Hang Prints Without Damaging Them or the Wall

This is for people who want to decorate their rooms/apartment with art prints but cannot (or aren't allowed) to poke holes in the walls. Tape or sticky tack is basically your only option, but you also don't want to damage your print in the process.

The idea is to create a backing that uses corners like in photo albums to slip your print into and securely hold.

This works best for SMALL-MED size prints, depending on the cardstock. The thicker the print, the better.

Step 1: Materials

You will need:

• Cardstock, large pieces >= your print(s)
• Cutting Board
• Ruler
• X-Acto Knife or box-cutter
• Pencil & Eraser
• Masking Tape or [your preferred wall-safe adhesive]

Step 2: Measure & Cut: Backing

First you are going to create the backing for your mount.

Measure the Length and Width of your print. Mark off the same L and W on your piece of cardstock and cut it out.

*if you want, give yourself an extra 1/8th of an inch to your cardstock L and W for safety (you don't want it to be smaller than your print).

Step 3: Measure & Cut: Corners

With your leftover scraps from your backing cutout, measure out 4 equally sized strips. Carefully cut them out with your ruler and x-acto knife.

*You can vary the width of the strips to suit your print, but making them all the same size is the easiest and aesthetically pleasing.

At this point, you can also colour your corner pieces if you like, or leave them whatever colour the cardstock is.

Step 4: Fold Corners

To create the corner pockets, take a piece of cardstock with a 90-degree angle and centre it on one of your corner strips with the point touching the bottom edge (lengthwise). Make sure it is perfectly perpendicular to your corner strip.

You can use a protractor to be super exact if you want. Draw a straight line through the 45-degree mark of your 90-angle piece to help guide you.

Fold up the sides of your corner strip along the edge of your 90-degree angle piece.

Step 5: Attach Corners to Backing

Slip your corner pieces onto your backing. Tape down the flaps you just folded up.

Now your mount is done!

Step 6: Mount

Pick out a place on the wall.

Stick some tape or [your preferred wall-safe adhesive] onto the back of your mount and stick it up there. Adjust to your liking.

Slip your print into the corner pockets.

Step 7: Varying Results

As mentioned before, the thicker the cardstock your print is printed on, the better it will look using these mounts. If your print is on a lighter or flimsier cardstock, it can bow out a little in the middle instead of staying flush against the wall.

You may want to experiment with varying corner sizes depending on how large your print is or how thick the cardstock is. Larger corners may help with bigger or flimsier pieces.

Don't forget to experiment with colour!