The Framers Forum

This is a method from Jim Miller's book 'Mounting objects with clear film'

Cut a piece of mount board slightly smaller than the magazine - depending on the size of the magazine/newspaper you might want to reinforce it with something like fluted polypropylene, this was A4 and I used 8 ply mount board.

Open the cover and wrap a vertical sheet of clear archival polyester almost the same width as the page, around the rest of the pages and the board behind the magazine to overlap the board by about 2 inches top and bottom.
Fix with double sided tape - as shown - use two strips - not ATG tape - this is 3M 889 tape which is not available in this country - but 415 tape is OK - lion sell it and so do PEL.
Then wrap another sheet horizontally around the whole thing, again to overlap your board by about 2".

Fix in the same way - use cotton gloves throughout.

No adhesive touches the magazine - the 3-dimensional look is not lost and you now have a board that you can attach to your mounting board. You can just stick it (I did!) or you can cut slits in it (previous) and fix it with melinex straps - that's the best way.
It's mounted....

It's mounted and framed (customer's choice of)

Another great "How To" John.

Who is your supplier(s) of archival polyester and what sizes does it come in?

I use PEL - it's also available from Conservation by Design, but they are far more expensive. Here's PEL's size/price list, I use the 75, 100 and 125 micron

.....and I want one of these for Christmas

Just order it, John. Get Pat to wrap it for you for Christmas, then open it early.

Thanks for mentioning my clear film mounting technique and my book, John. I was wondering why I suddenly received several inquiries from UK framers about Mounting Objects with Clear Film. This thread must be the reason.

Incidentally, only two copies of that book remain unsold, and it probably will not be reprinted. Instead, I plan to replace it with a new book about the category of methods I call Direct Contact Overlay (DCO) Mounting. This category includes several mounting techniques using clear film, fine mesh fabrics, and acrylic glazing.

I try to monitor this forum regularly, but obviously I'm running behind. I'll try to get here more often. Merry Christmas to all.

Thanks Jim for the three copies of your book which arrived today

A few months ago I did something very similar with a magazine, with a few differences:

1. I only used the one vertical strip of Mylaer inside the front cover.

2. I attached a slightly undersized piece of black AF foam board behind the mounted magazine.

3. When I cut the strips to line the sides of the frame, I made them narrow enough that the glazing (Optium Museum Acrylic) would be in direct contact with the magazine and compress it very slightly.

4. I used a bit more pressure than normal in fitting.

The Mylar holds the magazine in place mostly, with the gentle pressure of the acrylic (NEVER glass!) providing extra support across the entire surface of the magazine. With the anti-reflective acrylic it really does look like it's floating in mid-air.

That looks great.

Nice work, David. The Museum Optium Acrylic really does make it look like the magazine is floating by levitation. The same method works for newspapers, documents, and flat textiles, as well.

One practical limitation is that this direct contact overlay ( DCO) technique could harm items that have fragile surfaces or three-dimensional features, such as a textile of lofty yarns; or art with soft, sticky, or friable media, such as charcoal, crayon, pastel, etc.

The universal caution, as David mentioned, is that glass should not be used for this sort of DCO mounting. Due to its poor thermal insulating properties, glass condenses moisture readily, which could cause problems inside the frame. Acrylic is a much better thermal insulator, and does not condense moisture so readily. However, moisture could still condense on acrylic in extreme environmental conditions. For a better understanding of this issue, study "dew point", the principles affecting and effecting moisture condensation.

I've never sold a square inch of optium - I have a very nice POS kit for it too. I think it's about x2 the price here comparwed to the US.

Has anyone here ever sold any?

I think Abrasion Resistant acrylic like Artshield/Artshield UV may be OK for this method, but you'd lose the floating look.

Yes, John, any brand or type of acrylic could be suitable for DCO mounting, but the "extras" are often worth the added price. Abrasion-resistance keeps the item in contact from scuffing the inside of the acrylic sheet over time, due to normal expansion/contraction cycles. UV filtering slows light damage. Optical coatings make the glazing almost invisible.

Any acrylic DCO can serve some protective purposes of framing and create a "Wow" framing design. Museum Optium Acrylic only kicks it up from "Wow" to "incredible".