What do I do here with this one

[LeFrisp]

O flippin eck I exclaimed as the job was described to me.
I havent taken it on yet and I thought I would take some Guru views before I did.

The customer has bought a piece about 2 foot by 3 foot. It is on thin very fibrous paper. I havnt seen it yet but she describes it as not translucent but not far from it.
The artist has displayed it by tacking it with panel pins on all 4 corners ( part of the piece apparently) There fore she wants it float mounted complete with panel pins.

My first thoughts are.
1 Laminate 9mm Foam board and a good Rag board, and use stainless pins to attach it, If she insists on panel pins Im not taking it on as they will rust or if copper coated will go green and affect the piece.
Will a Foamboard/Rag laminate be robust enough to grip the pins enough to support the piece.

2 If the pins aint robust enough to hold the piece on their own Do the Gurus have any top tips on how to stop a pass-through Hinge from being In your face obvious on a slightly translucent paper?

[Dermot]

Perhaps the “Micro Dot” hinging method that Hugh Phibbs developed might work

http://www.pictureframingmagazine.com/p ... vation.pdf

[LeFrisp]

Thanks Dermot.... looks like a lot of practice required before having a go on the piece.

Just tried using a panel pin shoved into a piece of Rag and then into a piece of 5mm Foam board. You could hang a wet duffle coat on it..... Just need to find stainless panel pins.

Is a stainless pin the way to go? Im assuming it wont harm the piece? ( well no more than hammering it to the wall with a flippin nail in the first place did)

[Roboframer]

The artist has displayed it by tacking it with panel pins on all 4 corners ( part of the piece apparently) There fore she wants it float mounted complete with panel pins

What has the artist pinned it to, will you be keeping that support or replacing it with your foam board/rag board and if replacing it, will you be interfering with the piece by removing the artist's pins and then putting them back again, and, seeing as those pins are part of the piece, would you be interfering with it/altering it by adding more pins to it?

How far in from the corners are the pins - could you not mount over the edges of the paper and still show them?

[LeFrisp]

The artist has attached it to a wall in the gallery using the nails. So the nails are going to be removed when its new owner picks it up.
So the foamboard / rag combo will become its new "Wall" The new owner wants it floating and they are passionate about not trapping art behind mountboard.

I suppose to be purist the nails currently in use are the ones which should be used to mount the piece and any staining will be part of the piece.
Ultimately its one for the new owner.
Use the existing pins and risk staining or allow the use of a pin which wont stain.

[Roboframer]

If the existing pins are part of the artwork then - even if you do have to 're-make' the artwork by putting them back through the holes in the corners (assuming the customer has brought the original pins in - hope so, you wouldn't want any cheap copies ) - who are you to to change the artwork?

Truth is (IMHO) the artist didn't want to splash out on framing and so gave a load of BS about the pins being part of the artwork. Strange s/he does not mind removing that part of the artwork in order to sell it - I mean, I bet s/he insisted on replacing them him/herself when it came to framing (or just nailing on the customer's wall) - you know - to preserve the piece's integrityyeahright!

Personally - after giving the gist of the above, but nicely, if the customer still insisted I'd either refuse the job or do just as they ask with a signed disclaimer.

[LeFrisp]

if the customer still insisted I'd either refuse the job or do just as they ask with a signed disclaimer.

Sound advice Roboframer. Thanks

[Nigel Nobody]

Artists are notorious for being cheap and doing dumb, dumb, and dumber things with their artwork. Just because an artist decides to hang paper with panel pins doesn't make it right and doesn't make it suitable for long term, safe display!

Why is it that customers think the artist knows best about framing or correct mounting methods? There is little logic in that assumption!

I would explain that artists often make decisions based on what is convenient and 'cheap'. Also explain that I don't tell artists how to paint! I would also explain that artists don't always know what's right as far as mounting and framing are concerned and that I'm not including any panel pins in the mounting of the art for any amount of money.