What about a clear Polycarbonate rod? There's Polycarbonate plastic rod available that is a slightly smaller diameter (1/8" - 3.175 mm). https://www.mcmaster.com/7889A92/color~clear/diameter~1-8/ Best, BJ

Hi James, I've had good results using silver solder to join smaller pieces of steel and stainless. It's actually a great way to join brass to steel (if you need a stronger material in your mount design). One thing that I've noticed is that the silver solder joint is weaker than steel, so making adjustments after joining can be tricky. Pining your sections before soldering can help strengthen the joint. I always weld larger steel material and I think it would be worth looking into a oxy-acetylene, mig or big setup if you think you'll be working with larger material. Hope this helps! Best, BJ

steve 2/18/11 http://www.sciencecompany.com/patinas/patinaformulas.htm There are many sights like this one with good info.

Suzi McG 1/26/10 Hello all, Can any of you independent mounties recommend someone for general liability insurance.  I was recently informed that my policy provider is no longer going to offer coverage for what we do.  I'm not sure if it was their decision or the underwriters.  Regardless I thought I would see who some of you have insurance with. Thanks, Suzi McGarraugh nick fennel 1/26/10 I'm with Hartford. Try them. Denise Fordham 1/26/10 I also use Hartford. But the closest category they could put me under   was interior design. Cheers Denise Fordham justin marshall 1/26/10 I do have ins. through my company Unified Fine Art Services . Ben Spurgin Insurance Agency Justin Marshall nick fennel 1/26/10 Not that I'm an expert in this area. Not at all. As I understand it, general liability insurance is just that, general. It will not cover stuff like damage to objects under your charge, etc. Say the sprinkler system in your building goes off and wrecks something. Usually, a general liability policy will not cover that. You can, however, buy these add on things to address the risks for whatever specifics you are concerned about. Loulou 1/27/10 From Louise H. Freedman, Boston Creative Inc.  d/b/a L.H. Freedman Studios, Salem, MA FYI...The Hartford can be VERY difficult as they don't understand the Conservation or mountmaking field at all. We have had them for both general liability with a separate binder for personal, art,  and business articles under our care or ownership since I went into business for myself, in 1980. My Husband and I merged our businesses in 1990.  After 30 years with not a single incident, in either the studio or on many museum projects, we moved to a new site out of our Boston location to Salem MA. A climate controlled studio, with custon designed space which turned out to have a  lab above us ( which the business, Perkin Elmer, denied existed). Negligence on their part caused a an explosion, and fire in the middle of the night in Nov. Of 2006 with sprinklers and firehoses that rained down on us for four hours through a heavy concrete ceiling, that had a heavy wooden floor with air space in-between... And you can imagine the rest. The water gather all the contaminants from the lab, and they rained down on us. Emergency crews worked for a week pumping out water and slime, and then a conservation crew was hired to do the object clean-up. A huge flithy mess! The large Corporation above us was privately insured, so Hartford fought us tooth and nail to collect, and we had to hire a  "Public Adjuster" to collect a fraction of our damages, and then it took one year to clean up the mess. The kicker was that Hartford tried to cancel us afterwards!, after 35 years of insurance with no incidents EVER. If our agent hadn't gone to bat for us for two months, we would be without insurance. None of this was in any way our failt of course. Insurance comanies are in the business of gambling, amd hate yo lose .  Somy word of advice is, if they are trying to cancel you witjout a valid reason after being a good client, I would fight it! Get your insurance agent to challange the decision. They count on people not thinking they can challange them. Good luck! And if anyone knows a better insurance company, please let me know.  Hope that is helpful info. Fortunately, we had only Moved into the new space a couple of months earlier, and many of our personal objects were still wrapped in polyethylene. Most of our tools and equipment were lost, but they did pay for replacement of tools, not the private conservation treatments needed for our personal collection.  Good luck, hope this is helpful to all. Louise Cell: (617)-320-7798 

LINGERINGSHADE@aol.com 5/7/09 Hello all... To those of you who responded to my last request, Thanks!  We ended up using the 3/4" birch backing, covered with a thin sheet of Ethafoam and muslin...We pinned the tapestry to all of this with stainless steel pins...and attached it to the wall with a cleat...Worked great! 

We've done some initial oddy tests of PLA and ABS. The PLA failed, but the ABS passed. In the next tests we'll look to see if we get consistent results with different brands and colors. Best, BJ BJ Farrar Sr. Mountmaker Decorative Arts and Sculpture Conservation Getty Museum Los Angeles, CA