Transcript for How to Hang a Painting
The following transcript is for the video called “How to Hang a Painting | Anduin Havens | Martha Stewart.”
The 4 minute and 51 second video shows Martha Stewart and her guest Anduin Havens in a home or workshop type setting demonstrating a few options for hanging artwork. They begin the video focused on the table where there are various tools and various sized framed works. They start with the smallest framed work which appears to be a wooden square and under 12 inches by 12 inches. Please note that they frequently speak over one another and/or at the same time, which will be reflected in the transcript. There are also the occasional banners with tips that are superimposed over the video at times which I will include with the word “Banner” in front of the text listed on the banner.
Transcript:
Anduin: So we’re gonna use what’s called a sawtooth hanger. And you can get them– that use nail in with brads–
Martha: Mm-hm.
[The camera briefly shows a small white dish with three brads and two very small nails.]
Anduin: –These are really great. They actually have the nails attached–
Martha: Oh, I see. Right.
Anduin: –so you don’t have to hold the little brads. So I made a little mark so that it’s centered–
Martha: Right.
Anduin: ’cause you still want it to be level even if it’s lightweight. You just tap it in so easy. [hammering sounds as Anduin hammers in a small silver brad to the back of the small wooden frame by tapping in the sides where the pointed ends are to adhere it to the wood] And–
Martha: Ah.
Anduin: –we’ve measured. [Anduin and Martha move over to a wall to the right of their work table. Anduin is holding the framed work.] We have just one tiny little nail.
Martha: Oh, so that– all you need is– it’s not going to get crooked or anything on the wall.
Anduin, speaking at the same time and drawing out the word “all”: That’s all you need. [Anduin hangs the picture on the small nail in the wall under three other similar frames.]
Anduin: Exactly. Because it’s so light it’s easy.
Martha: Yeah.
Anduin: There’s no point in going to a lot of trouble.
[They return to the table, and Martha points again to the sawtooth hangers.]
Martha: That’s easy. Now you call those sawtooth–
Anduin: Sawtooth hangers.
Martha: –hangers. Okay.
Anduin: And because they have the different teeth, if it’s not perfectly level, you scootch it over to the next tooth, it’s level.
[Martha then turns her attention to a larger framed work that appears to be a rectangular painting at least two feet by four feet and framed in wood.]
[Banner: For more information: marthastewart.com/martha]
Martha: Now here is a larger picture.
Anduin: Right.
Martha: Let’s see. I think this is an original– [she lifts the painting up to see the front which is painted red] oh yeah, an original Rothco by Anduin.
[They both laugh.]
Anduin: You never know when you need some red on the set.
Martha, still chuckling: Okay.
Anduin: So this is still a little bit lightweight because it is– it doesn’t have glass either.
Martha: Right.
Anduin: It’s really when you get the glass and the heavy frames that you need a lot–
Martha, knocking on the wooden frame: Yeah, it’s very, very light.
Anduin: –you know, these sturdy. So we can actually use the really tiny–
Martha: Oh. Okay.
Anduin: –screw eyes because they still have enough strength. Now here’s a good tip– because I learned this. I researched this because I’ve hung a lot of these like you said. You want to put your screw eye in about a third of the way down from the top. [Anduin gestures about a third of the way down from the top on the back of the frame. The top of the painting is on their side of the table.]
Martha: Okay.
[Banner: Tricks of the Trade: Place the screw eyes ⅓ down from the top to help balance the painting.]
Anduin: So this is forty inches, so we measure down–
Martha: And then your wire will come how high?
Anduin: About three or four inches from the top.
Martha: From the top. So–
Anduin: So you don’t wanna see the nail in the wall.
Martha: So the wire gets attached here and there [she gestures to parts of the frame that seem to be about a third of the way down– or three-to-four inches from the top– on the sides of the frame], and that’s where it’s going to hang, right in the middle [she points decisively to the vertical beam in the middle of the painting]. So this gives you some leverage, eh?
