Framing a long snakeskin

[smantecon]

Hello -

I have a rather long snakeskin to frame. Frame size is 115"X14".
My moulding reps are helping me find moulding long enough to accomplish this. My question is the best way to mount this. Has anyone done this before? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for any input.

 

[realhotglass]

G'day Scott,
Mylar straps, not too tight as to crush the skin, just as many and as wide as needed to hold in place.
Slots in mat / backing, trim to about 1" out the back, fold down to double sided tape to the back, and cover with framers tape or dust cover.

If it's a bulky skin too (in height) maybe a partial sink mat would be good to disguise some of the mounting points.

 

[Lance E]

Bowing the matboard onto which it sits and wrapping it on with the mylar over everything looks pretty snappy too.

I've heard of some that advise glue - please do not do this! The skin will expand and contract far too much and pull itself off in places and create a big mess.

 

[Jack Cee]

Consider making a triptic out of the long skin.

Jack Cee

 

[framah]

Yeah, consider it then forget about it!!
I can't imagine ever suggesting to a customer that we should just cut it into three pieces. The whole idea is that is a really long snake and it needs to be shown that way.

How about using a leather lacing around the piece. If you need to mount something and you can't hide it, then the next best thing is to make the mounting method an integral part of the finished piece.
See if they would allow you to punch small holes into the edge so you can use a thin leather lacing.

 

[smantecon]

Leather lacing is a good possibility. The skin was originally tacked to a wall so there are already holes in the sides.

Mylar seems another good way to go.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

 

[Jim Miller]

I'd go with the suggestion to use clear polyester film (aka Mylar, even though it has not been available since 2001).

The film straps would cradle the skin by contacting a wider area than leather straps. So, if the skin tends to wrinkle around the mounts, that tendency would be less with wider mounts.

You might also consider placing a filler/spacer behind the skin at the mounting points, to give it support from behind and to sustain pressure of the straps.

Hope that makes sense.