I can't locate my ancient book on exhibiting costumes so I can't give you
the title.  But here are abbreviated instructions.  Use thick fomecore as
the base for each piece; build up with cotton padding and then cover with
muslin.    Since you want to hang the items, you could probably also use
lightweight plywood as your base.  Screw eyes with monofilament would be
screwed directly into the plywood for suspending them.

Good luck.

Ruby

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Carrie Beauchamp
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 10:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: exhibit mounts-- clothing


Hello!

I am the registrar at a smallish museum, and somehow got roped into doing an
exhibit featuring historic rodeo wear (!). We are temporarily without an
exhibit designer, so I your need help!

My biggest problem is mounts. The objects are shirts, skirts, pants, and
chaps. I can't use our regular Victorian-looking mannequins, and I'd rather
not use mannequins anyway, because we aren't showing whole outfits, just
pieces. I would like to make these mounts as invisible as possible. The
space
is a roped off corner platform with some kind of fancy wooden flooring which
I'd rather not destroy. The idea now is to suspend the clothing from the
ceiling, so that they are "layered" horizontally and vertically. I worry
that
the clothing will "sway" (these will not be in a case). I also worry that
the
leather items, which are rather heavy, wont get enough support without a
bulky ugly mount.  Any ideas on this?

Final details: This is supposed to be up by May 1 (ha!) and we have a slew
of
construction volunteers, but very tiny budget. Buying anything prefabricated
is taboo.

I will be EXTREMELY grateful for any suggestions on- or off- list. Thanks!

Carrie Beauchamp
CFD Old West Museum
Cheyenne, WY

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