Displaying a stone painting

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studio 3

studio 3

CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
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I had a customer in the other day inquiring about getting several stone paintings framed - or something done to display them.

They are on what seems to be 1/2" thick slate - roughly 30lbs each. the bottom and sides are square but the top is of an irregular shape. My first thought was those picture shelves that have a lip on them - but the customer wasn't super into this idea (and honestly it wouldn't get me a job). He kept suggesting making some sort of frame for it to sit in for I guess a table top....but it didn't sound feasible to me.

My concern is that I don't want to drill into this stone in any way or attach something to the back. I just don't feel comfortable doing that (despite what my customer says or wants). I thought of some sort of bracket that was attached to a plywood backing - but I've never done this before and I wouldn't know what exactly to use. And would I then put a frame around it with no glass? or plexi? and would a mat for it to float on still work?

any suggestions/photos would help me at this point as I've never tackled something quite like this.
 
3 sided frame. Use a moulding deep enough to fit the stone along with a 3/4" thick plywood sheet. Cut the plywood short of visible at the top and revese the miter at the top end of the side rails. Join the 3 sides and lay the plywood with the stone on top of some 2x4 scrap face up. Run glue around the edge of the plywood and place the frame around it. Fire some pins or run brad nails through the side of the moulding to attach to the plywood. The stone doesn't even need to be adhered in any way.

Attach heavy Z-Bar to the plywood for hanging. Use a beefy moulding so the stone is securely supported.
 
Lots of artists doing that type of work here. Generally you see them displayed with a small easel on a shelf or table etc. I think I have pics and/or plans somewhere. Will try to find and post same if you think that is what your customer is looking for.
 
I love Jeff's idea. You could trace the shape of the top of your 'stone' and cut the plywood that shape as well; making it a bit stick out. Paint it in whatever color looks good (or same color as moulding).

If customer wants more frame, you could maybe work with plate hangers, and attach that to the background? You could still float a mat around it.

Another way would be to build a kind of picture shelf but frame it as a shadow box. You can either expose the shelf, or hide it with a mat.
 
I suggested an easel to my customer - but he now says he really wants them on the wall.

We're actually a very small shop and we don't have any saws/etc. we order everything joined because we don't have space for any necessary machinery - so that sort of limits my ability in a way.

What I ended up suggesting to him was a very deep shadow box - with no glazing on the front. We would shadowbox it with his choice of matboard and then the stone painting could be set inside it and sort of leaned against the background. I was thinking I'd put zbars on the back just to accommodate the weight. Any advice from anyone on this solution? Is there anything I should put at the top of the painting (some sort of modified hook) to keep the stone from tilting forward if the frame is bumped or something? Ideas welcome - he should be in next week to talk about this further.
 
Ylva said:
Mat and no glazing? Would never suggest this to a customer.
Click to expand...

I'd put glazing on it if I could come up with a way to anchor the stone painting to the backing (to keep it from falling forward and breaking the glass/plexi). But right now I'm not sure what could do this.
 
Resting that weight on the front edge of a shadowbox will cause the shadowbox joins to fail overtime. IMO.

You could attach canvas offsets to it to hold it. Screw those into a plywood backing board in the shadowbox.

Trying to figure out how to hide/cover the screws in the offsets so they don't detract from the finished product.
 
Bob Doyle said:
Resting that weight on the front edge of a shadowbox will cause the shadowbox joins to fail overtime. IMO.

You could attach canvas offsets to it to hold it. Screw those into a plywood backing board in the shadowbox.

Trying to figure out how to hide/cover the screws in the offsets so they don't detract from the finished product.
Click to expand...

Humm yeah that might work. I told the customer I needed to see the paintings again before I had a final plan...because I personally didn't pick it up and feel the weight when he first brought them in.

But if I did the offset clips into a plywood back then I could put plexi on the front of them.
 
Your supplier could do the 3 sided chop with the reverse cuts for you. The plywood can be cut by Home Depot/Lowes in the needed size. They give you several free cuts with any lumber purchase.
 
I didn't know the cuts were free Jeff. I know my local lumber yard can cut them down for me. They have a $1 per cut charge, but I've never known them to charge! But since it is marked on their signs I guess if they decide I'm a pita customer they can charge me ;)
 
I think the lumber BB's give you 6 at no charge. Lately they have been so slow that when I buy masonite I have them cut a bunch of standard blanks and never get charged.
 
