Suggestions for showing prints/artwork

[David Mitchell]

Hi all,

Now that I am in my new apartment I have a nice large blank wall in the living room which I have designed the room around to allow me to put art prints or indeed any photographic prints on as well (including the Cyanotypes I am just getting around to sorting).

I don't really want to be drilling into the wall much (if at all) and want it to be quite low cost - as I will probably be changing prints around often much like you would do with a digital photo frame.

My idea is to attach some hooks to the wall and put some string/wire between them, then from that I will simply get some large wide wood or metal clips (like bulldog clips) and simply hang the clips over the wire and onto whatever print/poster I want.

I might also look at running a lower wire to affix the bottom of the print onto or I could perhaps simply attach a small weight to the bottom to hold them flat.

I am just wondering what other people have done to hang art prints etc, I don't really want to go with large framed prints due to the much much higher cost and weight of the item.

At work we have a wall of small pictures of everyone who works here, each is clipped on a bulldog clip and that clip is then screwed into the wall.

Perhaps I should simply affix various clips all over the wall for different size prints or perhaps do something cool like putting some para/bungee cord over the wall to hold in the prints - I like that idea actually lol

I could simply create a massive spider web of flexible chords all over the wall and simply tuck in the corners of any prints into the different crossovers

 

[Pete Askew]

I know you said you didn't want to frame them du to the expense but why not pop over to Ikea and buy a selection of their frames (maybe the same style in different sizes). They come with a passe-partout and the back is held in with tabs so you can change prints easily, and they are pretty cheap. You could then make more permanent fixings to the wall and change the contents of the frames. You could work out an aesthetically pleasing layout for the wall by photographing it and moving digital copies of the frames around to give the layout you like. What do you think?

 

[David Mitchell]

I might frame some of them, its just a case that some of the art prints might be A3 or larger meaning that the cost of the frames would be quite a bit - example being if I bought an iconic movie poster or something along those lines.

I will be framing up some prints which are smaller - A4 or smaller, but its just a case of also wanting some bigger pieces of art/prints on the wall as well.

 

[Beth Carter]

i like pete's frame idea. ikea also has some wire, mounts and clips for hanging unframed stuff.

DEKA Curtain wire incl. clips - IKEA

 

[David Mitchell]

Thanks for that Beth, that's actually the sort of setup I was thinking about with a wire and some clips, I guess there isn't any reason why I can't mix and match the two ideas though I will have a think