Something useful for a change

A little departure from the norm today as I talk about...drum roll...hanging my prints.  Up until recently I've been either using those little picture hooks (which are rubbish and most times don't even hammer into the walls in my house which, by the way, are made from breeze blocks - essentially preformed concrete), masonry nails (better, but usually take a big chunk of plaster out when they get hammered in) or drilling and plugging and then putting a screw in (best of the three options so far but a bit permanent).  I figured there had to be a better way.

It all started with our little Photographic Club's Annual Exhibition way back in April, which took place this year at the Riverside Theatre on the University Campus (about 200m as the crow flies from my house.  Not that we get many crows here in Ireland - the only crow we get is the big Grey Crow, or Hooded Crow as it's sometimes known.  Most times when people here say 'Crow' the bird to which they are referring to is a Rook.  Or possibly a Jackdaw...)

Anyway, as usual I digress.  I was talking about the Exhibition and the thing I noticed was the rather impressive hanging system the Theatre had in its foyer.  A bit of desktop research (the best kind these days) came up with the Stas system.  You can read on for now but feel free to return and click here if you want to find out more about it (Disclaimer: I'm not getting any sort of recompense for you clicking that link).


OK so before I write a little about it here's the end product on our kitchen/snug wall - and yeh, I know...it's in colour (phone shot):

On the wall

Now I know the lighting is rubbish but that's not the point (you can actually get a lighting system to attach to the rail, by the way, which looks extremely cool).  The point is just to show the sort of thing that is possible with this system.  Basically there's an aluminium rail which runs along the top of the wall and from that you can attach any number of vertical cords and to those cords you can then attach any number of hooks to which you attach your framed print.  I say 'any number' and as far as I can see that's true - there are a variety of rails, cords and hooks available which can support up to 100Kg per meter of rail. That's impressive. Even the most basic rail (which I bought) supports up to 25Kg per meter.

The heavier duty stuff uses steel cable but I bought transparent perlon cord, which is good enough for the weight of my prints.  It's a bit more visible than comes out in the phone shot here, but then again if your eye is drawn to the cord it probably means you need to work on your images a little more...

The thing that is really quite nice about the whole system is how reconfigurable it is.  You can easily move pictures up or down, attach more pictures (or fewer) to each cord, swap pictures in and out and of course reconfigure the whole space as often as you wish when you get bored with the current setup.  It's very neat - plus the only holes you drill are the ones for the rail along the top.

It's not inexpensive but in the grand scheme of things (cameras, film, chemicals, paper, time) it's not too bad either.  And it's very satisfying to get some prints hung properly on the wall for a change.  Even better, it will allow my wife to change everything around every few weeks, which is something she has to do, apparently.  Sofas, chairs, tables, beds...you name it - if it's not screwed down, it gets moved.  And then moved again.  And again...