a new mounting technique, and little cat feet

A rather opinionated juror, who had accepted one of my pieces into a show some months ago, told the curator that though he liked the fact that I had mounted the art quilt on Plexiglas, he did not like the fact that I had created a border around the piece with the clear plastic. Harumph.

So, in mounting a new piece, my first Digital to Textile challenge piece (the link is to our group's blog where some of us chronicle not only our progress but post our final works), I decided to heed the esteemed juror's advice, and take a different approach.

 

The Plexiglas stops approximately 1/4" short of the finished piece, so it is not visible from the front. It is there to give the piece stability. 

Before all this assembly, I predrilled my holes --two in each corner and two in the middle on the edge. Since the work is fabric, it wants to sag, so this many anchors vitiates against that. I use 25# fishing line to tie the piece --I thread the fishing line with a long doll needle, coming up from the back, and finish with 4 (yes, 4) square knots!

 

To attach the hanging wire, I drilled two holes a third of the way down the Plexiglas. I put my hanging wire through one of the holes in a flat button and threaded that down through one of the the holes in the Plexiglas  and then through one of the holes in a flat button held on the other side of the Plexiglas.

I then brought the wire around through the underside button's other hole and teased the wire back up that one hole in the Plexiglas, then threading it up through the top button's second (open) hole. Then I twisted off this wire and cut it off, leaving a length of it to extend across for hanging.

After pulling that part of wire across the piece, I did the same thing with the second hole. (Note: it helps to have someone help you hold all these elements!) - down through one hole in the top button, down through the Plexiglas rabbit hole, et cetera...

I must say I like the way the piece looks from the front when it is mounted on a smaller piece of Plexiglas. It has a nice presence that I don't feel when it hangs from a slat. And you do not have to worry about scratching the Plexiglas "border" around your piece, or grubby little fingerprints.

Do you want to see how she looks? Nanner nanner! No peeking! I'll take pictures of her at next month's opening! (each of my pieces feels like a "she" to me -- go figure)