Anduin: This is a good tip to help you get this screw eye in really easily. [Anduin and Martha both begin to puncture the wood with an awl in the spots they referenced.] So you really wanna put a deep hole in there because that’s gonna help you really get your screw eye in easily.
[Banner: Tricks of the Trade: To tighten the screw eyes, use an awl for leverage.]
Martha: Mmkay.
[They both put the screw eyes into the frame.]
Anduin: And you know, the awl is really a very handy tool for this because once you get your screw eye started, then watch this [Anduin places the shaft of the awl into the screw eye], you can use the awl to be your leverage. [Anduin twists the screw eye around clockwise using the awl]. It makes it really easy ’cause once you get in there really tight, it’s hard to twist with your fingers.
[Anduin finishes screwing in the screw eye with the awl until it is firmly embedded into the frame.]
Martha: Okay, so– so– see, I would be afraid with this small an eye [referring to the screw eye]—
Anduin: Yeah.
Martha: –but this is light, so–
Anduin: Yeah. It’s not so bad. If you– like, again, if you had glass, if you had a nice, heavy frame, I would use a bigger screw eye.
Martha: Mmkay.
[The camera shows Martha continuing screwing in the eye with the shaft of the awl.]
Anduin: But because the wire is pulling the screw eye sideways, it’s very strong for the size.
Martha: Right. Okay. And so, on an angle, or–?
Anduin: You know, it’s gonna end up being pulled on an angle anyway, so I–
Martha: Okay.
Anduin: –usually put it at an angle.
Martha: There. [She puts down her awl and picks up a small coil of silver wire, holding onto one end of the wire and passing the rest of the coil to Anduin] Then your wire. [Martha begins threading her end into the screw eye on her side of the frame.]
Anduin, taking the coil: And this is a very nice, thin wire, but it’s still strong. So I would wanna have about six inches on each side extra. [Anduin checks Martha’s length on her side after she has threaded the wire through her screw eye]. Do you have about six inches extra?
Martha: Okay, yeah. Uh-huh.
Anduin: Okay, I’m gonna snip this down– [Anduin looks at the coil in their own hand and measures off about six inches extra length from the distance of the screw eye in front of them, snipping it with a pair of wire cutters.] — and thread it through. [Anduin threads their wire through the screw eye on their side.]
Martha, gesturing to the middle of the wire before Anduin pulls the wire fully through the screw eye: Oh, this is way too long. Okay, so–
Anduin: Right. [Anduin corrects this by completing pulling the wire further through the screw eye on their side.] So right about there [referring to the tautness of the wire now that it’s properly pulled through both screw eyes]. And then– that’s good [referring to something Martha is doing off camera]. That’s perfect. We certainly won’t see the hook in the wall. And then, you wrap the wire on itself. [Anduin begins wrapping the six inches of extra wire clockwise along the wire toward the middle of the frame.] And this is an important tip: You wrap it one way, and then to lock it, you wrap it back the other way.
[Banner: Tricks of the Trade: To keep wire from slipping, wrap it back on itself.]
Martha, speaking at the same time: You have to go backwards.
[They continue to work the wire until they’ve wrapped about half of the six inches, then they wrap the remaining wire counter-clockwise back toward the screw eye.]
Martha: Oh, I had a disaster at my house.
Anduin: Oh no.
Martha: Yeah.
Anduin: It didn’t get wrapped backwards?
Martha: No, a very beautiful, beautiful antique mirror– 1805 mirror– fell off the wall–
Anduin, gasping: No, that’s a disaster.
Martha: — because it had been hung improperly. And that–
Anduin: That’s terrible.
Martha: I have learned my lesson for all time.
Anduin: And look, if you loop right back through the original hole, it makes it completely strong; it’s never going anywhere. [Anduin has finished wrapping their wire and has stuck the end of the wire into the loop created by the original wrapping of the wire.]
Martha: Mm-hm.
