How to Mount a Collage of Paintings
- 1). Frame the paintings if they are composed on paper and not on canvas. Paper is not very durable and your paintings will likely curl, crack, or get torn if you attempt to hang them without framing. If your paintings are on canvas, they can be hung directly on the stretcher.
- 2). Place towels on the floor where you would like to hang your paintings. Propping the paintings on the towels will prevent them from getting dirty as you rearrange them.
- 3). Rearrange the paintings on the floor. Consider grouping paintings together based on color and theme. Identify the largest painting and try rearranging the smaller paintings around it. Try a variation of compositions, starting from a grid to something more asymmetrical until you have an interesting arrangement that you are pleased with.
- 4). Ask someone to help you arrange and hang the paintings. With a second set of hands, you can have one person hold up a painting while the other person is free to step back and determine if the positioning actually looks right before hammering holes into the walls. Asking a friend to help you with the arrangement of the collage could also lead to a composition that you might not have determined independently.
- 5). Hang the middle of the composition at eye level. This varies from person to person, but take into consideration the average height of who will be passing by the paintings. A collage of paintings in a child's room for example should be hung lower than that of an adult's. Measure from the highest point of your arrangement to the lowest point of your arrangement, and divide this by half to determine the center point that should be hung at eye level. For an adult, the museum standard is for this point to be 56 inches from the ground.
- 6). Map out on paper a template of the composition you decided on for your collage of paintings. Measure the height and width for each painting and note them on your sketch. For framed works, hold up the center of the wire as if it were hanging on the wall and measure the distance from that point to the top of the painting. Mark this distance on your sketch. For works on stretchers, measure the width of the stretcher frame and mark that on your sketch.
- 7). Mark the center point of the composition on your sketch with the measurement you have determined best represents eye level. With this point in mind, determine the distance from the floor each painting will need to be hung. Measure out each of these points on the wall and mark your hammering points with pencil.
- 8). Hammer nails through the picture hangers at the points that you identified. Be sure to use strong nails that can support the weight of the individual paintings you intend to hang. For paintings on stretchers, you can forgo the picture hangers but be sure to use thick sturdy nails. Hold a level up against the edge of each painting and shift the painting as necessary until each is level.
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