how to attach hair lock

[framanista]

This project is a memorial for the customer’s little girl who passed away seven years ago.

It involves a lock of hair attached to the upper center of a print on paper. They used scotch tape around the hair (which is not aesthetically pleasing but it is secure, and- like it or not- it has to stay that way). Then they tied a ribbon around it and then scotch taped the ribbon to a sheet of good quality 8.5 x 11” paper, which has a child’s handprints on it. That method of attachment was not working, and luckily the tape came right off.

So, my question is can you think of any c/p way to have the hair on the paper. It needs to go in the same place, upper-center.

I don’t want to cover the whole paper with mylar, because of the shiny ripply effect.

I’ve thought about wrapping a strip of Japanese paper around the lock and pasting the end of it to the front of the print. I think I could do it so that the pasted paper wouldn't show. But the weight of the hair could pull the paper out of shape over time.

Or I could use thread, put a stitch in the ribbon’s knot, and pass the thread through a single hole in the print, and then sew it to the backing. I'm leaning toward s this idea at the moment. Does anyone anticipate any problems with it? Any other ideas?

 

[framanista]

Oh never mind. I’ll use some wire hidden behind the lock and a magnet in the backing. Thanks for letting me talk to myself on your forum.

 

[treeves]

You are welcome, and you are not alone....treeves

 

[Jerry Ervin]

I was liking the thread and single hole in print idea. The magnet will work for a while, however, at some point in the life of the frame it will get bumped hard enough to dislodge the item and allow it to fall. You will have better luck with Rare Earth magnets from Lee Valley Tools. They are much stronger than regular magnets.

Let us know what you decide.

 

[framanista]

Yes, a rare earth magnet is what I'm using. I love those things. Thanks for pointing out that it could be bumped out of place. I hadn't thought of that. Still, that seems like a very fixable problem, compared to wrinkled, warped, paper.

 

[Jerry Ervin]

Can you post a photo when you get it completed?

Sounds like a cool project.

 

[framanista]

I don't know if I'll post a photo, but I'll let you know how it goes, Jerry.

 

[Baer Charlton]

How about a micro-dot of ph-neutral Nori paste, or Fabric adhesive?

Hairspray?

 

[framanista]

Well I’m done and it looks pretty good.

It turned out to be harder than I thought to attach a small piece of metal to a hair lock without it showing. Here’s what I ended up doing. I cut a 3/8 inch square piece of beige (to match the print) acid free paper. I wrapped that around two little pieces of wire and glued it closed with acrylic medium. Then I sewed that to the ribbon, which I then tied around the hair lock.

You don’t see it if your not looking for it. If you’re looking for it, you’ll see what looks like a bad imitation of a grain of brown rice.

On the back of the backing, where the rare earth magnet is attached, I scored a quarter inch square and striped 3 of the 4 mat layers off. That way there’s only one ply between the magnet and the wire thingy. It holds surprisingly well. I gave it some pretty good whacks to see if it would fall, and it didn’t move a bit. I can turn it any which way, and it stays put.

Thanks, Treeves, Jerry, and Baer, for your support.