Horse's Tail

jacqueline

True Grumbler
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Posts
58
Loc
Clarkston,MI
Website
artfulframer.net
A customer brought in a horse's tail to be framed. It is braided with ribbon in it. I am planning on sewing it to the mount board. The customer asked if there is anything I need to do to keep it from disintegrating. Is there any way? In collage we coat natural materials with matte medium to keep them from disintegrating but this would not be attractive on hair. Any ideas?

This is a very emotional thing for the owner - the horse was "put down" and Michigan State took a hoof print and cut and braided the tail.

Thanks for your help,
Jacqueline
fairly new to this business which gets weirder by the day!
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I had one of those about 2 years ago. It was kind of neat - but it also kind of grossed me out a little bit too!

Did you sell her conservation glass on it? That would probably help it. I'm not sure that hair would disintegrate though - people put them in baby samplers and they last for years.
 
I don't know if human hair and horse hair is of the same compostion, but I've reframed Victorian mourning art pieces that were very old and seemed to be in really good condition...I wonder if they used a preservative? It didn't appear so, but who knows?
 
OKAY,,, please say that the "tail" is the hair only and not the actual tail?

If it is the latter then get thee to a taxidermist for info!
 
Jaci,
The horse hair needs no preservative. I've worked with this stuff in the past, as well as human hair pieces dating back to the 18th century. The horse hair is actually more resiliant than human hair. The tail and mane hair was often used for sutures in the old days.
 
Violin bows are strung with horse hair....
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Rick
P.S. This makes me think of the time years ago that we had to frame a gamebird tail that the hunter had "preserved" himself. It still had bits of who-knows-what on it, and chunks of salt (preservative). We referred to this project as the "bird butt". Couldn't wait till it was out of the shop.
:eek: Rick
 
Originally posted by Jaci:
Yes, it is the hair - sorry for my poor knowledge of horse anatomy - is there actually more to a horse's tail than hair?
Jacqueline
Oh yes....they could have brought the tail plus a piece of meat or hide attached to it... ;)

Now, an oxtail soup does contain meat, and no hair, doesn't it!!

You'll be surprised (pleasantly and otherwise) what stuff people drag in to be framed....
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Hair is protein and if very attractive to bugs. Sealing the frame can help discourage insects.
This can be done with metal/plastic laminate film,
which is bonded to the front edges of the glazing
and surrounds the mat package completely, or with
a robust tape that has a strip of such foil blocking its adhesive at the point that the tape
crosses the edges of the mat and which goes from
the front edges of the glazing to a plastic backing board, such as Coroplast. Directions for
both techniques can be found at, pictureframingmagazine.com.


Hugh
 
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