Piece of Berlin wall

[kartoffelngeist]

Did a quick search and noticed that a lot of people have framed these, but not sure of the best way to mount it.

Anyone have a good way to do it?

Thanks,

andrew

[prospero]

How big and heavy is it?

[kartoffelngeist]

Not very.

About 3"x1". Quite an awkward shape, has one flat side which they want facing out, the other sides are like broken bits of concrete.

Getting framed with a certificate too.

[Jamesnkr]

Getting framed with a certificate too.

Then it must be real.


Why do people want something framing with an ugly certificate? Don't get it. Particularly when the certificate is even tackier than the item being framed.

Edited to add, actually, without the 'certificate' the 'wall' loses all its meaning. Yes, they should be framed together, I was wrong.

[prospero]

I would favour some sort of mechanical fixing rather than rely on an adhesive. You could set it into a blob of silcone
and hope for the best, but what you need is what is know in the trade are as 'formed rods'. Basically, bits of thick wire
which are anchored into a solid board (plywood?). It needs to be fairly thick (3/8" + ?) so you can bend the wire in a tight
loop and hold it with a screw. The wires are fed though holes in the board and bent so they grab just around the piece.
A bit like a stone in a ring. You have to fiddle about a bit bending the wires to get a firm grip. Galvanised fencing wire
is as good as anything IMHO. It's dull so won't show out like brass or copper.
It's also good to set the chunk it into something behind (not visible) to act as a cushion. You
could use silicone for this purpose.
If the back is crumbly, you could stabilise it with a coat of PVA glue. (Not the front). This will go a long way to stopping
dust collecting in the frame over time.

[Roboframer]

Formed rods might be OK but for something that size you can use far finer wire, like piano wire - here's how it's done

http://theframersforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 39&p=76257

But as it's so small it still may look cumbersome so a shaped Melinex mount might be good and here's how to do that

http://theframersforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 83&p=91500

What I would avoid is any sort of sink mount - don't bury it.

I have a chunk of Berlin wall, keep meaning to break it up in to smaller ones and frame them for the kids - only managed one so far and I mounted it below the front page of the London Herald with the breaking news. (We were stationed there when the wall came down)

[Keith Hewitt]

Hi Andrew,

Has anyone pointed to you to the excellent 4 page article in the APRIL issue Art and Framing Today April 2016 - pages 50 -53
John Ranes explains how he framed a piece of the Berlin Wall.

It maybe available on the FATG website.
Or ask me and I will post you a copy.

[kartoffelngeist]

The customer was actually one of my framers, so we were able to get plenty of customer input!

It's probably not how I would have done it for myself, but as long as the customer is happy I'm happy...

Ended up going with thin wire to hold it in place, looked quite nice in the end. You can't really see it in the photo, but it also has a piece of Fimo behind it which holds it flat against the board and also brings it out from the background.

Thanks for all the help with it!

[chris62]

DSCN0699.jpg (39.69 KiB) Viewed 5072 times

[John Ranes II, CPF, GCF]

...Ended up going with thin wire to hold it in place, looked quite nice in the end. You can't really see it in the photo, but it also has a piece of Fimo behind it which holds it flat against the board and also brings it out from the background...

It really does look quite handsome. I like the washed grey moulding and the certificate actually is nice looking.

John

P.S. When you have a moment, you will have to tell me how you came up with "Potato Ghost"... perhaps you have this story shared on one of the other threads in After Hours??

[Roboframer]

I'd lose the aperture mount and put the certificate in the same board the rock is mounted on, the main item is then forward, not behind and with far more space around it.
This way, to me, It's buried.

[IFGL]

I agree to an extent, what we would have done is give it a little more space (not much) but put a slight cove in there to lead you to it, each to there own though, regardless it does look good