Bill Ginsburg

[Bill Ginsburg]

After wrestling with several kinds of mounting methods I finally broke down and bought a Seal 210M on Ebay (used).

Is there a document about "how to"mount a photograph? Thee are temperature settings and I don't have a clue about the proper temperature. There is no timer - and I don't know how long to let the photo cook.

The press I bought needs a lower pad which I have ordered. Which dru mount tissues work best? What is a release board? Whee does one get mounting board and how many type are there? Lastly - you put he mounting board on the lower pad, the tissue on that and the photo on that. What do put over the photo between the photo and the press?

Unfortunately the 210M is made for commercial users and manufacturer doesn't do what companies that deal with consumers do and write a "how to dry mount" guides with their product

Any help will be appreciated.

Bill Ginsburg

[Peter Galea]

Temperature and time will be given in the instructions that come with your
dry mount tissue. Do a search for dry mount technique, and see this thread
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=61192&highlight=dry+mounting.

[Brian Ellis]

Cover the mat board/tissue/print with a clean sheet of mat board. Turn on the dry mount press and set the temperature to about 200 degrees. Check it after a minute, see if it's dry, if not add another 30 seconds. Keep doing this until the print is dry but not cooked. That's your temperature and time. If the time is too long bump the temperature. I'd determine your time and temperature that way, especially for a used dry mount press, rather than by an instruction book. You don't need to be precise within seconds. As long as you cover the print with a sheet of mat board you won't cook the print.

You don't need release paper if you cover the print/tissue/mounting board with a sheet of clean, non-dimipled mat board as mentioned above. You also probably don't need a pad for the base of your press. Just put a sheet of mat board over the base of your press (i.e. make a sandwich with a sheet of mat board at the bottom, the board to which you're mounting the print on top of it, followed by the tissue, the print, and another sheet of mat board on top of the print and insert the sandwich in the press). Just make sure that the mat board that's on top of the print is smooth and totally clean. Otherwise you risk leaving indentations in the print.

I had a "How To Drymount" booklet published by Seal that could be bought independently of the press. You might check their web site if they're still in business and see if they still sell it. It wasn't expensive, maybe $10 or so.

You might want to buy a dry mount iron to tack the tissue and the print to the mat board. You can use a household iron if you have one but I found it easier to work with a dedicated dry mount iron. You can buy one at Light Impressions and other artist supply places.

Good luck, dry mounting isn't difficult once you've done it a few times.

[Bill Ginsburg]

Cover the mat board/tissue/print with a clean sheet of mat board. Turn on the dry mount press and set the temperature to about 200 degrees. Check it after a minute, see if it's dry, if not add another 30 seconds. Keep doing this until the print is dry but not cooked. That's your temperature and time. If the time is too long bump the temperature. I'd determine your time and temperature that way, especially for a used dry mount press, rather than by an instruction book. You don't need to be precise within seconds. As long as you cover the print with a sheet of mat board you won't cook the print.

You don't need release paper if you cover the print/tissue/mounting board with a sheet of clean, non-dimipled mat board as mentioned above. You also probably don't need a pad for the base of your press. Just put a sheet of mat board over the base of your press (i.e. make a sandwich with a sheet of mat board at the bottom, the board to which you're mounting the print on top of it, followed by the tissue, the print, and another sheet of mat board on top of the print and insert the sandwich in the press). Just make sure that the mat board that's on top of the print is smooth and totally clean. Otherwise you risk leaving indentations in the print.

I had a "How To Drymount" booklet published by Seal that could be bought independently of the press. You might check their web site if they're still in business and see if they still sell it. It wasn't expensive, maybe $10 or so.

You might want to buy a dry mount iron to tack the tissue and the print to the mat board. You can use a household iron if you have one but I found it easier to work with a dedicated dry mount iron. You can buy one at Light Impressions and other artist supply places.

Good luck, dry mounting isn't difficult once you've done it a few times.
Thanks - I appreciate your advice and your time -

[Bill Ginsburg]

Temperature and time will be given in the instructions that come with your
dry mount tissue. Do a search for dry mount technique, and see this thread
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=61192&highlight=dry+mounting.
Thanks - info appreciated

[Chuck Pere]

If you don't have one I have the instruction manual as a scanned pdf file. PM me your email if you want it. But basically I do what Brian does and it works fine. I do use release paper because I stumbled on to a large roll so why not use it.

[aduncanson]

David Vestal gives useful step by step instructions in "The Craft of Photography" I was doing a few things the hard/sloppy way before re-reading that chapter.

[Kevin Crisp]

If you have a copy of Adams' The Print, the subject is well covered in there.