Curved walls

MarkG1

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Jul 4, 2002
Posts
509
Loc
Centralia, IL
Has anyone ever framed something that will hang on a concave or curved wall?

The artwork will be on either paper or canvas.

The walls are done, but the artork is still in the idea stage.

They want the artwork framed. Of corse they want it to follow the curves of the wall.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mark
 
Geez, Mark, if only I'd known.

I had some oval frames (NOT INLINE OVALS) that became seriously convex before I had a chance to use them. I foolishly returned them to Hallcraft - not realizing that you would need them some day.

I could visualize something from an acrylic fabricator that might conform to the bend in the wall, but mostly what a visualize is a nightmare.

Good to hear from you, though.
thumbsup.gif
 
It all depends on how much they want to spend. With standard mouldings, glass and or stretcher bars......I would say no. With custom milling and joining the answer is yes. There is a wonderful painting at the Portrait Gallery in Washington DC that follows the wall of the spiral staircase made by Bill Adair's mentor.

Remember with paper you have glass. This glass will have to be bent in a kiln of some sort or replaced with plastic.
 
I have framed lots of things to go in adobe houses. The walls are not flat. For one lady, I used a plastic molding and thin acrylic on a print, so that it could be forced to conform to the wall by nailing the corners in place. (special nails for adobe, it's harder than brick)

I suspect your wall has a little more curve to it, though.
 
This might be a time to try the poly frames and plexiglas.

I had a customer that wanted to mount a map to a curved wall. She wanted it simple, just two sheet of plexi and brass headed screws with brass washers to keep the plexi from breaking. It was pretty simple, the worst part was figuring out how much smaller the bottom plexi had to be!

A simple poly styrene frame like Decor offers would have dressed it up nicely for the customer.

If you have the room why not some standoffs (link) to hold the plexi off the wall and to follow the curve?
 
At the risk of sounding overly simplistic, is the option available to select a grouping of small pieces and/or long narrow pieces which, when hung, would not appear to be ill fitted to a curved wall?

The narrower the piece, the more tightly it will fit against the wall.

We have done this a number of times in the past, all with great success.

Just a thought. Good luck!
 
I don't have any helpful thoughts to add - just wanted to say:

Hi Mark. It's good to see you back here.

Kit
 
It is easy to do. Sort of. You go to the house make a template. We do this with foam core. Just use a wide enough and deep enough piece put flat on the wall use a pencil with a compass and make your arc. Check for accuracy once you cut the template.
Ypu or someone will then cut the curved shape from your template for top and bottoms from wood the back curved ( .....like the wall. The front of the framework will be flat.
The sides will be vertical with the wall . You may need to angle the vetical / sides to conform to the wall. You will have a strainer on the back inside to hang to the wall.
The front of this will be flat so the Canvas can be attached with screws from the back of the framework.

You can paint this or cover it with fabric whatever you want. You can also attach a fabricated acrylic box to this also with screws thru the sides and top.
If you have a deep enough shadowbox type frame you can curve it instead.

Not too hard to do ...just hard to explain.
 
Thanks Everyone for the responses and the warm welcome back.

This customer is one that I've been working on acquiring for a while and I don't want to disappoint them. (or any others for that matter)This thing will be hanging in a public place.

I had a couple ideas close to some of yours , but I have never done anything like this and needed something that has been proven to work and look good.

Any other ideas? Keep them coming.

Mark
 
I seem to recall a german company that was advertising some type of convex frame in PFM a year or 2 back. I can't recall the co. name nor do I have the back issues nearby so you'll have to check it out yourself, or maybe someone out there can check.
 
At the West Coast Art & Frame Show there was a vendor in the area outside the main showroom displaying extremely deep, custom shadow box framing. They also make some intricately curved frames for an artist whose trademark is work painted on asymetrically curving canvases. They would probably be a perfect source for the type frames you're looking for....threw their literature away 2 weeks ago. This ring a bell with anyone else who may have held on to the brochures?
 
I do not have a solution for the frame, but my company sells a picture hanging system that fits Curved Walls.

If you need information you will find it under the "Accessories" on our website or you can contact me directly.

W~
 
You create the radius while installing the track on the curved wall:

acc_cw03.jpg
 
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