Turn a Wallscroll Into a Work of Art

Intro: Turn a Wallscroll Into a Work of Art

If you're a fan of Anime or video games, then you may have collected a few wallscrolls of your favorite shows or games.  This guide will show you how frame your favorite wallscrolls to give your beloved wall decorations a unique and more sophisticated look.

STEP 1: Select a Wallscroll.

The wallscroll I've chosen for this guide is made of very thin fabric, which makes it a poor wallscroll.  Framing it will greatly improve it's look.

STEP 2: Purchase a Frame.

Purchase a 24 x 36 inch poster frame.  It should have a glass or clear plastic covering designed to protect the poster.  Most likely it will be a clear plastic covering, but throughout the guide I will refer to it simply as the glass.  You can get these at fairly inexpensive prices at several chain retail stores.  Mine cost me $30.

STEP 3: Dismantle the Wallscroll.

Remove the top and bottom bars from your wallscroll.  DO NOT CUT YOUR WALLSCROLL.  Instead you should be able to remove the plastic cap at one end of each bar and slide the wallscroll out.  You'll notice that hidden in the bar is a strip of cardboard that prevents the fabric from fraying even when the wallscroll is not attached to the bars.  The reason you should not cut your wallscroll is to keep it from fraying at the ends.  Plus, if you save the bars you can reconstruct your wallscroll if you don't like the way it looks in the frame.

STEP 4: Lay the Wallscroll Flat on the Floor.

Lay the dismantled wallscroll flat on the floor with the image facing the floor.  Even with a wallscroll made of thicker material, you should still be able to see the image through the back in a well lit room.  This will help with the framing process.

STEP 5: Remove the Glass From the Frame.

Remove the protective glass and sample poster from the frame.  We are going to wrap the wallscroll around this glass and put it back into the frame to hold the wallscroll in place.  If the poster has a solid white backing then you can flip the poster over so that the white back will act as a backdrop for the wallscroll.  This may help for especially thin wallscrolls, but in most cases you can simply throw out the sample poster.

STEP 6: Place the Glass on Top of the Wallscroll.

Take the glass you just removed from the frame and place it on top of your wallscroll.  You'll notice that it is smaller than the wallscroll, but only by a few inches on all sides.  Only the portion of the wall scroll directly beneath the glass will be visible once framed.  Position the glass so that nothing important in the picture is clipped off.

Important: If you chose to keep the sample poster, make sure that the pictured side is face up.  Otherwise the image on the poster will show through the wallscroll.

STEP 7: Wrap the Wallscroll Around the Glass.

Take the top and bottom of the wallscroll (the edges with the cardboard strips) and wrap them around the glass.

STEP 8: Place the Glass and Wallscroll in the Frame.

Place the frame with it's back up on the floor near your wallscroll.  Grab the wallscroll and glass at the top and bottom, where you wrapped the wallscroll around the glass.  Make sure the wallscroll is wrapped snugly and lift the wallscroll and glass.  Place the wallscroll and glass into the frame.  Push down on the glass along the edges to make sure it is securely in the frame.

STEP 9: Fold and Finish Wrapping the Wallscroll Around the Glass.

While holding the edge with the cardboard strip flat aganst the glass, fold over the other edge.  Be sure to crease the cardboard as close to the edge as possible.  You want to make this fold look as neat as you possibly can.  Do this for all four corners.  The crease you made in the cardboard will help hold down the corners somewhat while you get the backing of the frame.

STEP 10: Place the Backing on the Frame.

Align the backing of the frame against one of the side edges.  (Not the top or bottom.)  Hold the backing at an angle with one hand, and with your free hand reach underneath the backing and make sure the two corners are well flattened.  Lower the backing flat against the frame.  As you do so, make sure the other two corners are well folded and flattened.  With any luck none of your wall scroll will be peaking out from the edges of the backing.  It's okay if it does a little, though.  Secure the backing to the frame.

STEP 11: Hang Up Your Framed Wallscroll.

Your wallscroll is now framed!  Hang it up where everyone can see it.

Comments

[triceratops]

Thanks for this tutorial!

I recently bought an Evangelion wall scroll but on eof the parts at the top was missing and i had no idea how to hang it until now.

Thank you!

[StoryAddict]

This is a neat idea but I keep having the same problem I have with my regular posters: I don't want to clip or crease the edges of my beloved posters in the frames, yet the next size up is way too big. Bummer.

[roboclown]

Glad you like it! It's true clipping can be an issue, and you're right, they don't seem to make a size that exactly fits a regular wallscroll. However, if you're willing to shell out the extra money for it you could possibly get a custom frame made, but that gets real expensive real fast. Also you would probably need to modify the instructions here a great deal, since I don't know if most custom frames don't come with a glass portion. If you use the cheaper frames described here and you later decide that you want to restore you're wallscroll to it's original glory, you might be able to remove the creases by using an iron at a low setting. Do this at you're own risk, though. I have no idea what kind of damage, if any, an iron could do to a wallscroll.

[karossii]

Unless I am mistaken or missing something, here in America those things are called "Posters"... I've never heard the term wallscroll before.

[roboclown]

A wallscroll is basically a poster-sized piece of fabric that has a plastic or wooden rod at the top and bottom, making it look scroll-like in appearance.  The top rod usually has a string connecting the two ends of the rod, which you use to hang on your wall.

Wallscrolls aren't very common, and my pictures probably don't do a very good job of showing what they are.  I believe they originate from Japan, because most of them depict Anime and occasionally video game characters.