xDareDevilx

I'm moving into my own apt. at college in a week and I was wondering what is the best way to display posters without frames so I dont damage them. I took all my posters down off of my current walls the other day. I had them hanging with sticky tack that worked amazingly and is still sticky! However, it discolored the posters in the corners that I had the tack (especially my og res. dogs poster that is a thicker material). I was wondering what everyone hangs their posters with that are too big for frames (because I want to preserve and keep the value of them). Thanks!
jason X.

caiman

I use a combination of scotch tape and thumbtacks. I first put tape around the edges and on the corners, then I put two thumbtacks on each upper corner. This works pretty well, and if you use the right kind of tape (the invisible kind, not the cloudy kind) you can't even see the tape. You may have to re-tape the poster after a few months, as the poster tends to sag after time. And when you decide to move the poster, the tape is usually pretty easy to take off (just be careful). Or you can fold the tape behind, and put new tape over the old tape.

Superman07

Are you looking to resell them later on, or just keep them nice for display?

I've tried a method that I found worked pretty well, but you may want to make sure you apply it in more areas to reduce sag.

Also, washing the walls where you are going to apply may be good. You may find that, even though you can't see it, the walls will have oil and dirt on them, which will cause the tape to not adhear as well.

Anyway, onto the method:

Go out and get a roll of the thick clear packaging tape. Cut off sections - maybe 3-4 inches in length. Apply them to the back of the poster, especially at the corners and on the sides (top and bottom). You may also want to apply pieces as an inner box and a piece in the middle. Kind of a shrinking affect.

After you've done this, either take the tape you have, or some scotch tape, and make regular loops and apply that to the tape you already have on the back of the poster. The loops should stick no problem to the tape on the back, and they come off just as easily.

No ripping, no holes, and your poster is good to go for next time!

Corvin

I only use thumbtacks, and they work great. Gotta' be willing to make holes in your posters, though.

If you don't want any holes, follow Superman's method. Definitely a bit more work, though.

Mittman

I found that last year my posters kept falling down or tearing with just regular tape. Plus I had to re-tape them every week or so and by the end of the year there was way too many pieces of tape on all my stuff.

So this year I took all my posters to Staples and, don't laugh, had them laminated. It was actually much cheaper than I expected. I found that the putty like stuff works pretty well at keeping them up without ruining the posters. I figure that they should stay in pretty good condition this year.

Neitzl

I buy some sleeves from movieposter.com, they aren't mylar, but damn near close to it. They do a pretty good job of not wrinkling, you may have to flatten the posters every once in a while, but they look great. kinda expensive though, as each sleeve is $20 a piece, and they only sell them in sets of 5. I put two posters in the sleeves though, I dig em!

shill66

Obviously if you don't want to damage your posters in any way, you're not going to want to use regular cellophane tape or packing tape directly onto the poster, even at the corners. And you won't want tack holes. And you don't want that awful putty stuff.

Here's what I do: buy some "Post-It" tape, the wider the better. Tear off four pieces that are about two inches long. Put one on each corner, back or front whichever you prefer, with only about 1/4 inch protruding from the edge of the poster. Then use thumbtacks, but push the tacks into the 1/4" of Post-It tape, not through the poster.

When you take the poster down, very carefully remove the tape. It should come off fairly easily, since it's designed to do that.

Timmio

I use velcro on my posters. I get those little velcro circles, stick them to the wall and the bak of the poster and bam!

It works pretty well, but you can forget about pulling the velcro piece off the back of the poster. No problems with sagging or loose tape. One thing though, you have to make sure you line up the velcro correctly...cause there is not much you can do to change it once it's stuck on.

Timmio

shanester

Why don't you people just pay to get them illaminated??..They'll last a lot longer than scotch tape

Chrisedge

Why not just frame them. I get the 27x40 frames on the 1 cent sale for 15.00 a piece at Aaron Bros.

caiman

How much does that usually cost? And what do you do with them once they're laminated? Do you frame them, or just put thumbtacks through the edge of the laminate?

Norm de Plume

FunTak is indeed the best method I've come across. You just have to make do with the minor oil stains left behind. It doesn't bother me. I've had about 20 posters up for close to ten years, and have had almost no gravitational difficulties (the odd sag adjustment)...as opposed to packing tape, which I tried first, and which completely failed after a couple of weeks.

danol

I cleaned the walls with Isopropinol Alcohol swipes that came with my not used velcro tape, before I used clear tacks to attach my 2 foot high by 6 foot wide of Daryl Hannah (Splash). Actually the poster is a bit higher and wider I just used the space Daryl Hannah fits in, with her mermaid suit with her nipple just touching the sand.

xDareDevilx

thanks for the help...I can't really illaminate or frame some of them (my res. dogs poster is a French original 5ft. high by 4 ft. wide folded into sections kind). I think I may just stick with the sticky tape and keep the minor stains...I'm probably just going to keep them for my private collection, however I got the res. dogs on ebay a year or so ago for about 40 bucks and if I ever needed money might sell it...that's why I wanted a good method...thanks for the help.