larger posters

[jtjacob2010]

I ran a chopsaw for several years at an established framing company so I know mostly whats up. My puzzle is that I am not sure how to frame a french 47x63 subway movie poster. I collect authentic horror movie posters. Any ideas? Does thin acrylic come that large? How long can you get aluminum moulding? Thx.

 

[Prospero]

OK.... This is how I would approach it.

Forget using the 'frame' to support the structure. Make a subframe from suitable timber.
In the past I've used tongue and groove cladding with the tongue side ripped off. A good
size is 100mm x 8mm. I used two layers glued/screwed together which allows you to form
half-lap joints on the corners without fancy woodworking. You can also easily incorporate
cross braces this way. It should be about 20mm bigger all round than the poster.
Putting a mat around something that scale is going to be a major PITA so abandon that concept.
Use a 30mm wide slip. Gold and Silver should be readily available but you can use raw wood
and paint it.

Here's the crafty bit....

Cover the subframe with a board of choice. If you are uber-conservation minded it could be
thickish ragboard. I would use 5mm foamboard. This doesn't have to be one sheet. The joins won't
be seen. Tack it to the subframe. Once assembled it not going to move.
The slip will lay over this like a mat and cover 10mm of the edge. You can +/- this dimension.
In order to not restrict the edges the outer edge of the slip needs to be raised slightly. Best way is
to run a 10mm wide strip of s/a Linen tape on the underneath. The poster can then be hinged as per usual
with hard hinges at the top and as many loose hinges on the sides/bottom as appropriate.

All the hangings are put onto the subframe and you can even engineer a cleat system.

If you are set on an ali frame then it quite feasible buy you would need to drill it and insert screws through
into the subframe. It would also need a generous depth.

 

[Prospero]

Subframe 101.

 

[wpfay]

Hi JT and welcome to the G.
Acrylic and 4-ply rag board are available in sizes greater than you need. Just don't go too thin with the acrylic as it will tend to bow.
If a customer brought one of those in to me to frame (and they have) I would be looking at 3/16"-1/4" thick acrylic.

Is the poster the original loose sheet or has it been mounted to a fabric backing? If not, that may be the first step in the framing process to help stabilize the poster. They were typically done of very thin paper and plastered to the walls of buildings as advertisements. They weren't built to endure. The mounting process is a generally accepted practice, is archival, and is totally reversible, so it doesn't affect value.

Prospero's suggestions, especially with the structural engineering, is spot on. The only purpose, other than decorative, that the frame serves is to hold the glazing in place. The subframe bears most of the weight.
Sectional metal frames do come in sufficient lengths (10') for your project, but wouldn't be my first choice unless the corners were welded*. All the strength of sectional metal frames is in the corner hardware, and all the weight of the acrylic is at the face.

*See SmallCorp or A Street Frame for some inspiration with welded corner metal frames.

 

[Shayla]

Hi JT and welcome to the G.

Is the poster the original loose sheet or has it been mounted to a fabric backing? If not, that may be the first step in the framing process to help stabilize the poster. They were typically done of very thin paper and plastered to the walls of buildings as advertisements. They weren't built to endure. The mounting process is a generally accepted practice, is archival, and is totally reversible, so it doesn't affect value.

If this refers to the traditional process of mounting poster to a linen backing, have you ever done it yourself?
If so, did you use rice paste or something else?

 

[wpfay]

If this refers to the traditional process of mounting poster to a linen backing, have you ever done it yourself?
If so, did you use rice paste or something else?

I learned enough about the process to know it was best left to those that do it every day. Oh, yes, Nori is used.

Kind of like taking gold leafing classes from Marty. The knowledge was great, but I couldn't become "One with the gold" in 2 half-day classes.

As much as I would like to be the ultimate "Swiss Army Knife" of framing, the cost of beginning a skill like that has to be balanced out against the demand.
Maybe if I were to have started out learning the arcane skills early on, but then maybe I would have become an insurance agent with a wicked woodshop.

I think I covered this in one of my tag lines...