Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: cagen on January 25, 2013, 08:17:59 am

Title: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: cagen on January 25, 2013, 08:17:59 am
To display printed matter, I want to stick those matters to the wall in my room.
I want to cast light on the printed matters with track light.
I want to know some ways to cling those printed matters on the wall.
adhesive tape? magnetic board?
Thank you for reading my message.
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: neile on January 25, 2013, 09:38:24 am
Magnetic board is my preferred way for viewing prints. You can see my method at http://www.danecreek.com/blog/2011/07/30/a-tour-through-the-print-studio-2.html, scroll down to "Print Viewing".

Neil
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: philbaum on January 25, 2013, 10:57:37 am
Neile,
Thats really cool regarding the magnetic board - i like it!!

I once decorated a lobby wall in a small community theater, with 3 large wooden frames, of varying sizes, that had black foam core inserted in the backs of them.  we then collaged pictures of the latest play into them using pushpins.  The foam core backing board works ok, but cork would probably be superior.  If you make it easy to hang pics, the more chance there is that you will have a lot to display.  I always enjoy walking into a room with lots of pics. 
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: Steven Rozansky on January 25, 2013, 11:17:35 am
Hi Neil,
I saw your print studio and it looks great. My son is going away to collage soon and I am thinking of doing a makeover in his room. I do have a question about the galvanized metal sheet. Does is give off any glare or reflect the light back to you?
Thanks,
Steve
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: PeterAit on January 25, 2013, 12:29:01 pm
I covered a large section of wall in my studio with cork board. With a few stick pins I can put prints up for viewing and evaluation. And, when I have no prints up, the cork is quite attractive.
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: cagen on January 25, 2013, 01:30:06 pm
Thanks, Neile
I saw the pictures of your studio. You have a nice studio.
BTW Doesn't the light reflection which u installed on the magnetic board have a bad effect on print evaluation?
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: neile on January 26, 2013, 08:20:49 pm
Oops, sorry, missed the follow-up questions! Glare isn't a problem. I have Solux bulbs with a wide beam spread and enough heads to get generally even illumination across the wall (all those days of evenly lighting grey cards for film zone testing finally paid off!). When you have prints hanging on the board they cover the metal and thus there is no reflection.

Neil
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: smjphoto on January 27, 2013, 04:55:16 am
Of course, you could paint the galv sheet metal any color you want and use a matte finish if you wanted to reduce reflection. It won't significantly hinder the magnetic properties. ( make sure you use something to remove the residual oils etc before priming)

Another alternative I installed used a grid of flat sheet metal strips to cover most of a wall.the strips were at about 16" apart vertically and 24" apart horizontally. I painted them the wall color. I tack-welded the strips together so I could hang the whole thing on the wall with just a few screws at the top. I didn't want to cover the whole wall with sheets of metal because I thought it would make the room accoustics too reflective. I like to hang new prints up and live with them awhile before I finalize my judgement of them.  This gives a lot of flexibility re the print size and number of images I can deliberate on at any time.

If you haven't ever used rare earth magnets, you should check them out. Small ones are amazingly strong and work really well to hold large prints. Just use caution as they are very strong when acting together (multiple magnets). It's very easy to get your skin pinched when they jump towards each other. Also, they are usually plated with chrome or something similar, so they don't mess up the print paper surface like some ceramic magnets do sometimes .
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: neile on January 27, 2013, 12:33:42 pm
Yeah, my plan was always to paint the metal, but... I never got around to it and honestly it would have been a waste of time.

For magnets go to www.supermagnetman.com. The magnet pins (http://www.supermagnetman.net/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=46) are perfect for this kind of thing. For a smaller, less obtrusive option, go with cubes (http://www.supermagnetman.net/product_info.php?products_id=84), although they are much harder to handle and are better suited to more permanent installations.

Neil
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: abiggs on January 27, 2013, 09:41:25 pm
I am a huge fan of amazingmagnets.com:

http://amazingmagnets.com/c-8-wb-series-whiteboard-magnets.aspx
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: neile on January 27, 2013, 09:52:18 pm
Note that we both linked to the same pins from different vendors. At Amazing Magnets a pack of 10 costs $12.75. At Super Magnet Man they're $4.10. Just sayin' :)

Neil
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: I.T. Supplies on January 30, 2013, 03:14:08 pm
Here is a cool product that will work out well for your needs.  It's called Photo-tex and we've put this on our office wall which it's been there for about a year now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um6lC2TuB-c&list=UUkAkYwOQo5jC9PBVbioA7Sg&index=26

IT Supplies
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: Rand47 on February 01, 2013, 05:11:57 pm
Thanks, Neile
I saw the pictures of your studio. You have a nice studio.
BTW Doesn't the light reflection which u installed on the magnetic board have a bad effect on print evaluation?

And . . .
Quote
Of course, you could paint the galv sheet metal any color you want and use a matte finish if you wanted to reduce reflection. It won't significantly hinder the magnetic properties.

I have a very similar arrangment with metal panels on the wall, but I use these (http://diamondlifegear.com/magnetic-board.htm?gclid=CLbkqYmKlrUCFa57QgodEh8A2w#buynojmp)!  Already painted, and already pre drilled for mounting.  They also have a color called "city gray" which is about perfect for this use.  My panel is 4x8 but composed of two 4x4' sheets butted together.  The shipping cost on the full 4x8' sheet makes it prohibitive, IMO.  Prices are decent for what you get, and they are shipped very carefully packed.  (That was a worry of mine, but they arrived in perfect shape.)

I also use the magnetic pins, but I get mine from K&J Magnetics where I can get a discount if I buy them in volume.

Here's a quick and dirty iPhone photo of my magnetic panel.  Forgive the gastly quality (mixed light, iphone, plus oversatruated sRGB export! Ugh...), but I'm in a hurry this morning, and just wanted to give you a rough idea re the gray painted, satin, surface.

(http://rsadams.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Misc/i-q5fccHT/0/S/IMG_1419-S.jpg)

Solux sells a 4-head track light  (http://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/infopages/color-proofing.html) pretty economically that works great above the panel.
Title: Re: Questions about how to exhibit print on the wall
Post by: sfblue on February 01, 2013, 10:06:05 pm
Hi,

Any chance you live near an Ikea?  The magnetic board thing is great and Ikea used to carry something called the Imperativ-- they were 24 x 30 lightweight magnetic panels that were inexpensive.  I can't remember how much they were but I want to say between fifteen and twenty dollars per board.

Ikea seems to get stuff like that every so often although last time I was in, they had more expensive, thicker, finished magnetic boards that I think were used to finish kitchen appliances.  That was a while ago though. (I try to avoid a) shopping and b) ikea specifically as once you go in, you can't get out. . . )

Also, apparently not all stainless is magnetic, so I took a magnet with me to test.

I ordered a Blomus panel off of amazon which was much more expensive and heaver and better finished.  The problem is some places charge a lot for shipping for some of the big metal pieces.

Dan