Mounting and framing old title deeds

[China shop]

Can anybody advise on framing old title deeds,they have been folded like a map and measure 28 x 24 inches, customer wants mountboard underneath leaving edges of deeds showing and then double mount surrounding them. My problem is they dont want any tape at all on the back so we can't use s hinges or float mount it as would normally do with a picture.
I have used mylar/melinex in the past on smaller items but nothing so big. Would melinex straps be OK or if we made corners like a photo album would that work do you think? The melinex we have is 500mm wide.
Any suggestions appreciated as we only have a week to get them done.

[David McCormack]

I framed some title deeds earlier this year that were the same as yours. They are almost certainly going to be written on velum.

First thing I did was to sandwich it between two clean sheets of weighted mount-board to get it flat. Second thing was to photograph the back of the document and so I could attach copies to the back of finished frame. I then float mounted it with a surrounding window-mount which was raised up with 10mm foam-board.

Although your customer has asked you not to use tape hinges on the back I think you could persuade them to go for Japanese hinges and fresh cooked wheat starch paste. They can be removed in the future if need be and in fact will come away all too easily if you mix up your paste too watery, best use fairly thick paste. The less water the better with velum.

If they definitely don’t want any hinges then clear polyester straps would work but I guess you would need a few both vertical and horizontal?

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[Not your average framer]

I framed a very similar looking deed of indenture about one month age. The I retained the corners with thin blue ribbands across the corners and it worked very well.

I bought the ribband from our very own Roboframer (John Turner). He accepted debit card payment over the phone and sent me a small stock of different colour ribbands which I ordered at the same time.

Ribbands are very affordable and with a little imagination can be a good way of adding significant extra profit to a framing job, without requiring much time, or expense.

[Steve N]

Like it Mark Great way to do it, with ribbon it will not look out of place

[Not your average framer]

Hi Steve,

As far as I know it's a pretty much standard method.

[Steve N]

I'm sure I have used it years ago, but have forgotten all about it, it wasn't until you mentioned it that I remembered about it
something about old age, I think

[Not your average framer]

Don't remind me, I'm not that far from retirement age myself either!

[David McCormack]

Do you have a photo of a ribbon mounted parchment? Would be interested to see how much of the corners are covered up. Thanks.

[Roboframer]

I wouldn't put straps of ribbon across the corners. Apart from possibly covering detail, which mylar straps wouldn't ........ but I wouldn't use those either ..... all the weight is on too small an area, plus expansion & contraction could cause abrasion, of the vellum or of the ribbon, or both. Then there's the issue of reaction to UV and/or visible light, regarding lightfastness and strength.

I'd only use any sort of corner things if they were hidden under, and further supported by, a window mount.

[China shop]

Thanks for the replies up to now guys. Anything that involved tape on the back was a definite no from the customer. Which led me to the possible mylar solution, but as Robo says that or the ribbon corners isn't a good idea I'm a little unsure what to do.

[David McCormack]

Overlay or encapsulation may be your only way then? But your 500mm roll is too small so you may have to consider PEL's 100 micron 1067mm x 20m or Lion's 95 micron 760mm x 20m. Hope you find a solution and would be intestered to know how you got on

[Not your average framer]

I haven't photographed the finished job, it just didn't occur to me to do so!

all the weight is on too small an area, plus expansion & contraction could cause abrasion, of the vellum or of the ribbon, or both.

I'm not convinced that this is a problem. The ribbons were not tight and the vellum had sufficient freedom to do it's own thing over time, plus it's gonna have to go through a lot of expansion and contraction cycles over a very long time to even begin to cause any abrasion at all. There was plenty of space included in the frame to ensure that the deed would not touch the glass as it moved.

Being blue ribbands, they will take a lot longer to fade than colours nearer the red end of the light spectrum as the colour blue will reflect a significant amount of any damaging ultra violet light compared to for example red which will absorb virtually all damaging ultra violet light energy.

The customer declined the extra cost of UV blocking glass and conservation framing as the deed was not of high value and was bought as a gift for a family member who had just moved into a house in the area where the deed related to.

[David McCormack]

The other advantage of using blue riband is, if you have some left over when you've finished mounting it goes well with a cuppa

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[Roboframer]

The back of these things are usually blank, bar for the central square left showing when folded, my recommendation to a customer, especially one as concerned as yours, would be starch paste and hand made tissue hinges with feathered edges.

If that's a no-no then it will have to be held in place - I don't think encapsulation, or overlay, either with clear film or abrasion resistant acrylic would be as good as hinges because "very slight but constant rubbing of surfaces caused by environmental vibrations and normal expansion and contraction cycles might abrade deteriorated or raised inks or paints" (that's from a link to overlay mounting posted recently) Also most of these indenture things have a wax seal and then there's the creases which are never going to go away.

There's enough here to give your customer an informed choice, but find out what his/her definition of 'tape' is and explain the difference between that and paste/tissue.

This single hinge held a full skin of manuscript vellum (trimmed square) for about an hour before I took the second photo. I've still got it and there's no sign of where that hinge was.

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[China shop]

Thanks again for the responses, we will get the customer back in I think and give them the options available as you have suggested.