A Tesera panel hangs on a single screw through the keyhole hanger on its back; the fixings are in the crate. Drive the screw into something solid, leave the head proud by the depth of the keyhole, and lower the panel onto it. It sits flat against the wall, with no wire and no second hook.
What is on the back of the panel?
A keyhole hanger and our signature. A keyhole is a slot, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, so a screw head goes in through the wide end and the panel drops onto its shank.
Because the hanger is in the panel itself rather than hung off a wire, the panel sits flat against the wall and does not tilt forward. That is why one screw is enough for either size, and why there is no second hook to level. The fixings are included in the crate; what the panel is built from is on the materials page.
What do I need?
The fixings from the crate, a pencil, and whatever your wall needs to take a screw: a screwdriver for timber, a drill and a wall plug for masonry or plasterboard.
- The fixings from the crate
- A pencil to mark the wall
- A drill and a wall plug, if the wall is masonry or plasterboard, and a screwdriver either way
- A tape measure, to centre the panel on the wall
- A second person for the 50 cm panel, which is easier lowered onto the screw with two pairs of hands
How do I hang it, step by step?
Find where the keyhole sits relative to the top edge of the panel, mark that point on the wall at the height you want the top edge, drive the screw there, and lower the panel onto it.
- Turn the panel over and measure from the top edge down to the narrow end of the keyhole, and from the side edge across to it
- Decide where the top edge of the panel should sit on the wall, and mark the keyhole point from it using those two measurements
- Drive the screw into something solid at the mark, into a wall plug if the wall needs one
- Leave the screw head standing proud of the wall by about the depth of the keyhole, so the head can enter the wide end of the slot
- Lift the panel, feed the screw head into the wide end of the keyhole, and let the panel settle down onto the shank
- Step back; the panel should sit flat and square, and a small nudge at a corner will true it
The panel has weight: it is glass, clay, mortar and birch, and buyers tell us it is heavier than they expected. Choose a fixing for the wall you have, and if the wall is hollow use a plug rather than driving the screw into plasterboard alone.
Where should it hang?
Where the light crosses it. Each face of each tessera sits at its own angle, so a wall opposite a window or a doorway shows the panel moving through the day. Direct sun is fine; it is glass and clay.
Buyers send us photographs of their panels above the stairs, on a landing, in a hall opposite the front door, above a desk and in a kitchen. One wrote that every visitor stops on the third step. Eye level on a wall you pass is the usual answer; a 30 cm panel suits a wall by the stairs, and a 50 cm one wants a wall it can own. The sizing guide compares the two.
Can it hang without the keyhole?
It can stand on a shelf or a sideboard, leaning back against the wall, and the keyhole stays unused. For a wall, use the keyhole; it is the hanger the panel was built with.
At the markets the portraits stand on easels along the table and on a display frame, so you can see a panel standing before you decide: the about page lists where we take the range; if you are ready, upload a photo and the panel that comes back carries the same keyhole on its back.
Questions this leaves
Are the fixings included?
Yes. The product page lists the hanger as a keyhole with fixings included, and they travel in the crate with the panel. One screw through the keyhole is all the wall needs; add a wall plug if yours is hollow or masonry. There is nothing else to buy before it goes up.
Does it need two hooks or a wire?
No. One screw through the keyhole carries either size, and because the hanger is on the back of the panel itself rather than a wire the panel sits flat against the wall and does not tip forward. A second hook would only make it harder to level.
How heavy is it?
Heavier than a print of the same size, because it is glass, clay, lime mortar and a 12 mm birch panel; we do not quote a figure here. Treat it as you would a small mirror: a solid fixing, a plug in a hollow wall, and two pairs of hands for the 50 cm panel.
