Magnets for exhibition mounting

Metta Humle Jorgensen <mette.humle [at] natmus__dk> writes

>Has anyone used magnets/magnetic for exhibition mounting? If so,
>what is your experience with it?

Our use is a little different than what you are proposing but in the
textiles gallery at the Royal Ontario Museum we are using rare earth
magnets for mounting of some textiles.  The angled back panels have
a metallic skin supporting magnet use.  Where the magnets are used
they are usually embedded in a strip of acid free card with a thin
layer of polyester felt over top which would be placed directly
against the artifact.  On the upper side our technicians have taken
digital  images of the artifact in the area where the strip will be
placed, then produced colour photocopies which they adhered to the
upper side of the strip.  All in all in works really well in
minimizing the effect of the strip.  In addition to the magnetic
strips we place a thin layer of polyester felt cut to the shape of
the artifact and placed beneath it which also provides some friction
and reduces the stresses of gravity.  So the layers from the bottom
up are the metallic panel, layer of felt, textile artifact, magnetic
strip (as described above).

We bought these magnets at Lee Valley tools.  They have are all
round discs, the same thickness but come in different sizes.
Recently the technicians found some which offer a lot more choices
in sizes and shapes at:

    Magnacraft: Advanced Magnetic Materials
    <URL:http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/>

Shirley Ellis
Textile Conservator
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON  M5S 2C6
416-586-5878
Fax: 416-586-8036


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:26
                 Distributed: Sunday, November 2, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-26-008
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