Looking for DIY crafting help (Thread Updated: 3.15.20)

[yepx]

I have a lot of large flat/cut agates ranging from 4-7 inches wide and are just collecting dust in boxes, I am looking to somehow add them to a board or some kind and frame them to hand on the wall. My Budget is $200 for multiple boxes/etc. | I have no particular style, I just want them to be secure.

Update: I went to Hobby Lobby / Michaels for supplies. They had shadow boxes but were very low quality for the agates I have and since they were a gift I can’t replace them. Moreover, since the agates I have are bigger than small ones you can buy, I was told that simply hot gluing them to the back of a shadowbox isn’t guaranteed to work when hanging them vertically, which I intend to do (see picture examples I found online). Someone suggested www.rikerdisplaycases.com/ but such boxes are out of my price range, if there is a box like this for cheaper let me know. I also saw the suggestion for floating style frames but would I be able to secure them in place using brads or something?

[MsAli]

I think it all depends on your style

I tend to lean towards rustic and am a tad bohemian


If you want something exactly like above any hobby/craft store has those boxes. You could glue them to a back board or even secure with wire of some sort

You could even get what's called a coin display and hang that.

[opalpyrexia]

My recommendation would be to use a framed shadow box and mount them using a strong, double-sided, adhesive foam "tape". With your agates "floating in the air" you would have a more interesting and dramatic display. Perhaps 3M has a suitable product. You might even first glue tiny wood "blocks" to the backing to make the agates stand off farther.

[hummingbirdstones]

Whatever you decide to use to display your stones, you could use this stuff:

www.amazon.com/Quakehold-88111-Museum-Putty-Neutral/dp/B0002VA9NA?th=1

[opalpyrexia]

Feb 18, 2020 21:20:57 GMT -5 hummingbirdstones said:

Whatever you decide to use to display your stones, you could use this stuff:

www.amazon.com/Quakehold-88111-Museum-Putty-Neutral/dp/B0002VA9NA?th=1

Have you used museum putty in a static vertical attachment, Robin? I think that the putty would eventually fail under the very slow, steady force of gravity.

I'm not certain that it would work. We have three vases that have museum putty holding them to horizontal surfaces. (A necessity here in earthquake-prone country.) The museum putty holds like concrete when subjected to sudden lateral (or shear) forces. But you can remove an object from the putty with a slow, steady twist (which is also a shear). Yet it's virtually impossible to remove one of the vases by pulling them up or pushing them.

[hummingbirdstones]

No, I haven't used it at all, actually, but I know Pat uses it in her home.  I was reading reviews for it on Amazon, though, and some people use it to hang pictures on a wall.  Figured if it was strong enough for pictures it would hold smaller stones ok.

Just a thought.

[Pat]

I’ve used the museum stickum only on horizontal items such as vases, and other things our cat could/would knock over.

I’ve used the foamed double stick tape on vertical surfaces, but it didn’t hold. The stickum adhered to the wall, but my items did not stay. DETAILS I used the plastic hooks with the stickum on the back to hang my saw on wood work bench in the shed. It was subjected to heat and cold

[rockjunquie]

All I can add is that you may want to use a masonite backing if you are to use a lot of slabs. They get heavy and over time thin backing boards will buckle.

[fernwood]

I have used carpet tape with success.

Agates like those pictured would look cool with some LED light tape behind them.

[Deleted]

Easiest, but not exactly exciting, method would be a Riker box display (stiffened with more batting or UV-resistant foam).

Feb 19, 2020 9:00:02 GMT -5 rockjunquie said:

All I can add is that you may want to use a masonite backing if you are to use a lot of slabs. They get heavy and over time thin backing boards will buckle.

Agree. Stiff, acid-free paperboard works fine for a few, but definitely need something much stiffer for a lot of slabs (or thick slabs). I used to have a tutorial showing ways to frame slabs on another site, but it's no longer there, and I cannot locate the images. For opaque slabs, you can epoxy wires to the slab's back and feed the wires through the matte and mounting board to secure. I daresay talented folks like yourself could come up with a wirewrap method that could do away with having to put any type of glue on the slab, though.

Feb 19, 2020 12:43:28 GMT -5 fernwood said:

Agates like those pictured would look cool with some LED light tape behind them.

You beat me to that suggestion! Would work great for agates. A reflective backing (e.g., a piece of stainless or aluminum sheet or foil board) would be second-best. Main problem would be how to raise them off the background with minimal visual interference from the mounts. One way would be to mount on transparent acrylic posts or glue directly to a sheet of glass or Plexiglass, but you cannot count on this lasting over time, depending on where it was displayed.

A traditional method for backlighting agates is to mount the slabs within a mask (just like glass into a windowpane, using glazier's points and putty). Just trace the shapes of the slab onto a sheet of wood, masonite or plywood at least 1/4" thicker than the slab. Use a jigsaw, coping saw, keyhole saw, or similar to cut a window that is slightly smaller than the slab (1/8-1/16th inch smaller will do), and use a router with a rabbet bit to cut out a pocket in which to set the slab. Finish off with the glazing points and putty and paint or stain the mask. Here's an old piece (looks ugly now that I've taken it down to photograph, and really needs re-sanded and painted).

The idea is to keep the backlighting from leaking out around the slab, thus highlighting the banding, internal structure, etc. Good even for agate slabs that just sit on a windowsill.

[einholt]

Depending on how thin the slabs are, you could try one of the "floating" style frames. Most craft stores sell them and they are pretty easy to piece together. The backer they'd be attached to is a thin, usually flexible, piece of plexiglass. I've bought a couple for less than twenty dollars, probably less if you use a coupon.

Edit: OR you could pull out all the stops and mount them on an electroluminescent panel, blacking out the area around the slabs and frame that. They come in all sorts of colors, and some can be cut.

[yepx]

Feb 23, 2020 22:07:14 GMT -5 einholt said:

Depending on how thin the slabs are, you could try one of the "floating" style frames. Most craft stores sell them and they are pretty easy to piece together. The backer they'd be attached to is a thin, usually flexible, piece of plexiglass. I've bought a couple for less than twenty dollars, probably less if you use a coupon.

Edit: OR you could pull out all the stops and mount them on an electroluminescent panel, blacking out the area around the slabs and frame that. They come in all sorts of colors, and some can be cut.

None of my agates slaps are thicker than a cm, but sizes otherwise vary drastically.