The One that Came Back; Giuseppe Penone

The print itself by Giuseppe Penone, which was reaching over a casual mtr in length and was float mounted on conservation card and protected with plexiglass.

Sometimes it’s hard to face the day. It’s somehow harder when the monster frame you put together touching on three years ago, with varying difficulty, show’s up again at your door.

Why the heartache?

In the first place. It was a large print on heavy paper that was to be float- mounted to show the rough edges of the work. In the second place it was to use a slim frame. In the third. The plexiglass we used instead off glass was as flexible as the frame and the print put together. Which all in all (weight, size and shape) made for one of these fun instances of dust collection due to one of the worst instances of frame flexibility I have ever seen.

Should I have been surprised it returned

It was always on my mind but not for the reasons it did. When it eventually came back to me last month- to my horror- it want’s anything relating to my worries, but rather to an unfortunate hanging incident. Note to reader- Large and or heavy frames should be given added support with wall plugs and or mirror plates, rather than a casual hook.

After bouncing off the floor and breaking somewhat, the frame came back to me with a repair request. Having assessed the damage it seemed clear that the integrity of the frame was shot and the picture would require reframing if it was to hang again for longer than 30 seconds.

The damage done….

I also saw this as my chance to improve upon the design of the last frame which left me feeling sleepless for going on 3 years. So I set to work.

First step was a slightly wider frame using a denser wood. Ash rather than Pine. This small change alone decreased the bowing on the frame, primarily the long lengths. Although movement still persisted a sturdier moulding supported the artwork better initially and with the addition of the nickel plates the structure overall was given a better chance.

To better support the already better supported frame and artwork:

I made and attached a 20mm wide "strut back” to draw in the sides and support the load as a whole. This worked really well, as mentioned the wood had a slight tendency to bow out from the sides still and having this attached right in the centre would serve to draw the sides in and keep them there.

Getting into the work…

Overall effect

Looked great and I’ve not had trouble sleeping so far. Everyone is happy.