Anduin: And it’s not like it has to be really tidy– I mean, you want it tidy and clean–
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Martha: Okay. So now what kind of, uh, implement in the wall– would you put a molly or–?
Anduin: I would use, you know, one of these Ooks [the camera briefly zooms in on a plastic package Anduin reached toward named Ook: Valu-Pak: Professional Picture Hanging Set, which has several metal mounts contained in it].
Martha: Oh, okay.
Anduin: These are really excellent. They really [Anduin gestures as if demonstrating the strength of something hanging], you know, bear the weight very strongly, and you won’t see it above here [Anduin’s gesture is off-camera so we don’t see it].
Martha: Okay, here.
[The pair moves on to the next object to discuss hanging which is a large, heavy-looking mirror.]
Anduin: Now these are your favorite. [Anduin points to a series of silver cleats which are a pair of long, thin rectangular pieces of metal with holes drilled in them and ledges on each that are designed to fit into one another.] Right?
[Martha gasps.]
Martha: Cleats.
Anduin: Right. The cleats.
Martha: French cleats.
Anduin: So this is a French cleat [picking up the wall-side of the cleat on the table that has a small level attached to the front of it], and this part goes in the wall [holding up the wall-side of the cleat]. And this one from Home Depot comes with a level built in!
Martha: That’s so great.
Anduin: Isn’t that amazing?
Martha: Yeah.
Anduin: And then this part [holding up the other part of the cleat] attaches to your mirror, and it just sits right in [demonstrates putting the cleat they just picked up and settling it onto the wall-side of the cleat] so the gravity holds it. And then this is–
Martha: If you don’t know about these, these are amazing–
Anduin: Yeah, fantastic–
Martha: –for anything heavy, any mirror. It can be applied to the back of [she gestures to the cleat portion that has been rested on the back of the mirror as an example; there are three small screws waiting to be used to screw the cleat into the mirror’s back]—
Anduin: Yeah, let’s do it, let’s put it on. [Anduin picks up a screwdriver and places one of the screws onto its tip.]
Martha: –a frame.
Anduin: Really fast.
Martha: Okay.
Anduin: ‘Cause we wanna hang it.
[Anduin begins screwing in the screws through the cleats holes, attaching it to the mirror.]
Anduin: I pre-drilled this [referring to the holes already in the back of the mirror]. I made sure that this [referring to the cleat] was perpendicular to the center line of the mirror [referring to a vertical line down the middle of the back of the mirror] so it hangs nice and level.
[Martha and Anduin finish screwing in the screws together.]
Anduin: And we use the level that came with the cleat to level the one that’s in the wall.
[Martha double checks the tightness of one of Anduin’s screws.]
Martha: Okay.
Anduin: And because it’s nice and high, we know–
Martha: So do you understand what’s gonna happen here? This– this half of the cleat [referring to the one they just attached to the back of the mirror] fits down into– oh, here, you have it on the wall.
Anduin, smiling: Yeah, it’s on the wall. So let’s place it right on there. [They both lift the mirror together to place it on the wall where the wall-side of the cleat has already been drilled into the wall.]
Martha: Oh my gosh, this is very heavy.
Anduin: It is heavy! But this is– has three screws in the mirror and three screws in the wall, so you know it’s really sturdy. [They finish setting it down on the wall-side of the cleat with a light thud.] And this will stay–
Martha, at the same time: And it will go nowhere.
Anduin: Right.
[The audience applauds and whoops.]
Martha, speaking while the applause continues to the end of the video: That’s a very, very good thing to know.
The video fades to a slide showing an advertisement for Martha Stewart’s show. The left side is white with text on it that reads “MARTHA: The Martha Stewart Show, weekdays 10A/9C” and “Hallmark Channel” with the Hallmark crown logo included. The right side, divided by a section of purple, shows a photo of Martha smiling up top and a slice of three-layer cake at the bottom. Then the slide is replaced by a final, white slide that simply has a larger version of the Hallmark logo on it in purple text.