I don't know if you use Rapheals products at all, but they have those new MDF seamless panels that you can get pretty thick. I think around 3/4" tall, but I believe you can choose the thickness you need. I used one on a thick plaster tile. The tile just sat inside it, and the lightly tacked in foam covered the back of the tile and the back of the panel so nothing was directly attached to the piece. No glass. Oh yeah, and a frame around the panel.

http://raphaelstoday.com/panelliners.aspx
 
If you have a CMC or know a framer who does, it would be fairly easy to trace the shape of the slate's perimeter and cut a mat exactly to fit, slightly smaller, or slightly larger than the actual perimeter. I'd probably reverse-bevel it.

This mat could be spaced above the plywood mounting board by the thickness of the artwork, using sturdy perimeter supports hidden under the mat -- possibly pieces of plywood scabbed around the perimeter. That is, these pieces would provide most of the support, and a few offset clips could serve only to hold the artwork from falling forward. The form-fitting mat could be used to cover screws holding offset clips to a plywood backing board, so only the edge-overlap would be visible. Or, you could make the mat opening slightly smaller than the actual perimeter, and completely cover the offset clips. The mat, of course, would support nothing.

You could space the glazing above the artwork by using another mat layer, elevated enough to separate the glazing from the art, perhaps with a larger opening cut to the same shape.
 
I once did large ceramic sculptures mounted onto a linen wrapped rag mat/plywood base with strainer with a custom milled floater frame. I attached the ceramics with long "L" screws that where painted to match the art.

The same could be done for the stone, even rubber tipped "L" screws.
 
Backer is 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood (13-ply) covered with Frank's glue and fabric.
EMadonastone01.jpg


Held on with 6-7 cup hooks covered in shrink tube and acrylic paint to match.

EMadonastone02.jpg


It took longer to drive to the framer that I helped out, than it did
to do the work. [Maybe an hour....max.... we were talking and goofing around
a lot. :D [you know how serious I can get.....]
 
Baer Charlton said:
Backer is 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood (13-ply) covered with Frank's glue and fabric.

Held on with 6-7 cup hooks covered in shrink tube and acrylic paint to match.


It took longer to drive to the framer that I helped out, than it did
to do the work. [Maybe an hour....max.... we were talking and goofing around
a lot. :D [you know how serious I can get.....]
Click to expand...

Did you put glazing on this?
 
no glazing..... "churches don't need glazing because the air is unpolluted and nobody would deface anything in a church"......

Which is why the Sedona leather from Frank's Fabric was used... it's washable and easy to dust. :rolleyes: Also looks great with the slate.
 
Baer Charlton said:
no glazing..... "churches don't need glazing because the air is unpolluted and nobody would deface anything in a church"......
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I was part of a restoration for a churh in Palos Verdes that had a 400 year old painting worth about a million. Vandals had cut it into 35 pieces. They brought it in a shirt box from the department store like a puzzle. About 36x48 when restored. The church had no idea of the value of the painting until the vandalism.
 
Jeff.... somedays I just forget to turn on my green button......

other days I just take no pity nor have compassion for brigantine ignorance coming from people who used to see no reason to lock their front doors, then plead victim when they are robbed or vandalized.

Was that the Church of the Holy Redeemer over looking the PCH? My uncle used to go there....... :rolleyes: The terracotta statues are all my aunts work. They paid her nothing. They didn't even offer to cover the cost of the clay.
 
I do believe she would have been well compensated had she done some work for the one with the ocean view.:thumbsup:
 
Her statues look like real people who are painted terracotta. Even if they are only 10" tall or a 5' Madonna in a courtyard.
 
If you don't mind a slight diversion, I'd like to suggest that glazing would be a good idea, if only to keep the art and the framing materials clean.

The stone may be impervious to everything, but the art medium applied to it may be vulnerable to damage from even routine dusting.
 
Trying to figure out how to hide/cover the screws in the offsets so they don't detract

will take careful work with a router(unless you happen to be even better with good/sharp chisel?)--that way you cover everything with mats---zero distraction.
you might want to rethink that 'no glazing' (I'd opt for acrylic-won't break)---if you build a slanted mount for the stone to sit INTO (not ON) and maybe use wire-ties on the back(secured with sillykon-mostely comes off easily but would hold fairly safely) then thru the mat back/ply & secured to help keep the rock 'in place'---the piece will, of necessity, need to be kept upright/secure from shaking/bumps.
 
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