Hanging a plaster relief?

[noodlecake]

Hi

I've started working with herculite 2 plaster, which is tougher than regular fine casting plaster, and I'm having some nice results with some small pieces.

Now I have a few finished casts and I'm wondering what would be the best way to hang them on a wall. I was thinking of just embedding some wire or ordering some picture fixings and trying to glue them on. The only problem is that they might be slightly too heavy for that, and if they aren't I may have problems with the next lot of pieces as I am planning to keep scaling up until I end up with pieces that are 1 square metre in size.

These pieces are about 17cm and weigh about as much as a dinner plate I would say.



It's largely because I would eventually like to sell these and top up the wages of my rubbish minimum wage customer service job, so having a way to hang them in a secure way is important.

Anybody got any advice?

[sculpturedolls]

You could drill a few holes in the back of your relief sculpture where the picture hardware will go. Be sure and rough up the edges of the hole so that epoxy will have something to grab onto for strength. Embed some screws into the picture hardware with something like Magic Sculpt, Aves Epoxy, Hard as Nails glue or some other very strong epoxy.

https://www.rockler.com/bear-claw-ha...hoCWGUQAvD_BwE

You could tie a wire to this type of screw and embed in the epoxy. Or you could use the saw tooth type of hanger but use a screw instead of smooth nail. Push the screw into the fresh epoxy glue and let it set to harden.

[noodlecake]

Thanks.

So is it definitely not a good idea to fill the hole with alpha plaster? Should I always go with epoxy? I have a bit of aruldite in my toolbox, and a ton of milliput that might do the job too but it's a fair bit more expensive than my alpha plasters.

[noodlecake]

Also, it's a little bit off topic but you work is so immaculate! I have no idea how you even get to that point of being able to model figures so realistically. Lots of life drawing/anatomy lessons? I'm thinking of having a crack at some faces at some point and working them into my designs but anything below the neck and I'm abysmal.

[sculpturedolls]

You could use the alpha plaster if it's super strong and will adhere well to the plaster you have. When adhering plaster, one to the other (as I am sure that you know) you need to make sure that plaster relief is saturated with water where you are joining the new plaster too, and roughed up on the edge to give it teeth. I just prefer to use an epoxy of some kind because I know it will adhere. Make sure the powder/dust of the plaster is removed very well also (of course I know you know this too!). As you go bigger in size, then the strong epoxy would be the best for strength in my opinion.

Thank you for your comments on my work. I am self-taught. Practice makes perfect and just spent a lot of time online in forums like this one and others that had great teachers (so in a big way I am not self-taught) and bought books and videos on sculpting. Very important to know the bone and muscle structure behind what's on the surface, the skin. Using pieces of thin smooth paper that is strong enough to pull along the surface aided me in getting the forms all perfected. Also used various sizes of smooth soft brushes dipped in water to pull over the surface and this smooths the skin as well.

Your relief is well designed and precise. You can apply these same techniques to sculpting a human.

[ArtsyLynda]

I would epoxy eye-screws in the back of your relief, using the same techniques Sculpturedolls explained. With eye-screws, you have the loop to put the wire through and twist it back on itself. It just feels like a more secure hanger to me than a nail, since the screw will "bite" into the epoxy and there's a loop to hold the wire, so the wire can never slip off. That's how I hang unframed and framed reliefs (mine are resin, not plaster, but it's the same kind of hanging situation). Nice work!