Photo wall with magnetic paint

A young artist needed only a small budget for his gallery

Author: Ken Knoll, www.younghill.net, Griesheim

Online since: 05/10/2009, Number of visits: 633027

My project is my photo wall, which extends over three walls in my student digs - all together 17 m long and 1,20 m high! As a background, I painted MDF boards with self-mixed magnetic paint. The whole thing didn't cost me much and looks just awesome - as a "housewarming" we did a nice vernissage. My artwork can be viewed on my website.

Making your own magnetic paint

I mixed pre-coat paint from the home improvement store with fine iron powder (ebay or even cheaper at MG Powders) at a ratio of 1:1 (relative to the weight). The mixing ratio is a matter of trial and error - a ratio of 0,75 parts powder to 1 part paint proved to be too weak.

Despite the high iron share, the paint is still suitable for coating. The paint has to be handled and allowed to evaporate outside! Then I coated the MDF boards three times. That was absolutely sufficient in combination with those strong magnets. Then I screwed the boards to the walls.

Fastening photos with magnets

I glued my pictures onto screen print boards and then put one disc magnet on each top edge. I glued the magnets with Pattex-Montagekleber.

I glued two cardboard pieces on the bottom sides of the pictures so they stay even and don't dangle.

This way, I can always change the pictures or move them around when I feel like it. And I constantly need new places for all my pictures (right now I have about 100 hung up).

I used two magnets for the really big pictures (20x30 cm), otherwise one is sufficient for a "normal size" picture (approx. 15x20 cm).

In order to prevent the magnets from sliding down on the MDF boards, I glued a piece of masking tape on every magnet. This enhances the friction between the wood and the smooth magnets - this way nothing slides down.

Addition by Helen P. from Switzerland:
Helen also painted her wall with magnetic paint but then painted over it with emulsion paint. Now the photo wall appears less obtrusive and fits the room perfectly. To be able to change the photos, Helen decided on attaching them with small disc magnets S-06-03-N. Four of them hold one picture on the magnetic wall. And, because the magnets are not glued to the pictures, the photos can be used for other purposes afterwards.

Thanks to this mounting solution, the photo wall can be quickly redesigned as much and as often as you like.

Note from the supermagnete team: If you don't want to make your own magnetic paint, you can purchase ready-made magnetic paint from Dupli-Color in our shop.