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My New Print Wall

Terry

New member
About 2 months ago I got inspired by a gallery that was showing prints hanging on a galvanized steel panel. Hanging something by cables wasn't ideal for my space and I was limited a bit by getting something in the elevator to my apartment. What we came up with was three steel panels side by side. The panels are about 46" x 60" making the full installation about 144" x 60". The big prints are on 17" x 22" paper. It was just installed earlier this week and my first batch of magnets arrived yesterday.

The Panels were grained and clear (satin finish) powder coated and look similar to what stainless steel appliances look like. I bought a bunch of rare earth magnets in various sizes to see what worked best.

So here is what I had on hand already printed...and I used up all the magnets I had on hand. But I am thrilled with the way it turned out and will have a lot of fun being able to change up the wall without having to do lots of framing.

See my post below with kudos to John and Luke Milich.

Next up: get the tools to trim down some paper edges. :D

 
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Jim Stone

Workshop Member
Terry,

What a creative way to display your prints, congrats! I like the idea of being able to change them when you want and quite simply. Well done, and your prints look great as well.

Jim
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Terry

Beautiful set up ! I saw a video about Jim Natchwey where he uses a similar setup (not as elegant) for editing his images . He uses inexpensive prints and arranges them on the wall ..then he can stand back and look at them for even a few days before he selects .

Very nice setup .
 

Terry

New member
Thanks everyone.

So, very importantly, kudos on this project go to our very own forum members John and Luke Milich.

As many of you know John does a lot of metal fabrication.....on things much bigger than Leica adapters (like staircases and other architectural installations). When I first had the idea of doing this in my apartment I sent him an email knowing that in addition to NY that his son Luke runs the west coast shop in the bay area.

If I didn't know John through this forum and workshops, I would have had no clue on where to turn (other than an interior designer) to find someone to make this sort of thing.

From start to finish and installation the process was super speedy!!!!
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Very nice! You're giving me ideas ... Felipe and I still haven't put up much on the walls of the condo, and we've been here a year now!
 

jonoslack

Active member
Terry - it looks splendid
I wish we could do something similar here, but all our walls are either covered in beams or at an angle of 45 degrees from the vertical!
Incidentally, is that book what I think it is (very flattered if it is).

all the best
 

Terry

New member
Incidentally, is that book what I think it is (very flattered if it is).

all the best
Wow - good eyes. It is exactly the book you think it is. That table has a stack of blurb books mostly done by my classmates in a bookmaking class. Then we have yours and and Ansel Adams book in the mix.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Wow - good eyes. It is exactly the book you think it is. That table has a stack of blurb books mostly done by my classmates in a bookmaking class. Then we have yours and and Ansel Adams book in the mix.
:ROTFL: Well, I'm even more flattered - I'm trying to do a book of pictures of Crete right now, but 10 years worth of images makes it a big task. Added to which I think I need to do 3 versions (big, small, very small).

I'm jealous of you're wall though - what a great idea.

all the best
 

Terry

New member
Very nice! You're giving me ideas ... Felipe and I still haven't put up much on the walls of the condo, and we've been here a year now!
That wall was empty for almost two years. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do there. If I hadn't done the steel wall I was going down the path of mounting all of my photos on aluminum. My problem is when I want to change things up, I don't have a good spot to store framed and mounted work.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
That wall was empty for almost two years. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do there. If I hadn't done the steel wall I was going down the path of mounting all of my photos on aluminum. My problem is when I want to change things up, I don't have a good spot to store framed and mounted work.
"... store framed and mounted work.."? I hardly have enough space left to store unmatted and unframed work.

The problem here is that four of the six available walls for hanging photos are concrete. Never mind mats and frames ... putting something up then wanting to change it at any point is a major PITA. So I want to come up with a display system that is flexible yet allows for easy changes. Your steel wall is a neat idea for this kind of thing, now I need to think about how to mount panels like that onto concrete without damaging the concrete.
 

Terry

New member
"... store framed and mounted work.."? I hardly have enough space left to store unmatted and unframed work.

The problem here is that four of the six available walls for hanging photos are concrete. Never mind mats and frames ... putting something up then wanting to change it at any point is a major PITA. So I want to come up with a display system that is flexible yet allows for easy changes. Your steel wall is a neat idea for this kind of thing, now I need to think about how to mount panels like that onto concrete without damaging the concrete.
Godfrey - I have some concrete walls as well as a concrete ceiling (it is a loft). Our construction is post tension and we can't go into the concrete at all. That is what pretty much eliminated hanging it by cables. Fortunately the wall I had available is drywall but of course not level and needs a few shims on the cleats.
 

Diane B

New member
While exploring Terry's project last night and also thinking it a great idea I discovered there is magnetic paint. Who woulda' thunk???? Rustoleum and another mfg offer it in the US. The other mfg. says you can do a coat of the magnetic paint and then a regular to match other walls (I'd have to check my bookmarks to get other mfg. name). You use the same rare earth magnets. I also found options in my area for the steel walls. I was rather amazed at the options possible using magnetization.
 

Terry

New member
I completely forgot about the magnetic paint! That would have been a brilliant solution!

They also make paint that you can use a chalkboard and other paint that acts like a white board.
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
Brilliant! Love it! Wish I had a wall like that. Maybe a divider or screen with a felt covered bottom that can be slid around as needed, or moved out of the way...
 

Terry

New member
This looks great, fantastic idea! Can you give us an idea of the price to do this?

Cheers, -Peter
Peter there is a pretty big price range of products and finishes as we looked at:

Galvanized
Galvanized + powder coat (many colors available)
Sand blasted
Grained finish
Grained finish + powder coat

I think it will also make a difference on how close you can get to using standard sized sheets of steel. For instance I could have done one panel at 60x120 but we were a little nervous about the elevator.

Of course I chose the grained finish with clear coat which was the most expensive. So, total cost installed can be anywhere from something probably around $1500 to about $2500. Believe it or not each of the panels weigh less than the equivalent sized canvas painting.

Here is the link to the blog that got this all started. I still like what they've done but it didn't work for me. I don't know the pricing but I guess it was less than what I quoted above except Luke and I discussed that the cabling can get expensive.

http://www.danecreek.com/blog/2010/10/13/a-great-way-to-display-folios.html


At the end of the day I compared my cost of doing something like this vs framing and decided that this was an interesting alternative.

The side benefit....it is making my den feel bigger.

Note: I'm using rare earth magnets which are very strong for their size so I can keep them from interfering with seeing the photos
 
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