Wall-mount architecture — the hidden template is the house default

kerfmaster pin list · The spec — what we build to

rulingA decision by Aristide or Jordan. True because it was decided; it can be superseded, but it cannot be stale.

Content last changed 2026-08-09 — computed from the item itself, not typed.

The house architecture for wall-mounted art (Aristide, 2026-08-08): a mounting template — a band or strip of the same steel — carries the stud slots ([[stud-slot-rules]]) and is lag-bolted to the framing. The artwork itself fastens to the template with the customer's zip ties ([[fastener-holes]]). Nothing structural shows on the face.

• Invisible from the front: the template lies fully behind the art silhouette, inset 1/2" inside the outline everywhere — and its shape is DERIVED FROM the art: the template follows the silhouette so it uses all the width the silhouette allows at the slot rows. The shape is a consequence, never a preset — irregular art yields a contoured band; rectangular art yields a rectangular one, and that is correct (Aristide, 2026-08-07). The test is reach, not shape: the round-1 blind test defaulted to "largest hideable rectangle" on irregular art and a 24" rectangle could not reach two studs at 24" OC where the silhouette-following band can.
• Hidden means hidden through the HOLES too (added 2026-08-09, from the round-3 failure): visibility is measured against the art's NET silhouette — every opening subtracts. The wall shows through a ring's centre, a letter's counter, any interior void, so template metal behind an opening IS visible (round 3 left 45 in² of template showing, 41 of it through the ring's hole, while claiming "fully hidden"). Inset the template 1/2" from every boundary, interior boundaries included. An interior island the net silhouette cannot reach is held by bridges, pins or a separate hidden plate — never by visible backing.
• Options offered to a customer are judged against this default — a visible-fastener or layered build may be offered, but the hidden-template build is the expected outcome and the reference the others must beat.
• Load is proven at the worst legal alignment — the fewest studs the slot pattern can legally catch, the same worst-case philosophy as the slug tabs. Weight rides on positive support, never on friction ([[load-rule]]).

Depth (added 2026-08-09): where the art implies depth — overlaps, opacity, shadows — at least one offered option realizes it with REAL STANDOFF (spacers or washer stacks; the teaching build stacked washers 5 and 10 high for 0.625/1.25" standoffs, each layer throwing a real shadow). Flush layer stacking is the economy variant, not the default read — round 2 offered only flush stacks because no generic pin carried the depth line.