translucent mounting and framing of drafting film, and a frame with no sides...
Posted: Sun 14 Jan, 2024 5:55 am
I am an artist rather than a framer, and would like some advice on an unusual framing.
I have tried to explain all the aspects below, which I apologise has got rather long, but I have probably missed some vital info as well. Please excuse my ignorance.
The works are on drafting film. (This is a flexible film used as amore stable medium than tracing paper, made from polyester with a finely textured finish on both sides that holds either ink and polymer pencil, and looks frosted, similar in appearance to tracing paper.)
I would like the frame to have a transparent backing so the translucency of the artwork can be seen. I was considering glazing it both sides with either acrylic or polycarbonate sheet, but I am not sure how to mount the film to hold it flat. It does haves a preference to lie or hang flat, and no variation with humidity. It does move with temperature changes, but evenly. (For the maximum dimension of these works, of about 800 mm, with a temperature change of 30ºC, there would be a dimensional change of 3 mm for polyester, and 1.6 mm for either acrylic or polycarbonate sheet, and only 0.1 mm for glass.)
Is condensation less of an issue if the medium is non-absorbent? There would still be potential rubbing if there was contact with the pencil on the film and differential thermal movement, so I thought it would still be necessary to separate the glazing and the artwork. So I was considering effectively clamping the edges of the film between spacers and those being set between glazing. Is that feasible?
To make things more complex, they are a linear set of five linked images: a quintych.
I would like to frame them in a way that does not have a visual separation or frame between the sides of the artworks, because this would interrupt the linearity.
So there will be no sides to the frame mouldings, just top and bottom bars, which I thought could be held by being screwed to the polycarbonate sheet, so at least one of the sheets of glazing is structural to the frame. The other glazing sheetcould possibly be held from silding sideways by something like small metal pins in the frame edges either side of the glazing sheet, to hold the glazing within the frame.
I have found one example online of a frame with one side missing: https://ik.imagekit.io/theartling/prod/ ... g?tr=w-950
And another of an artwork mounted with a transparent surround: https://ik.imagekit.io/theartling/prod/ ... g?tr=w-950
I found them here: https://theartling.com/en/artzine/how-t ... r-artwork/
I have tried to explain all the aspects below, which I apologise has got rather long, but I have probably missed some vital info as well. Please excuse my ignorance.
The works are on drafting film. (This is a flexible film used as amore stable medium than tracing paper, made from polyester with a finely textured finish on both sides that holds either ink and polymer pencil, and looks frosted, similar in appearance to tracing paper.)
I would like the frame to have a transparent backing so the translucency of the artwork can be seen. I was considering glazing it both sides with either acrylic or polycarbonate sheet, but I am not sure how to mount the film to hold it flat. It does haves a preference to lie or hang flat, and no variation with humidity. It does move with temperature changes, but evenly. (For the maximum dimension of these works, of about 800 mm, with a temperature change of 30ºC, there would be a dimensional change of 3 mm for polyester, and 1.6 mm for either acrylic or polycarbonate sheet, and only 0.1 mm for glass.)
Is condensation less of an issue if the medium is non-absorbent? There would still be potential rubbing if there was contact with the pencil on the film and differential thermal movement, so I thought it would still be necessary to separate the glazing and the artwork. So I was considering effectively clamping the edges of the film between spacers and those being set between glazing. Is that feasible?
To make things more complex, they are a linear set of five linked images: a quintych.
I would like to frame them in a way that does not have a visual separation or frame between the sides of the artworks, because this would interrupt the linearity.
So there will be no sides to the frame mouldings, just top and bottom bars, which I thought could be held by being screwed to the polycarbonate sheet, so at least one of the sheets of glazing is structural to the frame. The other glazing sheetcould possibly be held from silding sideways by something like small metal pins in the frame edges either side of the glazing sheet, to hold the glazing within the frame.
I have found one example online of a frame with one side missing: https://ik.imagekit.io/theartling/prod/ ... g?tr=w-950
And another of an artwork mounted with a transparent surround: https://ik.imagekit.io/theartling/prod/ ... g?tr=w-950
I found them here: https://theartling.com/en/artzine/how-t ... r-artwork/