Again I mounted them in the Suliao Xuan Ban fashion, and again I stained my frames with the same ink I painted with to achieve that tonal continuity between the painting and the frame.
I devised a new method to combat the bubbles that popped up under the paper. This was probably due to defects in the silicone layer. I used a stress ball as a roller to help tamp the Xuan onto the heated silicone surface. The ball was very pliable and made even contact with the surface when pressed. The added bonus was that I got to massage my acupressure points in my palm (wink, wink).
I modified my hanging string this time.
I had used the regular metal picture wires before for the cross string. That was until my confidant pointed out to me that the wire was visible through the clear margin that I had painstakingly designed. My reason for that clear margin ( in lieu of a traditional mat) was to exaggerate the float effect of the painting. I also wanted to free the painting from the immediate enclosing feeling of the frames. So after having these thoughts executed into the design of the setup, I ruined it by allowing the viewer to see a metal wire through the acrylic pane. That was more than a fly in the ointment. This is a mistake that I often make. I am always in a hurry to finish a project that I would not think through the last few steps. I will write these steps off as being incidental and trivial and not critical. I just have no patience; too eager to call it done. That's the bane of my life.
To make the hanging wire less visible, I thought of the leader system of fishing hooks, harking back to the days when I would ford the streams and fish a little bit. I would use the regular metal hanging wire, but instead of the entire length, I would tie both ends to clear fishing lines. This way the clear fishing lines were under the clear acrylic margin, and were not readily visible. The reason I did not use fishing line for the whole length to begin with was because the length of the wire was too long in the landscape setup. The weight of the wood frame and the plastic caused the wire to stretch too much, resulting in the hanging hook visible above the frame. That destroyed the presentation. I wanted to frame to just appear on the wall, without any obvious means of hanging or attachment.
I drilled a 90 degree angled passage in the narrow wood frame and passed my fishing line through that. I then tied a huge knot; one that was big enough to not slip through the tiny hole, thus securing the line. I then tied the clear fishing line to the metal hanging wire. The beauty of this design was that no hanging hardware was required, and the hanging hook would be hidden by the painting itself.
This is how the finished product looked on the wall.
No visible hooks or wires!
