Ceramic Tile

[smantecon]

Hello -
I have a client who brought in 4 12X12 ceramic tiles to be framed. They are to be framed seperatlely ( he is an artist and wants to sell them). They are about 1/4" thick and needs to be float mounted. He says he doesn't care if they are permanently mounted; however, I know if I do I will eventually regret it.

Is there anything I can use to float mount without it being permanent, but also without showing any type of fastener?
Open to all suggestions.

Thanks so much.

Scott

 

[Brian Lehr]

Hire a tile setter or use epoxy. To not make it permanent means it is going to fall off.

B.

 

[Cliff Wilson]

I have a similar project. I had been thinking of attaching the tile to a slightly smaller sized four ply with silicon and then using strong pass through hinges to mount those to the backing board.

Comments? Would Epoxy be better?

 

[Framerguy]

We seem to get all wrapped up in trying to figure out a failproof method to mount an impossible object.

Most of the ceramic tiles I have seen are quite heavy for their size. And, let's face it, they are floor tiles! I don't know if that client is an artist who created 4 unique ceramic tiles from scratch that would/could be valuable in the future. But I would discuss it with the client (as you apparently have) and go with the client's wishes and be done with it.

You are trying to mount a heavy object to a layer of cotton/processed wood fibers. The constant stress on those fibers could eventually cause separation of the matboard fibers and the tiles could eventually fall from the matboard. .........Eventually.

If you can't cut a sink mount for them, I would do the best that I could with a good quality epoxy and inform the client of the inherent dangers of hanging a couple pounds of ceramic to a fiber based paper (layman's term) board. If you get a release signed from the client that should be sufficient. I have never asked for a release form in 16 years of framing. The reason for that is, if I had any doubts of the outcome of my framing, I would not do the work. That is not to say that my framing is infallible. But I do what I know is within my capabilities as a framer and let someone else bear the brunt of risky framing.

Some ideas simply are beyond the scope of our profession. "Could you mount this brick in a shadowbox for me?? I don't want any mounting to show and it needs to appear to "float" in the shadowbox!" .............Uh huh.

Framerguy