What's the best way to hang unframed posters on a sloping wall without using tape or velcro or glue that would damage the poster? Thumb-tacks don't work too well because the poster ends up sagging between the tacks.
I'd love to find a way of attaching the posters to the wall so that they lie as flat and as close as possible to the wall without resorting to adhesives that could damage the posters or the wall.
Poster putty is an adhesive, but supposed to not damage posters or walls. Similar products are sold under names like Sticky Tack, Mounting Putty, and Blu-Tack.
I hang my posters gallery-style. Get a piece of glass (or plexi) cut to the exact size of the poster. Buy some nice hanging nails and use them to rest the glass on - one at each corner. The nails pictured below have a really nice edge, hold the glass well, and leave very little damage to the wall.
You can pick these up at a hardware store or a framing store.
I've hung entire shows using this method and it's very nice. I also used to work at a gallery and this method was the preferred method for hanging flat artwork. No framing of any kind was needed.
The only way I can think of is to use a frame ;)
You don't need to frame each poster, but create something like the advertising hoardings you see on bus stops (in the UK at least) where the frame can open and a new poster inserted.
So what you'll need to do is get a piece of glass or Perspex slightly larger than the poster you want to hang. Then create a frame with a cross section something like this:
| space for poster |
|------------------| <- frame
+- ^ -+
|
glass/Perspex
If you have this on three sides the poster can slot in at the top. It will rest against the glass/Perspex and hence be flat.
One step further would be to add a hinge on one side and a catch on the other so it can be totally enclosed to keep dust etc out and make changing posters a bit easier.
You can get the moulding to make the trim quite easily. There are various shapes "Hockey Stick" being one. Cut to length and mitre the corners. Stick to the wall and then slide the Perspex in. If you use Perspex it will be lighter than glass so you might get away with glueing the frame to the wall rather than screwing.
You can buy wood strips with a slit that (gently) grab the edge of the poster, distributing the weight across the width. There is a string that goes from end to end of the wood so you can hang it. These work great; my friend used to use them for his treasured anime posters.
Magnets! Press the poster against the wall where you would like it to be and make a mark underneath each corner of the poster. Put the poster aside. Hammer a nail onto each mark. Then put the poster on top of the nails. Then place a small magnet on each corner. Done.
Although I would always suggest framing if your poster is worth a lot of money. hanging with magnets does not damage the art, but also does not protect it from somebody bumping into it, touching it, etc.
3M makes Command adhesive strips for posters. They supposedly come off clean when you pull the tab. From my experience, this type of adhesive works really well. I used them a for a towel hook in college since we weren't allowed to have even thumbtacks in the wall. At the end of the semester, you couldn't tell anything had been there at all. No sticky residue left over, and no scraping with a razor blade required.
If you go for the poster putty in @Vebjorn's answer, make sure to find a white version, or whatever color most closely matches your wall color. I've seen that type of adhesive stain before - both the wall and the back of the poster.
Disclaimer: I've used other Command products, but not the poster strips in particular.
I think in my case I'm not too worried about the wall but the actual poster as some are worth and can be worth a lot of money, e.g.; Vampirella Posters from the 70's fetch hundreds $$ nowadays providing they're mint. My suggestion if yours are in the same category, you know when you go to a poster shop and they display them in those see thru folders, that is what I would use, then you can swap and change as you like and no damage whatsoever too the poster. The only problem is obtaining these poster holders. Good luck.
