Hanging devices

Hanging option. Described below in post...

Complete...

3D option...

Modern Landscape II and III waiting for their hanging devices.

One of the big steps in getting work ready for the gallery are the hanging logistics. You can create wonderful felted work, but if it does not hang properly, it can look really amateur. I have seen it...Heck, I have done it.

Even before I begin to felt a piece, I often consider how am I going to hang this as I may structure it in a way based on this, especially the 3d work. I also sometimes consider photography as, if you cannot take a good image, it is very difficult for a piece to find it's place in a juried show or to be included on my website if it cannot be truly represented in an image.

Sometimes it is trail and error and, whenever possible, I try to hang the piece for several days to make sure that how it hangs does not change as gravity sets in over time! The large "Modern Landscape" I recently completed has an "arm" on the bottom of each side that I was concerned might flip a bit once hung. It was steamed completely flat and hung right away and weeks later, still looks good. I need to know that when in the gallery for a month it will look the same as when it was hung on day one. For my pods, wire is sewn on and each hung to make sure they hang exactly as desired and with little margin for someone to hang it incorrectly, as I rarely get to hang my own work.

Once my 3 large pods were complete, I noted that if I were to expect to put the price on the I require to pay for my time and materials (see previous post on the real cost of work), A set of 3 hooks from the garden centre would not do! I have commissioned a local artist/blacksmith to create a custom hanging device. I akin it to proper framing. It can be costly, you must build it in the cost, but it elevates the work to where it needs to be rather that devaluing it. Must be done here.

As a member of a fibre group that includes art quilt makers with flawless work that hangs from the wall poker straight, I recognized I need to strive for this myself. You can still have an organic edge, but it must hang cleanly.

This is my system:

1.) Sew on velcro. Stitch 2 inch wide "velour" part across the back top edge, pinning in place so it is stitched on completely flat.

2.) staple the "crochet" part to a 2 inch wide piece of wood

3.) screw 2 little eye hooks on the top edge of the wood.

4.) put the 2 together. They stay this way, do not take apart, roll up for transport.

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