help with mounting batik artwork

[Anirban B Mukherjee]

Hello scb's. I need some help with something that I hope some of
you all could help me with. I was in Calcutta this summer and returned with
some quite exquisite batik artwork that I have been wanting for a long time
now. Got them from Vishwa Bharati in Gariahat. I brought them here folded and
they have been sitting around and now have some creases along the folds.
But I would like to get around to mounting the artwork in any way I
possibly can. This is where I need some advice. I went and spoke with an art
store and the costs of mounting and/or framing the pieces are exorbitant,
especially on a grad student's budget. So I thought of trying to mount the
stuff myself. I came up with some preliminary ideas that might actually work.
The guy at the store mentioned that the best way to mount the cloth would be
on a foam backing, which is commercially available and very inexpensive.
Now, assuming that I had someone to help me with this, I'm sure by stretching
out the fabric, some of the main creases at the folds would disappear. The
actual pieces are of different sizes, but lets say most of them are around
16 by 20 (inches). SO, if assuming that the stretching process rids the cloth
of the creases. Now I need to attach the cloth with the foam backing. What
type of adhesive do I use, since any adhesive that I could use will be in
direct contact with the cloth. Rubber cement? But wouldn't that discolor the
cloth itself. See, the problem is this - I don't have the luxury of
experimenting, because if something doesnt' work, the whole piece is ruined.
If I can actually get the cloth crease free and glued somehow to the
foam backing, most of my work is done. Then I have to worry about how to keep
the foam backing from not warping due to the tension caused by the stretched
out material. SO if any one has ever done something similar or can point me
in the right direction, I would be extremely happy, to say the least. There's
no sense in having these beautiful pieces sitting in my closet.

Thank you in advance. Unless someone wants to start a discussion
thread about the merits of do-it-yourself batik mounting procedures, its
probably not necessary to post replies on scb. Email will suffice.

Anirban Mukherjee
s021...@unix1.cc.ysu.edu
("s","zero","two","one", .....)

[Atanu Dey]

Here is what I think you should do.

Take appropriate size of foam and stick the foam on to hardboard
(or cardboard) of sufficient thickness to give the foam stiffness.
The foam should not be too thick - nothing more than 1/2 inch
at the most. Take the batik print and place it over the foam
and turn the edges over the foam edge and pin the edge to the
board on the back.

This way you do not apply any adhesive to the print itself and
anytime you wish to dismantle the prints for whatever reason,
you can remove them from the mounting.

Hope this helps.

Atanu