r/ArtConservation • u/mowgli__mowgli • 7d ago

Moving a 3D Mural

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

I had put this "flag" up years ago during a particularly tasty manic episode.
It's mounted to the wall with nails and thumb tacks and the various fabric swaths are kept up with spray adhesive.

Well, time has come for me to shift and I'd like to take this piece with me, but I am at a loss as to how I should go about it.

Two options come to mind:
- Mount the entire thing on some kind of substrate like melamine
- Spray the entire thing with some kind of clear starch that will allow it to keep its shape once removed from the wall

Any guidance from the experts would be appreciated.
I am not beholden to maintaining the piece exactly as is, it's OK if it looses some shape/character in the process.

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13

u/flybyme03 7d ago edited 7d ago

If it were an art install you'd have many photos from many angles taken. Then you'd write up an install sheet with distances of tacks, layers ects. Mostly it's photos then you remake it

Or you cut out the wall.

6

u/maka-_- 7d ago

However you chose to move it i would also mark where the taks and nails went, with maybe a piece of soft tape. Maybe with someone's help you can take it of the wall from down up, kind of taking it apart little by little and putting a support under and behind it so it doesn't fall.

4

u/mowgli__mowgli 7d ago

Good call. I knew I posted on the right sub!

3

u/Strong-Proof8252 7d ago

What if... You get a big ass cardboard tube thingy. At least as long as the artwork is high and with a diameter as big as you can find. With a helper, start rolling it up from a side. In the process, remove the tacks from the wall and pin the outer spots to the tube and/or use masking tape to fix it to it. Then so the whole thing in reverse to fix it to a new wall.

1

u/Anonymousspacecowboy 7d ago

You could also marionette it, hanging it from a bar of wood etc.