How to Hang a Large Free-Form Piece

by Randi
(Raleigh, NC)

This piece has offered me many hours of solitude of focus in a time when my folks were declining. I have found a buyer who wants this hanging from her garden window, inside. The pieces together are nearly 5' tall (the point where the tail and body meet are where the two pieces are separate). I had the idea initially to mount it (with twist-tie type connectors) to a copper trellis I made for it but the client does not want it mounted. So, I'm guessing hanging from chains will be the optimum, but how goofy will that look? I could center it within a 'holding' piece -so the chain is just above the piece and not alllllll the way from the tail... what are your first thoughts on how to install this?

Answer

That is a beautiful piece Randi. You must be so proud of it.

I think you should explain to the client that it needs some sort of reinforcement, either the trellis, or surround it with clear glass.

If you solder the two pieces together and try to hang it as a free-form, you would have to reinforce it by soldering at least an 18 gauge if not larger copper wire around the entire piece to give it some strength. Otherwise the tail will pull loose in a very short time.

Another thought, could you glue it to the window instead of having it hang. We once did a piece for the entrance of an elementary school. To insure that the kids wouldn't be "swinging from the panel", we silicone glued it to the glass. The silicone did not show and the panel was very secure.

I know I haven't touched on the actual hanging of the piece, but I think you have to decide how to reinforce it first.

I'm going to give this some more thought, and I hope that people reading this will chime in with their thoughts also.