Hanging a large drawing on craft paper in a frame w/ spacers.

Artmatthew

Artmatthew

Grumbler in Training
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Dec 23, 2021
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Houston, TX
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Self employed artist/framer
Do you have any advice on how to hang this large drawing inside of frame that has a 1/2" air gap in between the acrylic and the mat board? It's about 36" x 50" I want to hang it so that all the edges show and I don't particularly want to stick tape to it. Currently I'm thinking of using a neodinium magnet at each corner and a washer glued to the mat board to attract it. Do you think this is a viable option? I could use magnets about the size of a very large pill to make sure they really stick...I suppose Japanese hinging tape might be an option too. I like that better than Framers Tape II which I've used a lot in the past. I've found Framers Tape II isn't actually reversible. Thanks fellow framers.

P.S. The drawing is quite wrinkled too in some places but my current plan is to not do anything about that. I think it will look fine a raw like that. It will touch the acrylic but oh well. I'm open to thoughts about all this. This drawing hasn't been sprayed with fixative so I'm a little concerned about charcoal accumulating in the bottom of the all white mat interior. I'm not too concerned though as the client is a friend who I don't think will mind that.
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I would never frame that with regular plexiglass as it will pull the pastel/charcoal off the paper (plexiglass is very static), even with that 1/2" space between plexiglass and art, I am not sure if that would be enough space.

I would use glass or optium museum plexiglass.

I also would not use a white mat, as this medium will continue to shed so lots of annoying specks on the mat. I find the white very distracting and not doing this art any justice.

Why does it need to show all the edges? Using a window mat would be a much more preferred method in this case. I would go with either a mat slightly darker than the paper (you might have to splice a mat if it doesn't come in 40x60 size). Or go with a charcoal color, reversed bevel if it is whitecore.

Don't fit it too tightly, so the paper has room to contract and expand.

If you insist on floating, look for 'hedgehog method', there are many threads about that.
 
Rare earth magnets are incredibly strong, but their strength is mostly perpendicular to the magnet's surface. They can be weak laterally, allowing bumps to move the art. Also, glass that's not supported, except from its perimeter, is much more fragile, more prone to breakage, and can be a safety hazard.

You may want to consider using mats and a mounting board.
 
Ylva said:
I would never frame that with regular plexiglass as it will pull the pastel/charcoal off the paper (plexiglass is very static), even with that 1/2" space between plexiglass and art, I am not sure if that would be enough space.

I would use glass or optium museum plexiglass.

I also would not use a white mat, as this medium will continue to shed so lots of annoying specks on the mat. I find the white very distracting and not doing this art any justice.

Why does it need to show all the edges? Using a window mat would be a much more preferred method in this case. I would go with either a mat slightly darker than the paper (you might have to splice a mat if it doesn't come in 40x60 size). Or go with a charcoal color, reversed bevel if it is whitecore.

Don't fit it too tightly, so the paper has room to contract and expand.

If you insist on floating, look for 'hedgehog method', there are many threads about that.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your well informed response. I agree with your approach to framing this to high standards, but keeping the price down has been a big factor in my approach to framing this piece. I initially quoted $800 to build it all and I was only planning on using UV acrylic at that price, not optium. I’m guessing the optium alone would be around $500 for this size.

Then I realized that I have a frame already that I will be able to adapt and I revised my price down to $550 because it will be less work for me to adapt the frame and fit this piece in it. That frame happens to already have white mat and spacers.

So, basically I’m trying to help a pal out by not charging a lot. That may not be wise, and I’m open to reassessing my quote to my friend. We will see.

Thank you for mentioning the hedgehog method. I will learn about that now.

Regarding why I’m planning to float it. I’ve floated a lot of pieces and my thinking was that floating this piece would not only maintain it’s ‘rough’ look, which I find appealing, but also resolve the issue of how wrinkled the piece is without having to flatten it. I don’t feel confident in doing that, especially at this price point. If I matted it, it would almost certainly buckle in odd looking ways. I believe the piece got wet in parts at some point because it’s naturally buckled and wrinkled.
 
