paintg-panels-msg - 6/7/01 Assembling wood panels for use as a painting medium. NOTE: See also the files: pigments-msg, painting-msg, woodworking-msg, wood-finishes-msg, glues-msg, brushes-msg, plaster-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: Kirk Poore <xxxremovexxxkirkpoore at home.com> Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Wood panels for paintings Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 22:23:01 GMT von_landstuhl at yahoo.com wrote: > I've been asked to make a 2x3 foot wood panel for a painting using 15th > Century techniques. I know how these boards were edge joined to make > wider panels, but does anyone know if they were cross-braced in the > rear to prevent warpage? > > Thanks, > Ulrich Probably not, though it may have been done sometimes. The panels probably would have been quarter-sawn, which doesn't warp as bad as typical flat-sawn lumber you find now. Panels set into walls or furniture would be held flat by the frame they were set into. Properly dried quartersawn boards should not warp much if you take care to seal the back as well as the painted surface. For example, if you're going to gesso your panel, make sure you gesso the back too. Otherwise the back of the panel will take in and loose moisture much more quickly from the front, so it will tend to warp and then flatten out with changes in humidity. It's kind of neat to see this--but it will lead to cracks in the gesso and your painting.:) If you're not going to put this panel into a piece of furniture, and don't mind being a little unperiod, you can screw crossbracing to the back. Be sure to put the screws through slotted holes on the bracing to allow the panel to expand and contract naturally. Nails would be period, but they wouldn't hold nearly as well as screws. Kirk FitzDavid From: Kirk Poore <xxxremovexxxkirkpoore at home.com> Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Wood panels for paintings Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 17:11:20 GMT Mandy wrote: > > > Nails would be period, but they wouldn't hold nearly as well as screws. > > I missed this thread... but ohh, shudder at the thought of screws. I > preferr joints and nails, but hate screws..... my husband , on the other > hand, puts them in everything it seems. > Griet There are less jarring non-period possibilities also. For thick panels (3/4" or more), you could use a router to carefully put a couple of dovetail slots across the back, and then slide in a dovetail-shaped brace. Fasten each in the center with a single nail or brad, and the panel can be braced while still expanding and contracting freely. Two other possibilities are breadboard ends (which may be period, but I have no evidence of it), or tongue-and-grooved boards across the ends. Tongue and groove is period and fairly easy to do, but I'd be a little concerned about the long-term durability. Both of these solutions would also give you cross-grain wood at the surface of the painting. You could hide them behind a regular picture frame, but if you choose to paint over them you'll get a crack in the paint as the main panel expands. Kirk FitzDavid From: Kirk Poore <xxxremovexxxkirkpoore at home.com> Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Wood panels for paintings Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 22:59:51 GMT "Anthony J. Bryant" wrote: > Kirk Poore wrote: >> There are less jarring non-period possibilities also. For thick panels (3/4" >> or more), you could use a router to carefully put a couple of dovetail slots >> across the back, and then slide in a dovetail-shaped brace. Fasten each in >> the center with a single nail or brad, and the panel can be braced while >> still expanding and contracting freely. > > That's how we prepare panels for icons. > > Less the nails, of course. > > Effingham The nail is put in from the back, and just keeps the brace from sliding. It wouldn't go all the way through to the paint surface. Friction alone is probably good enough, however. Since you're talking about icons, is there a religious reason for not tacking down the brace piece? Kirk From: "Anthony J. Bryant" <ajbryant at indiana.edu> Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Wood panels for paintings Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 18:57:05 -0500 Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington Kirk Poore wrote: > The nail is put in from the back, and just keeps the brace from sliding. It > wouldn't go all the way through to the paint surface. Friction alone is > probably good enough, however. Since you're talking about icons, is there a > religious reason for not tacking down the brace piece? Not that I know of. It's just not done. (We have been known to use glue, though.) Effingham <the end> Edited by Mark S. Harris paintg-panels-msg 3