No canvas. Almost every other piece I do has been on canvas, and it has to be stretched tight as a drum. But the cutout areas would redistribute the tension, causing them to deform and even tear. The cutout areas make a very precise design, and any change in it would be a disaster.
And there’s another issue: some of the cutout areas extend all the way to the edge, so I can’t have anything thick for support; in these areas the frame is the support.
I’m thinking that Gatorboard might not warp too much if the frame is attached securely.
Make a frame the size of the finished rectangle out of solid timber battens (the green bars in the image)
Fix the eye bolts through the top bar of this frame
Cut the shape required for the hole out of a piece of ply (red in the image), the same thickness as the batten frame. (if weight is an issue, further material can be drilled/cut out of this piece, where it won’t show)
Add additional crosswise battens (blue in the image) if necessary.
Assemble
Face one side with thin board, then cut out the hole
I think I haven’t described the final piece very well . . . so here is what it’ll look like:
The dark gray is the wall behind it, and the spirals are cut out. The lattice-like design in the foreground is made from thousands of thin strips of wood, glued to the panels. As you can see, the spirals go right to the edge, so in these places the frame is literally holding everything together. And the 2nd and 3rd panels have some “floating” areas surrounded by cutouts, which are entirely supported by the lattice.
(I knew I’d get into trouble trying to describe it without a visual.)
Here’s a close-up of a single panel:
Here’s what I’m thinking: Use Gatorboard, and be sure to seal all the edges, including the cutouts. Then glue small blocks of wood onto the back surface, flush with the edge (not showing through the cutouts). Then attach the frame to the blocks. That will secure the frame and prevent the Gatorboard from warping.
I would check into a sign supply company and see what they have to say. I’m thinking you could use plex or pvc, and it wouldn’t warp. There’s also sign foam, which isn’t as soft as the name implies. It gets used for exterior signage, and depending on thickness, sometimes needs to be cut on a machine!
plywood will warp all to hell and is expensive. you can buy 1/8" thick 4 ft x 8 ft hardboardfor $7.25 a sheet. It will lay flat and is easy to work with.
Anothor minor issue with any ply-based product: The edges. You said you’d have a frame, so that covers the outer edge of each panel.
But every cutout has an edge too. And the edges of cut plywood are ugly & nonuniform. You said you intended to paint them. Youl need to fill & sand every inch of every cutout. If the product is plywood, the end-grain will be exposed in some plies all along every cut.
Even for foamboard or a similar product you’ll still have the surface laminate & the core material. In all, making that look & feel right will be very dificult & laborious.
I’d be looking real hard at a homogenous grainless sheet material. Sheet metal, lexan, etc.
IANA artist but I was an engineer, at least by training. From a strutural POV, might you do better to think of the lattice as the structure and the colored background as well, background?
To build old-fashioned wooden flying model aircraft, you tack the 1:1 scale plans down on a flat board, then tack waxed paper over that. Then you pin the wooden parts to the plan, gluing them together as you go. In effect, creating a tracing in wood. Once the glue is hardened, you unpin the waxed paper & peel it off the back of your finished wing or fuselage panel.
In your case, this would lead to a rectangular frame with the latticework filling the frame. Then you could separately fabricate & paint your lightweight backing panels out of sheet metal or very thin (1/8"?) plastic. Finally, they’re attached to the back and are completely non-structural.
In fact you could leave a gap between your lattice and the backgroupnd panels. That would either produce some very interesting shadow effects, or ruin the peice in an explosion of conflicting visual signals.
Can you do a float mount on a neutral background (i.e., dark gray), or will the backing detract from the presentation? If you can do a float mount, then I strongly suggest this route; the backing could be made as strongly as needed to carry the weight of the piece. The panel cutouts could then be made out of lighter material, maybe a thinner MDO, with the ends of the spirals in the second and fourth panels cut after the larger sections have been mounted. Use as large of blocking behind the piece as you can while still maintaining the appearance of the cutouts floating in space.
If you can’t use background panels, then maybe some sort of wire mesh on the background might add stability. Piano wire and harware cloth are two options that come to mind.
The idea of using the lattice to hold the work together concerns me. Far too much of the lattice runs parallel to the open spaces, leaving little material spanning the gap. Changing the pattern to provide better support will affect the aesthetics of the work (and not for the better, IMHO.)
For a product that is paints very well, sculpts well, is homogeneous, and stable, MDF is far superior to any plywood. It is not light by any means, but you can get it in sheets down to 1/8" thickness.
Ditto this. You can also use polystyrene foam sheets made for insulation. Test your paints to make sure they don’t dissolve the foam. A coat of white latex paint underneath should protect it. Foam weighs so much less than plywood or MDF, and it is easier to cut, form, and repair. Should cost less too.
I’ve used the “lattice” in a few other pieces, all with a canvas backing. Here’s one that’s 4’x4’:
The wood pieces are glued directly onto the canvas, not primarily to each other. (the “glue” is the same as the acrylic paint, but clear and colorless). I wouldn’t risk floating the lattice in front of the background; In time the individual pieces would warp, and gravity would cause the surface as a whole to buckle and tear apart. There are enough other issues with this piece; I don’t want to be asking for trouble.
I’m still strongly considering Gator Board. Not only is it light, but I can attach the frames when the piece is intact, then cut it with a mat knife. Any material that has to be machine-cut must be cut without the frame, then reassembled inside it. It would be a nightmare to keep everything aligned correctly. Plus, the “floating” pieces in the 2nd and 3rd panel will work a lot better if the material isn’t too heavy (I can always add some inconspicuous wires to add stability).
So I’m thinking of doing a one-panel prototype of the most complex panel, the middle one. I’ll use Gator Board, and see if there are problems I haven’t anticipated. Of course, while I’m working on it the panel will lie flat, so I’ll need to have an intact board underneath the Gator Board, for temporary support.
