origami on the wall?

January 28, 2013 7:01 PM

What's the best way to hang origami on the wall? Painter's tape? That blue putty stuff? Any suggestions welcome.

I don't want to hang the origami in picture frames, and I don't want to damage the wall or ruin the paint in the apartment I rent. I just want to be able to fold something and then hang it up.

posted by the twistinside to grab bag (10 answers total)

What kind of wall? Would a long nail work?
posted by odinsdream at 7:19 PM on January 28

I've used the blue putty. It leaves an oily kind of stain on the paper but not on walls in my experience (you could test it). Double-sided tape would probably be fine. The kind of mounting tape that has a layer of foam in the middle is unnecessarily heavy-duty and can be difficult to get off of walls. Oh, also you can hang your pieces on string attached to thumbtacks stuck in the ceiling!
posted by ecsh at 7:29 PM on January 28

I've seen origami hung with finishing line; this may be best for avians though. What I observed were about 50 origami cranes suspended from a couple of giant hoops (the hoops themselves were wrapped around in matching origami paper, which looked lovely). They were hung from the ceiling though, off a couple of hanging plant hooks.
posted by mayurasana at 7:48 PM on January 28

I made a bunch of origami cranes and then used needle and thread to turn them into a garland. Easy to hang!
posted by gnutron at 7:54 PM on January 28

Painter's tape is designed to be easily removable for only a certain period of time. Proper brands (like 3M) will actually say on the label how long this is. After that time, it slowly turns crusty and unremovable. You wouldn't want this on your wall, or your art.

What I would do is place some shiny scotch tape on the back of the piece to protect it from any residues of whatever method you use. I might even tape a piece of string and hang it like a picture, with one of those command adhesive things stuck to the wall.
posted by gjc at 8:58 PM on January 28

I'd consider bending some baling wire into a supportive shape with a strategically-placed loop or inverted 'v' in the right place to hang that on a little nail or picture hanger. You'd probably need a different shape for each kind of origami shape.

You could also use thinner wire than baling wire - look at the thicker kinds at a bead supply store, or maybe a hardware store.
posted by amtho at 11:22 PM on January 28

I use small 3M Command Strips for exactly this. You can also trim down both the adhesive area and the repositioning "tab" if they're too big for your piece. Occasionally some of the foamy adhesive attached to the origami/art side of things will have trouble removing, but rarely.
posted by cocoagirl at 11:35 PM on January 28

blue putty will ruin most walls over time as it leaches oils. Many different kinds of tape will either leave residue, peel paint or not work well. It depends how long you want to leave it up for and what the wall is made of and already covered with. . (I say all this as a professional facilitator, so I know about stuff that sticks to walls - or not)

You may well be better off hanging the art than adhering it.
posted by salishsea at 12:07 AM on January 29

Snot Tape
posted by peagood at 1:07 AM on January 29

Can you buy cheapy corkboard (at Walmart, craft store, dollar stores) and tape it up with 3M Command Strips (they are strong and won't damage the wall) then just pin your origami to the board? Examples
posted by xicana63 at 5:36 AM on January 29