Help Me Hang the Body!

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Rick Granick

Rick Granick

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
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A customer brought in a plaster/gauze front-of-body cast of her pregnant torso, and asked me to figure out how she can hang it on the wall. She does not want a frame--just a way to hang it. It weighs 1-1/2 lbs., and the inside surface is fairly smooth.
Unless anyone has a better suggestion, I thought about attaching wire at 2 or 3 places in the concave interior which would loop to a screw anchored in the wall behind the piece. How would I attach the wire? The best attachment points would seem to be the ridges formed by the breast-bottom/belly-top areas, which protrude into the concave space.
Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks. :cool: Rick
 
Doncha think there oughta be a law that people who make that kind of stuff should embed hanging devices while the plaster is wet?

What about adding another glop of plaster or whatever with your wire or hanger embedded?? Plaster should stick to plaster. Perhaps call the "artist" (I won't say "plaster caster" I won't) and find out what type of plaster or casting medium was used. Another idea would be to epoxy a block of wood onto the back into which you could affix screw eyes.

Good luck!
 
I just had to frame a 'bust' for my son. I was just a torso of cast gauze but I think I came up with a good hanging system.

I did gesso the inside to stiffen the cast material since it has been sitting around my sons room for several years. After that I decided that the metal screw holder of a strap hanger would be a good way to prevent the cord from ripping the cast at the point of attachment. I sort of opened it and removed the hanger and slipped the metal over the edge of the caste material and then made a hole to put the hanging cord through.

Then I built an infrastucture of foam core strips in the form of a 'T' inside the bust to distribute the weight between those points.
Don't know if I am giving a good description of this but it looked pretty sturdy and mounted beautifully.
Good luck, it should be a conversation starter. :eek:
 
Had the same problem with a clay mask. It had been fired and was bloody heavy. All I could do was attatch several wires to the inside with 2pack epoxy and the hang the whole thing to a strong backing and then box frame. Worked well but you must have faith in epoxy glue. So far no problems and I told the lady to bring it back if there are any . So far it's fine
 
My concern with the wire would be that a crack might form from the inward force of the wire.
I Would epoxy in a wood cross brase and wire the wood.
 
Here's what I decided to do:
Cut two 1" x 3.5" strips of "hardware cloth" (a 1/4" grid metal mesh), folded them in half, and used Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty to affix them at the aforementioned points. Will use these as my wire attachments. This provides plenty of surface area for contact, so as not to rely on a couple of small points to carry the load.

:cool: Rick
 
Try it but Durham's tends to dry a little brittle so it may not hold. If you were to brush it into gauze (or maybe just white glue?) and apply the qauze over the wire mesh it might hold better.

How about just putting a bra on the piece and hanging it from the shoulder straps? :rolleyes: Just kidding.....
 
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