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It’s one thing to teach your kids not to play rough around your favorite painting hanging in your house, but it would probably be a lot harder to teach your pets the same thing. Even the most well-behaved dog doesn’t know the value of a painting, and accidents can happen.
Just look at this painting below. As a man and a woman were redoing the inside of their home, they took down their painting and set it on the ground for a second. In that second that the painting was lying on the ground, their dog walked by, and not knowing what it was, stepped on the painting, creating this huge tear!
The poor dog didn’t know any better, but this unfortunate accident could have been prevented. With any type of pet around the house (cats, dogs, birds) you always want to be extra cautious! Here are just a few tips to follow to avoid a similar sort of disaster from happening in your home:
Careful Where You Place It
One of the big mistakes that this couple made was placing their painting on the ground. When setting aside a painting, you never want to just leave it lying on the ground- vulnerable to people’s feet, furniture sliding around, or dogs walking by. If you’re just setting your piece to the side for a short amount of time, make sure to prop it up against something sturdy. It’s a good idea to lean it on a piece of cardboard and to put another piece of cardboard against the back as well. This will help prevent any feet from kicking into and tearing the canvas. Even with these precautions however, you want to keep your painting in a low traffic area, just to be safe.
Hanging Caution
Accidental stepping or kicking into isn’t the only cause of rips and tears in paintings. Another thing to be cautious about is the way you hang your painting! If not hung properly and sturdily, your kid or your dog or even you could run into the wall and cause a disaster. If your wires aren’t properly placed, they can tear the painting as well. Here are some things to remember when hanging a painting from a wall:
- Quality and large eye hangers that hold the wire.
- Thick wire, preferable plastic coated
- Nail in wall hits a stud. If not, use a multi nail hanger made for drywall.
- Use the largest hanger possible
- Use Museum Wax in the lower two corners to anchor the painting against the wall and so it won’t “jump” off the hook when things start to shake.
Following these tips won’t guarantee that your painting won’t rip in any situation, but following them will greatly reduce the chances that a similar accident will happen. Accidents happen at any moment in the most random ways, that’s why they’re called accidents! While you can’t always prevent them from happening, being cautious will help the amount of damage and cost resulting from them.
To check out more ways you can save your stuff, click this link to Scott Haskins’ YouTube channel and press “Subscribe”! https://www.youtube.com/user/bestartdoc/videos
How we repair a ripped fine art painting: https://www.fineartconservationlab.com/in-lab/badly-ripped-gorgeous-oil-painting-by-colin-campbell-cooper-repaired/
Birds can get rowdy too!