I took it easy this weekend and I think I am finally on the mend. Still not 100%, but better than I have been these past two weeks. I have still been busy with amanobooks and finishing up some special orders. I recently sold the encaustic piece “Yesterday” and I decided to float it for the buyer so she wouldn’t have to spend more money to get it framed since it was made on a panel. The good thing about how I did this, is that she can still get it framed if she wanted to at a later date. This is a nice solution though for small pieces and it has a neat effect once it is hung on the wall. It actually does look like it’s floating off the wall! I like to float encaustic pieces like this or in a frame because it really shows off the beautiful rough edges that are the result of melting wax.
Yesterday, encaustic on clayboard panel
You can find wooden sticks at a hardware store, they might even cut it for you if you ask. I can never find anyone at the big hardware stores to help me, so luckily my husband has a work area set up in the garage and he cut the sticks down to 5 inch pieces for me. And he even sanded the ends without me asking. What a good guy. The height of this piece is 7 inches, so I wanted to have 1 inch on the top and bottom. I don’t want to see the pieces when it is against the wall, hence the extra space on both ends.
Before I glue the sticks onto the panel, I use my awl to carefully start a hole where the eye screw will go into. Once I have the hole started, I screw in my little eye screw. Trust me, you don’t want to do this later when the sticks are alrady glued onto the panel. This is easier. I use gorilla glue to attach the sticks onto the panel. Sparingly. Gorilla glue does some weird bubbling thing and can get messy if you put too much.
I like to place the sticks about 1/4-1/2 inch in from the sides. Again, because I don’t want the stick to be visible once the piece is hung. Once the glue has dried, and the sticks feel like they are attached, you can wire up the piece.
Look, it’s floating!
This weekend I also reorganized my studio space. So much better now. I knew that I would need to work in it for a few months before I could get a feel of it and make it better. Hopefully I can just feel better and get to work. I am totally not a neat freak, but I need to have my work space organized. Otherwise I can’t think clearly.
Great photo record of the technique for floating pieces. Thanks for sharing that. I just love blogs with lots of images. It always inspires me to take my camera, even when I’m not doing anything special. My latest posts are almost all based on “doing the ordinary,” with one exception (a musing on spirals and inner journeys based on one of my mixed media pieces).
thnaks for your feedback on ly blog…you really get it…and of course I can see that from the quality of all that you show here.
I too enjoy the cost effectiveness as well as the contemporary clen look of the float presentation.
Your documentation is so easy to follow.
hope that the ‘new stduio’ arrangement inspires yougreatly. Your work is so very dreamy.
zounds…I’m no neat freak either but that number of typos makes me crazed. Thanks is what I say and that is for your kind feedback on my blog.
It is your contemporary clean look that I enjoy in the float pres.
What a beautiful idea, Bridgette! Inexpensive and with stunning results. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks so much for showing us how to float art on the wall! I love how easy this is! I hope you’re enjoying Chicago…sounds like you’re settling in!
hi bridgette,
i have been framing many of my pieces ( really inexpensive to do yourself) to protect the edges and give some definition but this is a really great idea especially for a piece as ethereal as this….
i’m glad to hear your on the mend.
beth
very nice. I am bookmarking this page to return to later
This was great. I love the floating effect. So what’s NOT to love !!! Just beautiful work.
BTW, I’ve been meaning to ask, do you use gampi paper??????
Thanks for the how-to!!!! Brilliant!
Namasté,
Carmen
Hi Bridgette! What a great idea! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I’m sure the buyer will be happy with that. I like how it looks hung. Very cool!
So pretty!
Thanks too for sharing your floater technique.
bridgette – thank you – what a very good idea! – it really gives the piece a stronger presence.
Thank you for the floating tips! I’ve been silly enough to try and do those holes after I have the sticks in place. I’m also silly enough to do four sticks instead of two like you do (because my sticks are smaller). I like your approach so much better.
Me ke aloha pumehana!
Paula
P.S. So glad to hear you are finally feeling better! That one really took you for a loop, huh?
Wow, what a great quick idea for hanging art! I really like how you did this, thank you for laying this out for us 🙂
Bridgette, “Yesterday” I like it alot 🙂
Floating technique is fantastic! thanks for showing.
Your newest piece, “Yesterday is lovely, so dreamy and soft. I love the carved out areas and the pieces of nature, or is it a transfer? Thank you for sharing how you hang your pieces. I have learned something new from you! Hope you are feeling better… Roxanne
I’m not entirely sure how I ended up on your blog, but I’m sure glad I did. Your idea of the sticks to float a beeswax or encaustic piece is brilliant! As much as I love working with beeswax, I’ve never found a way to present them anywhere near what you’ve done. thanks for sharing!