Hanging pictures may not be an Olympic sport (yet), but it does require practice, coordination, a trained eye and balance, especially when items are being hung up high and in a grouping. There was ladder climbing, juggling of plates (not literally, of course), and trained precision. Almost sounds like an Olympic event, doesn’t it?
We recently worked with Brett Silbert of Tri-Graphics Picture Framing in Rockville to hang a collection of Flow Blue plates for a client in McLean, VA. This client just completed a kitchen renovation and the plate collection was one of the final touches in the space.
When hanging a collection such as this we spent some time working with the arrangement way before any ladders were climbed. The challenges of this plate configuration were the high wall location, the slightly off-center sloped ceiling and the different shapes and sizes of the plates.
Brett grounded the configuration by centering a larger oval plate on the wall first. Next he balanced the arrangement symmetrically by using similar sized plates on either side. He was also very careful in the placement of plates that were more blue since they “felt” heavier on the wall compared to the plates that had more white in them.
Brett made the whole process look very easy, but we know it is his experience that made for a beautiful display that made the client very happy.
All of this certainly makes us wonder… with a weight of over three tons, who hung the Olympic rings from the Tower Bridge in London?
