One strategy for equipping a mount for flexible installation is to use a receiver socket on the mount that can fasten to a post tailored to the desired installation. I wrote an article on the method for the Journal of the AIC Special Issue on Mountmaking. You can reach it through the AIC Conservation-Wiki at https://www.conservation-wiki.com/w/images/4/49/JAIC_V51_No1_04_Hascall_47-50.pdf. Please feel free to get in touch if there are questions the article does not adequately cover.

I too would love to find a supplier of clear mylar ribbon, preferably in 1/4" and 1/2" widths. I find it very useful as retaining straps for books and documents as well as for other objects. I cut it myself out of sheet stock but to have a roll of consistent width material would be very handy. Please keep us posted if you do find anything as my searches have gone nowhere. Jamie

Hi Bob, I'd recommend you start with 1/16", 3/32". and 1/8" brass rod stock. Use the 1/8" for the post and the lighter stock for the arms. I'd also recommend that you look at getting some 1/4"x1/16" flat brass stock as I find flat stock to be my favorite mount stock, giving a wider support surface and spreading the load more effectively. My preferred supplier for these types of brass stock is Grainger. For some reason, they have an excellent price for these small brass stocks and if you are in a city with a local branch, you can pick it up and save the shipping. Jamie

@James Gielow Nice! Here's mine.

@James Gielow That's a great solution to your problem! As far as mine went, no, I saw no need to use a similar material for the shim as the sandstone needed the accurate support of a molded shim, and the sandstone wasn't something that was likely to react with any type of cured epoxy material. In my decision making, I'm always trying to look at the hierarchy of what factors are most likely to induce damage or wear in the specific situation. In this instance, the sandstone was most susceptible to physical damages such as abrasion, or fracture due to point loading. Thus the decision was to mold a shim from Apoxie Sculpt with a barrier layer in place to keep the piece accurately supported and captured from movement by the interlocking shapes of the surfaces. I had little concern about the color. Thanks for the opportunity to talk about it all.

I'll weigh in on Apoxie Sculpt too. I've been using ever since the Getty and others tested it, and I'm glad to hear Ashley's news about the SteelStik product too. I've found the Aves Studios products to be reliable and nice to work with. The one thing I'd love to know about is whether other colors of Apoxie Sculpt and other Aves Studios products also pass Oddy? I really like the black which polishes up to a really nice black finish. It feels like sculpted stone under the object. I have also used some of the others in non-sensitive situations like using a red-earth tone as a supporting shim on a sandstone Jali so it didn't draw the eye. In situations like this there is always a barrier layer involved to avoid direct contact, but I'd love there to be some discussion in the group about when and how it might be appropriate to use materials that are closely related to tested materials, but have not been specifically tested themselves. In this situation, the material (sandstone) is extremely non-reactive, and the display was an open-air installation. I was very comfortable with the combination, as was the conservator I was working with, but I'd love to know peoples thoughts about how we use such materials. Jamie

Hi SNash, In case you missed it, I'd highly recommend watching Tim Skornia's Brazing Mini-Workshop from just over a month ago. He gave great explanations of many of the joining methods we use. https://www.mountmakersforum.net/mini-workshop-brazing-101 Tim McCreight's Complete Metalsmith is one of the books we've all learned a great deal from. Lots of great stuff from the jewelry and metals arena at https://www.brynmorgen.com. I'm in the process of finally re-opening my shop here in Seattle for mountmaking workshops and hope to be publishing a new schedule of classes later today or tomorrow. I'm not going to make any claims about them but think I've got some good experience to share. You can check in on the MountmakingFocus.com Blog page and the new schedule will be listed there as well as to the Events page here on the Mountmakers Forum. Please get in touch if I can answer any questions for you. Good Luck, Jamie

In case you missed this, Tim Skornia of the St. Louis Museum of Art is giving a silver brazing mini workshop on April 15th. You can register at https://www.mountmakersforum.net/mini-workshop-brazing-101 . I highly recommend you check it out as Tim will be addressing a lot of the issues you seem to be dealing with.

