The Framers Forum

Hi. I have been asked to frame a charcoal drawing measuring 2 metres 40 by 1 metre 50. The customer doesn’t want a window mount but wants the edges of the artwork to be seen on a backing board. The artwork will need to be fixed onto the backing board. I am struggling to source a piece of board [other than 3mm MDF] from the usual suppliers. Can anyone suggest a source for a board of this size or perhaps an alternative option to back the artwork onto? Thanks in anticipation. Fitz

For something that size I would mount it to a big stretched canvas, painted a suitable colour.

A piece of board that size would be very wappy and very heavy even if you could find one, which I doubt.

I'd hinge it to foamcore slightly smaller than the paper. You could build a big piece in two layers so the joins were
staggered and fix this to the canvas. The drawing hinged to the foamcore. (the join lines would be hidden)

Have you priced the glazing?

**I turned down a lady with a similar job not long since. Even if I had the time and the space to do the job it wouldn't have
fitted through the door.

Wessex sell really huge sheets of 10mm thick foamboard, I would use one of these and not bother looking for a large piece of mountboard. The foamboard also doubles as the backing board as well. I also buy basic acryic sheeting cut to size from my local hardware shop which solves the glazing issue as well. I often frame large stuff like in oak frames to produce a nice stiff frame without excessive weight. For me, stuff like this needs to be quick and easy, why make stuff like this any harder than it needs to be.

you could try a sheet of MDF or ply and then cover it with felt of some other type of material like velvet maybe

I'm thinking that the formadehyde in the MDF probably is not going to be good for the longevity of the felt and wood boring insects are very attracted to most varieties of plywood, so the ply must be sealed with something to stop the insects. This is not an unsurmountable problem, but needs thinking about. As always, there are ways around most problems and taking the right precautions is often a workable solution.

Hi all, thanks for taking the time to respond. It is much appreciated. I have spoken again to the artist and he is not dead against joining two boards together? I like the idea of prosperos to use a stretched canvas frame which would double as a sub frame to add strength and then work out how to get the artwork (on watercolour paper) onto that. I’m now having issues with glass as he wants float glass but I can’t get it in that size from the usual suspects. I can get Acrylic cut to size by Wessex but “it scratches” Anyway I’ll keep negotiating, onwards and upwards. Thanks again.

Glass that size will be very heavy! I would definitely go acrylic

hopr your bench is big enough

This job involves a number of pieces of art commissioned by the SSE for the upcoming COP 26 conference. The artist has produced quite a number of pieces of art mainly using charcoal medium on watercolour paper. One of them involves pieces of watercolour paper stuck together to measure 2 metres and 40 cms, one is 2 metres and 20 cms. They are done in charcoal and the artist has informed me that they will be rolled up for transport. I have had to refuse the job sadly as the company has a large budget for this job but it is just too much for me to handle and I am concerned about the artwork being able to be flattened out sufficiently to be fixed to the backing board supposing I could source one large enough. This has left the SSE in a bit of a pickle. I have suggested a number of other framers locally but if anyone in the area (Scotland) is able to handle this job can you let me know. Could be a two person operation. There is also a tight timescale. Thanks for all help and suggestions.

Well done in knowing when to say no, it's no good putting yours through it , if you know you are going to have problems, also if you are worried about anything, as in this case that the way the artwork is going to be presented to you. I've done the same in the past, now you can sleep at nights