Question Plaque mounting a watercolor?

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Tommy P

Tommy P

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Posts
870
Loc
Mid North Indiana
Okay, I've never heard of this. Hoping someone can enlighten me. A customer came in yesterday to buy some art supplies. In talking she asks if we do float mounting of watercolors. I showed her examples of hand made watercolor paper that I had framed using what I call float mounting. She said no that is not what I am talking about. She described taking an original watercolor and mounting it somehow to some kind of 1/2" substrate (she swore it was wood) and then having some kind of coating applied for protection. The work goes all the way to all four edges and she said the sides look like finished wood.

I told her I would never recommend that method on an original piece of art unless the customer requested it. She said it looks beautiful and maybe it's called plaque mounting.. That term has different meaning to me. Like what's done by our local paper to a desired article.

Mentioned she was from the "Niagara Falls" area. And it's done a lot.

Anyone see this done, and how, to a watercolor? Cannot imagine it looks appropriate but she was kind of surprised I did not do this on a regular basis! I'm perplexed. (Nothing new!)
 
Well, I am only a few miles from Niagara Falls and I have never had anyone ask to plaque mount an original watercolor.

That would be an abomination, IMHO. If an artist asked to do this, I would make a Xerox for them and mount that (lots of artists sell what turns out to be Xeroxes of their watercolors, matted and sealed in plastic - folks think they are buying originals and no one can tell (not even me!) until we look under the mat.

I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND MOUNTING ANY ORIGINAL ON A PLAQUE.

Never!!!!!
 
Quite apart from anything else, applying a coating to the work would totally alter the 'look' of it. Permanently. That's if it didn't destroy it in the process. And this would not protect it from physical assaults. Any damage would be impossible to repair. And I suspect that any coating would not be cleanable either.

A definite no-no on all levels. :nuts:
 
Plaque mounting should be reserved for easily replaced decorative items. A customer of mine wanted his number from the Boston Marathon plaque mounted. I sent the piece in and it came back completely fogged over....nothing could be done.
Currently I am framing the laminate piece that was once plaque mounted. Over the years the mdf backing had expanded slightly, about 1/8" in both directions, and the shear force had weakened the adhesive bond in all but the center of the piece. It took about 1/2 hour to finish slicing the laminate from the backing. A few minutes of sanding to remove the now dried up adhesive on the back, and the piece gets drymounted to a Gatorfoam backing and stuck in a frame.
I would council your customer against it or get a statement that they insisted on the proceedure AFA (Against Framers Advice), though it probably wouldn't hold much water in a small claims court should the worst case scenario occur.
 
I have done a few.. I own a couple.

ColorPlak watercolor onto 3/8" MDF with laminate face
that is edge banded with melamine. The laminate face
is resistant to acetone and the same cleaner that the
CDC uses.... we actually soaked a job face down in it
for a few hours.... it was clean. But no lifting or intrusion.

The 3/8" plak is then mounted down to a larger 1/2" thick
that has a accent colored face.

No, it's not reversible. And no.... I don't/didn't care.
It will out last my life time.

And if they get bored, they can frame it without glass.

Face it folks.... it was painted by a street vendor that
will never gain any kind of Christies or Sotherby's level
of fame or stature......

except for my Salvador Arelleano.... but what the hay,
he didn't like how the horse turned out... and had
almost torn the piece in two.
 
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