You can absolutely silver-braze steel and stainless. Many high-end bicycle frames are silver-brazed. Both materials are more finicky than brass however, and working with them will make you realize what a wonderfully forgiving material brass is to work with. Stainless TIG rod is a great starting point for trying out brazing stainless. It will require you to freshly abrade the surfaces and I then find it helps to immediately flux them to protect them from contamination and oxidation. Joints will fail on stainless if you don't follow its rules, so get some stock and start trying to put it together. Have fun experimenting!

Hi Schyler, I absolutely understand your situation. I learned on Acetylene-air torches and found I could control the larger flame better than a smaller, hotter, more highly concentrated flame. I just about went mad on the first project where I had to use an Oxy/Acetylene Smith Little Torch, as I kept blowing right past the melting point of the silver and soon it was bubbling or the brass was melting. It's especially difficult on small stock that has little thermal mass and gets to melting point quickly. That said, once you get acclimated to that style torch you can do very precise work with it. I used one while working on the Burke Museum in 2019 and really appreciated the powerful fine flame. It's great for brazing stainless steel. Over the years I've worked a lot with Bernzomatic style MAPP gas plumbing torches and learned to do all levels of work with them. I liked that I could travel with the torch head and buy gas at any hardware store. I would usually have two and would do bigger mounts by using both at once, and could silver braze 1/4" steel that way. They can be ungainly so we started using a hose to connect torch head to tank and it helped a lot. A few years ago I bought a MECO Midget torch and love it. I use Oxygen/Propane instead of Oxygen/Acetylene as it has plenty of power, but things happen just a little more slowly. It is larger than a Little Torch, but still a small handpiece that is easy to use. I also prefer to not have an acetylene cylinder on-site for reasons of cost, safety, and ease of filling. You need to specify the tips for the intended fuel as the acetylene and propane tips are different. Lately, I've also used an EZ Torch AKA Orca Torch with MAPP gas and find it one of my favorite torches for mountmaking. I like that you can buy it set up for using regular propane/MAPP gas cylinders and that they last a long time. My biggest complaint is that the hose seems to produce a gummy residue in response to the MAPP gas being in it during storage, so it is important to fully drain the hose after each session and I even disconnect the hose and leave the handpiece valve open. I'm not sure if I can recommend it because of this issue but really like it otherwise. I haven't used Hydrogen as a fuel, but MoPOP had a setup for flame polishing plex and it needed its own exhaust system and special sensors. I've not gotten the impression that the hydrogen "water torch" units sold by Rio Grande have the power for brass work of any major size, but don't have any real experience to base that on. For Flux, I use Harris Stay-Silv white flux and find it works well but shouldn't be thinned too much and is best applied a little thick. I use Harris Safety-Silv 56 as my main silver brazing alloy and prefer it and their Safety-Silv 45 to jewelry alloys. I haven't found my students having many problems with that flux and alloy system. I work on soft fire brick as I like that the bricks are cut and not molded, and are thus very flat, square, and uniform size. It also insulates the support surface well and doesn't hold the heat as long as hard brick does. It's not that expensive and lasts quite well. Good luck, Jamie

Hi James, I've been using 3M 465 roll adhesive to make Novasuede self-adhesive. 465 has passed Oddy and is generally regarded as a safe adhesive. It's not always as solid under shear stress as I might like and can creep a little, but overall it is easy to apply and generally works well for me.

The alignment was obviously going to be an issue as well as whether a fastener like that is made of a strong enough material to do the job. The main thing I was looking at was the available threads below the upper surface of the base and whether they can be accessed. I don't envy your task and wish you the best of luck in finding a work around. Jamie

Hi James, The one thought I have comes from (of all places) Ikea. I'm specifically thinking of the washer nut combination the is part of the knock down fastening system with the threaded sleeve of the nut engaging the threads that are in the hole and below the surface. The main question is whether there is sufficient room in the hole to accommodate them. Like these. https://www.mcfeelys.com/1/4-x-20-decorative-head-cap-nuts,-17mm-(669-in)-long,-brass-plated-qty:25.html.html Good luck!

Hi James, The columns you have pictured look like kiln shelf supports. Pottery and kiln suppliers are great sources of heat resistant materials such as fire brick, kiln shelves, and lots of other goodies. Best of luck jumping off the edge. You'll be flying in no time!