displaying photography in galleries

I'm wondering if anyone has ideas on how to hang photography in galleries on a very limited budget.

I can get my prints dry-mounted and laminated and framed for about $50-$75 a piece (depending on size - mostly 18x24 and 24x36). But if I get a dozen or so done at once, my cost is really going to go up.

My latest idea is to just get my images printed and then tack them up on the wall in the gallery. That's it. No mounting, no framing. The benefit I see of this method is that: a) it obviously keeps my costs down, and b) it leaves the framing up to the consumer (who may or may not like my tastes in framing anyways).

What do you think?

Do I have any other options?

Thanks,
Curtis
www.photistry.com

[Tom_Meyer]

yep. Go to a good hardware store and pick out some really nice washers, look for neoprene gaskets or those resin impregnated washers that are high temp. choose screws with thumbscrew heads or those matte black hex bolts and leave them protruding. Print the images with wide borders like a mat (slightly wider bottom, 8x10 on a 16x20) and use the fasteners like architectural elements in the corners. Use safety pins or concrete nails. In other words... be overt, not apologetic... t

[DonLashier]

> My latest idea is to just get my images printed and then tack them up on the wall in the gallery. That's it. No mounting, no framing.

Curtis, I'm assuming this is your gallery [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] as most galleries would croak at this idea. The issue I still see is keeping them flat. Why not dry mount on black gator board leaving a border sized for typical framing. Use pushpins, nails, bolts with washers or whatever, not thru the board but directly above and below, to keep in place. This leaves the matting and framing up to the customer but provides a nice (minimalist) viewing experience also.

- DL

[Guy_Tal]

The most cost effective way I found is to mat them yourself (buy an entry-level mat cutter and some uncut mat board), and buy frames in bulk from somewhere like American Frame. I use non-glare plexiglass instead of real glass. After the initial investment you can easily bring your framing costs for a mid-size print (matted to 16x20 or 16x24) to about $10-15.
Instead of dry-mounting you can hinge-mount the prints to foamcore with acid-free linen tape (aka conservation matting).

Tacking unmatted prints to the wall is in my opinion, well, tacky [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Another solution I've seen is dry mounting the prints to gator board or foamcore, and gluing some kind of buffer (e.g. styrofoam cubes or small pieces of wood) to the back so the print looks like it's hovering over the wall.

Guy

[Ron_Hiner]

[ QUOTE ]
yep. Go to a good hardware store and... <snip>. In other words... be overt, not apologetic... t


[/ QUOTE ]


Brilliant Tom! I love outside the box thinking!

Ron