Acrylic painting on foamboard!?!?!

Create a Post
F

framinzfun

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Aug 28, 2002
Posts
893
Loc
eastern pa
A customer brought in a triptych done on foamboard. The pieces are 20x30 each, lining up to be 60x30. The customer wanted them framed together in one frame, butted up next to each other. Problem is these paintings are very warped. I suggested that they be done individually and hung together. If they insist that they be done all together, what would be the best way to mount these things? What sort of adhesive would work the best? Would they be better off mounted to something like gatorboard?
 
To answer your question as you stated it, the best way to frame these is the way you suggested. If the customer wants them done in some other way you need to weigh the profit of doing them to your customer's specifications (and against the specifications of the professional framer) against the problems you may encounter trying to make these fit the customer's expectations.

If there isn't enough money there to make the problems worth the time, I would respectfully pass on the project and let some other framer have the problems and the small if any profit associated with making them fit some image that the customer has in their head about how the paintings should look. Or you could factor in such a profit margin that the problems are worth the money no matter how bad they become.

Who on earth decided to start doing originals on foamboard anyway?? Probably the same guy who got tired of seeing gallery wraps go out without frames.
 
For a really cool effect, and an excellent price point, frame each one separately ... then enclose all three frames within a single outer frame. Here is an example:

012.jpg
 
It is officially SLAP AN ARTIST Day!!!! Wait it will start all over again tommorrow!!!!

This is a bonehead move. I dealt with one of these years ago and it was bad to begin with. Three vertical 40x60 foamcore pushed together (side by side to form one big butt poor painting. YUK

I swear I told him to stop, guess he found you, lucky me

PL
 
Foam centered board can be hinged, but the hinges can not pull it flat. This
material can warp and when it has, it can not be flattened.



Hugh
 
Yep, hafta agree with Patrick. The artist is an idiot :nuts: and has used a totally unsuitable medium for his work. Short of gluing the foamcore onto a really heavy rigid board, like gator or similar there is no way to stop those pieces bowing.

The best way I can think of to salvage it would be to have a conservator delaminate the paper bearing the art off the foam then mount the paper onto a suitable stable substrate. It will cost a bomb but maybe the artist will stump up some of the cost:party:
 
CAframer said:
For a really cool effect, and an excellent price point, frame each one separately ... then enclose all three frames within a single outer frame. Here is an example:

012.jpg
Click to expand...

Andrew, that is a really neat idea for framing a triptych - separate, yet together.
 
Granted the substrate chosen is poor, but this is one example of where I think floater frames rock. I just finished a triptych painted on stretched canvases and to frame each individually with something other than a floater frame just looks wrong. Floaters, with their minimalistic look, can make a triptych look great.

If you go this route, leave very little of the interior of the frame showing and you may get away with gluing and putting moderate weights on the paintings after covering with a protective board. Put the board and weights on very very carefully to avoid sliding the fom-cor substrate out of center. You could minimize this problem by cutting some board strips to keep the paintings on center.

Your customer may want them in one frame because he/she doesn't want the frame to separate the work. Straight edge floater frames should satisfy the support needs and the design goals.

Wish I had taken a picture of the last one I did to better illustrate the look.

Dave Makielski
 
Counter mount...with care!

Way back...in the early 90's I worked for a gallery with an in-house artist. He'd paint on anything...and I mean anything! He'd occasionally sneak into the frameshop & grab foamcore to paint on & I'd be stuck trying to frame the concave image.

Because acrylic bonds to the paper coating of the foamcore & shrinks when it dries, the painting inevitably achieves a concave form. Now, with the artist's permission, I found an archival way to fix this. If you water down some gesso & paint the back of the foamboard, it will counteract the tension on the front & flatten the piece.

Good luck!:smiley:
 
If you water down some gesso & paint the back of the foamboard, it will counteract the tension on the front & flatten the piece.





_
If you can resist a tempation, it doesn't mean you're strong. The tempation was too weak.



Temptation tooo stronng...........


Sometimes it helps to put a new coat of gesso on the front too.





Suggest that next time the artist choose quality materials to paint on. Like Masonite.
 
Okay, okay. I recently framed a piece of sand art from Africa that was on a very warped board. Some things juast are what they are & ain't what they ain't. The risk of "fixing" it is just too high. The solution is a float in a sink. Basicly a shadow box. The three frames in one would be perfect. Kind of an expensive way to go but it looks great and at least the artist saved a few bucks.
 
I used to paint (disposable) backdrops for theme parties, on foamcore 40"x60" using acrylic paints. When these things dried, they would curl up like crazy. I would then face them of art side down one the floor, spray a mist of water to the back and apply weights overnight.
They were flat by the morning.
 
Rick Granick said:
Terry, I'm sure you meant to float the warped piece with a sinkmount build-up around its edges, but for a second I thought you meant, "Toss it into the laundry tub."
:faintthud: Rick
Click to expand...

Either way, problem solved. Right?
 
Create a Post
Back
Top