTW, the iron weighs 2kg.

Dave

That is very impressive David.
And even though it is (presumably) top quality museum tape, even allowing a 75% deficiency using conventional gummed or self adhesive tape, for hanging photographs, that is still 1/4kilo/250g.
Thanks for the illustration. Much appreciated.

Jack

Is this a new Damien Hirst or Tracy Emin installation?