Mounting heavy leather

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-S-

-S-

CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Joined
Feb 4, 2007
Posts
157
Loc
Squamish, BC, Canada
Hi all,

I've got a medium-sized piece of leather (about 12" x 24"), which has been painted. It's quite heavy. Is there some way to mount it safely without stitching or tacking or attach-eez-ing it? There is detailing around the edge I'd prefer not to cover with a mat.

Grazie mille,

Sylvia

PS I had my baby, Maxine Michaela, on January 3 (pic attached). She was "helping out" at the shop by day four!
 
I have used leather weld before for cases like this, but I don't know about its reversability. It is a water based adhesive. (conservation was not a concern of my customers)

Congrats on the baby! Where are the pictures? Four days old and at the shop very impressive! My son was also at the shop when he was six days old, (not any more he is almost 2 now). Just take care of yourself! Very important! Learned the hard way. (my unsolicited advice) ;)
 
Heat up the hide glue.... seriously. Hide to Hide.

Glue down patches of a good sturdy Washie paper, then hinge to the patches with the rice paste.
 
TessaE: We'd like to use conservation practices, so I dunno about Leather Weld. (Oh and don't worry I'm only putting in about 10 hrs a week. My employee does the rest!)

Baer, where do I get hide glue? and pardon my ignorance but what is Washie paper?
 

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Hide glue from Gold Leaf suppliers (like Easy Leaf, or Sep Leaf). Heat in double boiler and brush on the rice paper (Washie, art supply house).
 
-S- said:
PS I had my baby, Maxine Michaela, on January 3 (pic attached). She was "helping out" at the shop by day four!
Click to expand...

Hello to Maxine! We share the same birthday. Capricorns make great framers, so start her early!;)
 
What about using Beva 371 film as an adhesive?
 
Baer's idea is worth considering. Protein glue should not be too dissimilar from the protein of the leather, even though it requires hot water to remove it. That could be used with a very strong Japanese tissue, with heavily feathered margins or with well-washed linen or muslin, to serve as the hinges. Those same materials could be tried with starch as the adhesive, but only if the back of the leather is rough.



Hugh
 
Well, I can't believe that nobody has challenged the use of hide glue on a piece of leather yet!!!!! Nobody mentioned the texture of the reverse of this piece of leather yet nor has anyone bothered to ask if hide glue will penetrate the back of the very absorbent leather. Man, putting hide glue on a piece of leather will turn at least the back of those spots to concrete when the glue cools and hardens, that should be considered before sloshing hide glue on anything that will absorb any portion of the adhesive.

Sylvia has already stated that she uses "conservation practices" and hide glue on the back of leather is so far from conservation that I hesitate to even talk about it with any sincere intent!

Although Washi paper is such a general term for a whole raft of Japanese papers in use today, original Washi is rather rare and expensive because of the ingredients used to make the paper being very hard to collect (it's a far cry from rice paper).

If you decide to go this route, I would follow Rob's suggestion and use the Beva 371 but buy the sheet form instead of the liquid if you want to minimize solution penetration. Beva 371 film comes in 2.5 mil for heavier applications and a piece of less than a square yard will cost you around $22.50 and will last for years if properly stored.

Now I think I'll go polish my HVLP paint gun.

Edit:

And I respectfully disagree with you too, Hugh, if y'all are talking about hide glue that I used years ago and have since found too many more efficient substitutes for, it will dry hard and be very difficult to remove using warm water, hot water, or anything else without possibly damaging the leather it is holding!!! Hot water can create tide lines on leather as easily as on paper and we don't know what is already in the leather that could leach out with the addition of hot water. And, as you mentioned, the texture of the back of the leather would dictate the possibility of using some kind of starch paste to mount the leather, a much safer method of preservation mounting than hide glue. But we don't know if the leather is brain tanned, oil tanned, chemically tanned, or otherwise and, without knowing the procedure to get that hide into a finished piece of workable leather, I would be very very hesitant to use anything like hide glue on it without at least experimenting on a scrap piece which I doubt is even available for Sylvia to play with.

Just my measly .02¢ worth.
 
Please remember that BEVA is ethylene vinyl acetate and since acetetes tend to generate acetic acid in time, that may not be good for the protein in the leather. All adhsives should be applied as thinly as possible, to make them flexible. This is true of both cooked starch and hide glue. When adhesives are used with porous materials, they can not be completely removed, so it is logical to pick one whose residue will not affect the material to which it has been applied.



Hugh
 
Framer /= Magician

Seems to me that if you need total conservation technique, reversible with no trace of the framing job, you will be hard pressed to float mount this thing.

If they want total conservation, then they should seal it up in conservation materials and hide it from the light. If they want to frame it, they may have to accept -some- artifacts on the backside of adhering a large heavy piece of leather for display.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. After reading and re-reading and doing a bit of side research I wasn't sure what to do with this leather problem. I decided to try the Beva film per Framerguy's advice (and contrary to Hugh's...eek). I will explain to the customer that this is the best we can do if they want a float mount.

Here goesssss...
 
also to be considered is the thickness of the leather---if it is thin you are in for a tough time no matter what you use...if it is thicker, say as thick as the raw hides the leather shops used to sell, you might break out your awl/carpet needle and sew this piece down(skin thru the 'upper' layers on the back----small holes, NO glues, and it's fast from the back(using some braided fishing line(do NOT use mono!!!!!!!), some of which are teflon treated to possible make the process go easier?). dont forget that bees wax(the real stuff) might help the needle go thru the leather. lol
 
*BUMP*
Gotta love the search function. Got some paintings in on leather that need float mounting. It was my thought to do them as Baer & Hugh suggested. It's nice to find at least some confirmation that I'm on the right track.
 
Without having seen or touched the object in question, the boss -who trained as a book conservator first, and they work with leather all the time- suggests either a 50/50 mix of wheat starch paste and Lascaux 498, or a thin application of hide glue, on pass-through hinges of kozo.

Any adhesive you put on this will not be entirely removable. Hide glue can be more-or-less removed with methyl-cellulose. It is, however, far less flexible than the WSP/Lascaux mix, so the latter is probably a better choice.

Fewer, wider hinges -and only along the top, and maybe the bottom sides- will serve better than many narrow ones.
 
I certainly don't fancy the idea of Lascaux on the steer hide..

Maybe on Naugahyde..... or polyproplskin.....

and the wheat is veggie....... I don't do veggie on skin..... not even close.

veggie goes up-town... skin goes cross-town.
 
Why do you not favor Lascaux on leather? This is not a challenge, simply a request for information and your reasoning.
 
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