Attaching a sanddollar

Create a Post
V

vtapia

Grumbler
Founding Member
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Posts
25
Loc
Orlando,FL
Hello all.

I have a perfect sanddollar to mount. My thought is to sew it down with cotton thread. Perhaps that is too stressful for this fragile item.
Advise please.
Thanks.
Valerie
 
Sounds like a job for tulle.

Very strong. Nearly invisible. Available in the bridal section of most fabric or craft stores. You should be able to buy some cream or off-white.

Put a small hole in the mount board where you want to put the sand dollar, gather the tulle around the sand dollar, pull the excess through the hole and secure it on the back of the board.

Or do what nearly everyone else does - secure it with a couple of globs of silicone.

You can buy a sand dollar in many of those same craft stores for about fifty cents.

[ 01-29-2003, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: Ron_Eggers ]
 
YEA, but not one like have, 6+" in diameter.I am wondering what the replies will be on this also. We want to put a small light behind ours to show the inside, and the design. Of course, a shadowbox frame. The mounting is not definite. Hubby wants to attach the thick part in the back of the sand dollar.to a plastic dowel, with whatever glue may work.(experimental there!)I think it will have a nice look. Maybe someone else has done one of these.I am looking forward to more replies.
 
A small amount of Bond 57 will hold if you let it cure. I had one come back with 3 of them in a nice mount. The customer wanted to change mat colors after 10 years and it was not a big problem. I was able to remove everthing except where the small amounts of glue were and then I just mounted them again. Make sure you place it so it won't show when you do change it.

[ 01-30-2003, 01:03 AM: Message edited by: JPete ]
 
Originally posted by Ron_Eggers:


Or do what nearly everyone else does - secure it with a couple of globs of silicone.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about this, but dosn't silicone have some sort of bad reaction with things like sea shells and sand dollars?

I've never mounted these items myself, but somewere I heard that.

I'm curious to find out the best method, just in case I have to do some of these items.
 
You might have something there, Mark. Sea shells and probably sand dollars are (I think) mostly calcium carbonate and could probably react to the acetic acid in the silcone. But I have a little shadow box in the shop with some shells and sand dollars that were siliconed about ten years ago and they all seem happy. Still, if I were going to glue them today, I'd look for an alternative.

Oddly enough, I DO have a big sand dollar in the shop to mount in the next few days and I've not decided yet how I'm going to do it.

[ 01-30-2003, 08:37 AM: Message edited by: Ron_Eggers ]
 
Stay away from silicone! It will evenually dissolve a bit of the shell and release it. I have done it and learned the hard way.

Jack Cee
 
Mark,

Did you happen to see those seashell and bromeliads on the table close to the customer counter the last time you were here?

I siliconed them together sometime last year and they haven't weakened a bit. It didn't seem to hurt the bromeliads either. Two of them are getting ready to bloom soon.

Sand dollars are a whole different critter though. They are very soft and easily damaged so the gunk in silicone may well soften them further and cause them to fall apart.

framerguy
 
I like Ron's suggestion of using tulle. Or better still, use one of these finer mesh fabrics: Stabilitex (museum-grade polyester) or Crepeline (French silk organdy). Both of these are very fine mesh -- almost invisible in most cases. Available from Talas in NYC; the source I know. If there are other sources, please let me know.

Whether you use tulle or another fabric, the advantage of wrap-mounting is that it provides the best overall support. That is, the weight and stress of the mount is distributed more evenly over a large area; the item is gently cradled. On the other hand, all glues support only from their point of adhesion.
 
Thank you all for responding to my Sand Dollar
challenge. I thank you all for you inputs. It is so fragile. I think, I will try the tulle.
and cradle mount it.
Thanks,
Again.

Valerie
Artistic Framer
 
Create a Post
Back
Top