Chinese watercolour

osgood

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A chinese watercolour came in today with the typical silk borders, but no wooden rods.

Customer does not want mats, just a frame and glazing. Spacers don't work well on paper unless its mounted onto a stiff backing so what is the best way of dealing with this piece?

I haven't done any for a long time and then they were small. Those had mats, so they were hinged. This one is about 4 and a half feet by 34 inches.
 
Sounds like you need a float mount useing museum hinges on a board slightly larger than the piece so your spacers don't rest on it. You'll need a bit of depth. I'd want have 1/2" to 3/4" for glass and bit more for plexi. You're really talking shadowbox here. I don't know if your customer is trying to save space or money? I would be charging at least as much if not more to do it this way. Less material size wise but more work. We did one a little while back but used a mat(fabric) and it looked great.
CWC1.JPG
 
Since these items comprise a number of layers of
Oriental papers and silks, they have compolex internal tensions. The mount is not part of the
watercolor so you may rest a spacer on it, but
that is not likely to keep it flat. You could
put hinges around the edges of the piece and pull
these around a stronger than usual back mat. With
the hinges attached to the back of the back mat,
and a spacer to give it room in front, it is likely to do well in a frame robust enough to hole
such a large item.

Hugh
 
Try a shallow sink mount attached with small mounting strips. Let it float and you may be happy with the results. Use a spacer between the sink mount and the glass.

Jack Cee
 
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