The glass would be something like 40” x 58” Do you use glass that large? The acrylic I have already.
 
Paul Cascio said:
Rare earth magnets are incredibly strong, but their strength is mostly perpendicular to the magnet's surface. They can be weak laterally, allowing bumps to move the art. Also, glass that's not supported, except from its perimeter, is much more fragile, more prone to breakage, and can be a safety hazard.

You may want to consider using mats and a mounting board.
Click to expand...
Also, kraft paper will fade with time, except where the magnets are, leaving magnet-shaped darker spots.

I know the client is a friend, but I wouldn't introduce unrealistic expectations about what results are possible at this price point. This is an oversize piece that is fraught with "inherent vice" (such as loose media, cockling, water exposure, etc.), meaning it presents serious challenges due to its own nature. Although there are ways to partially overcome some of these (such as non-static Optium), these options are expensive. Nature of the beast.
:coffeedrinker2: Rick
 
If you use magnets or tight hinges the art will buckle between them with changes in humidity. The art will expand/contract at a different rate than the backing board. Check out the articles on the frametek.com web pages on hinging tips.
 
Disregarding the material costs you could do a dozen ordinary framing jobs in the time it will take to do this project and they would put much more into the bank. So the question is; How good a friend is the person you are doing this for??
 
Exactly! Better to pass on it.
 
I would explain the possibility of the acrylic looking like a used etch-a-sketch from attracting all the loose charcoal to it. But ultimately, if you have to use the acrylic, I would use a black or dark gray mat and overlap as much of the negative space as possible with foamcore spacers underneath the matting. Give it as much space as you can. That will make a deep channel for particulates to fall into and to give the paper room and restriction as it will also be drawn towards the acrylic with the static.
 
A way to reduce static and to make the surface of the acrylic almost friction free is to do a final cleaning and polish with Brillianize. It is a liquid plastics cleaner developed for the areo/nautical/auto detailing business and is available in home shelter stores and online. Applied with a pristine microfiber cloth and buffed out with same.
I'll weigh in on the side of traditional hinging and overmatting.
Float mounts are generally reserved for items where the edges are an integral part of the art. I don't see where this is the case with this piece.
 
I knew a pastel artist who liked DCO framing and I did several pieces for her, even after my cautions. She was pleased & none ever came back.

Advantages:
Uses acrylic, not glass
No Spacers
Simple process

Disadvantages:
Some of the pastel will transfer to the inside of the acrylic, which may not be a problem in controlled environment. However, the pastel would transfer more and could smear in the event of:
Vibration
Impact
Radical expansion/contraction cycles
 
Thank you all for your replies. I continue to learn that the longer I stay in framing the more wisdom I gain and I wish I’d known so many things that would have made my past years of framing much easier. That’s what being self taught is like though I guess.

I talked to the client and they are fine with shelling out an extra $500 for the Optium museum acrylic. I’m thinking will go with the optium AR though if it’s cheaper, because they are both static resistant. I’m still planning on floating it because I don’t see how it could look good matted given how wrinkled and cockled it is. Where the mat meets the drawing would look terrible with so many wrinkles being pressed flat and I don’t know how to flatten a piece this large, especially since it’s a charcoal drawing. I’m looking forward to learning the hedgehog method. It makes a lot of sense.

I hear the statements about if I'm being overly generous too and I appreciate that. It’s also part of the job and the learning curve for me. Onwards and upwards!
 
If you're worried about the paper wrinkling where it intersects the mat, you won't get that if you put a spacer between the backboard and the mat as was mentioned a while ago.
 
The difference in cost between Optium Museum and regular Optium isn't just the cost.
The Museum has a 99% UV filter, and easily oxidized craft paper would last longer with greater UV filtering.

You are in a big market, and there's lots of information you could gather about pricing by simply shopping your competition, or having someone do it for you.
 
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