The Framers Forum

hi, what would be the best way to mount a watercolour done on board? Would a t-hinge be too weak to hold the watercolour to the mountboard? i want to put a double mount over the watercolour. any suggestions would be most welcome. apologies for asking lots of questions, im a complete novice

Put your mount face down and place the piece over it, secure across the corners with FP90 then make it flush with mountboard strips to the full width of the frame. If it's thicker than mountboard then build up the strips or use foamboard.

ok, thanks roboframer. Just to get this right in my head.... place the watercolour face down on the mount, position it, tape the 4 corners and build up with mountboard strips so the mount is the same thickness as the board the watercolour has been painted on. do i use fp90 tape to stick the mountboard strips?

No - double sided tape, you don't have to use tape at each corner either, just the top would do. The strips, butted right up to the board prevent slippage.

excellent, thanks roboframer. I do appreciate you taking the time to reply.

No big deal, I don't have a life.

would normal mdf backboard be ok right behind the board the watercolour in painted on or would i need ph neutral backboard, then mdf?

Depends what quality of board the thing is painted on.

Pointless using preservation grade board if the painting is stuck to carp, if it's stuck to 'acid free' board then it's already backed OK. Even if you backed it with MDF it would take donkeys before it had any adverse effect.

'Artbak' type board should be fine.

ok... thats fine. cheers

could you use the same prodecure for oil paintings on board?

The medium is irrelevant, anything on board should be made flush if mounting it, and if it's painted on plywood there's nothing wrong with making it flush with plywood either.

righteo, i'll stop asking questions now, thanks again.

Bar the extra weight and the fact that foam board and mountboard is easy to cut.

'are easy to cut' is what I should have writ.

What Robo said....

I get these all the time. Great way to use up all those silly long bits of mb that accumulate. To save a bit of time, don't bother measuring /trimming the strips to fit. Stick oversize bits on first, turn the mount face-up and trim off the excess.

those are great tips, thanks for your help.

do i only need to put the strips below the painting to prevent it from slipping or should I surround the entire painting with strips of mountboard?

Surround the whole board. Makes the whole thing neater. If everything is level at the back.
You are using what is basically scrap anyway. I tend to put the strips round without sticking the painting down first. Then attach the painting to the strips with a short bit of tape on each side. easier if you ever want to remove the painting from the mount. (which I sometimes do).

makes sense i suppose, cheers

prospero wrote:To save a bit of time, don't bother measuring /trimming the strips to fit. Stick oversize bits on first, turn the mount face-up and trim off the excess.

But also use a straight steel edge or a kevlar glove, or both, the straight edge will prevent the blade going off track and trashing your mount; the glove will prevent this............