Beginners lesson in dry mounting photos

[Bill Ginsburg]

I own a seal 210 - I am trying to find out what type of material should be used to mount a print. What type of board should be used to mount the print? Is there a product sold for this use? Can foam board or other type of relatively inexpensive board be used?

[bob carnie]

You can buy hot mounting tissue from Seal Corporation, usually set your temp to about 180degree, we use art care acid free foam board or alpha 4ply rag board

It will help to have a tacking iron to melt the tissue to the image, then tack two sides only to the board, this allows the tissue to lay flat.

Diabond, Aluminum ,Gatorboard, foam board, rag board , non rag board, masonite are types of materials that will work with a hot mount and tissue.
Sintra, plexi or any plastic materials will not work well with hot mounts.

hope this helps

[photographs42]

RC and Color print paper will melt at high temps. Fiber paper won’t melt but with the temp too high or heat cycle too long it will ferrotype, usually in a blotchy pattern and can stick to the protective material.

Do some experiments. Your press may not be calibrated (temperature not accurate) or the pressure not set correctly. I always trim the adhesive tissue to the print and I use rag board in place of release paper and haven’t had any trouble. If you don’t trim the tissue you must use release paper or you will have a mess.

Jerome

[jeroldharter]

I assume you are using fiber based paper for B&W prints. I suggest getting the Arista dry mount tissue from Freestyle. It has a texture like thin wax paper and is easy to handle. Also, much less expensive than Seal/Bienfang products.

I now buy my framing materials from Frame Destinations and am very pleased with their materials and service. They sell Alpharag 4-ply mat board which you can use as the mounting board and the mat board. Behind that, use their 3/16 inch Artcare foam board.

You will need a tacking iron. A print weight is a handy item also. They sell them at FDI inexpensively.

If you are framing a series of same sized prints, you can make a jig by cutting a piece of mat board to the width of the top of the print to the top of the mat board. Push the mat board against a fence or wall, then put the jig in top of the board and push against the fence. Then push the top edge of the print/dry mount tissue up against the jig. That way each print is exactly the same distance from the top of the mat board. Then tack down the lower section of the dry mount tissue. You will need silicone release tissue for tacking. I also use a small jeweler's screwdriver to gently lift the bottom of the print to access the dry mount tissue for tacking. I use compressed air to blow off any dust from the surface of the print before inserting in the dry mount press. I sandwich the print/mount board with a larger mat board below and a sheet of release paper and then mat board above before closing the press. It helps to have a print weight to cool the print after it comes out of the press.

I just finished dry mounting and framing over 100 prints. Don't want to do that again any time soon.

[Robert A. Zeichner]

I can only speak for my technique and material, but briefly, I print B&W on fiber based paper and dry mount onto 4-ply museum board, sometimes referred to as rag board. This is buffered to fight acidity build up. I used to use Seal MT-5 mounting tissue, but that has been discontinued so I now use Seal Colormount. Somewhere along the line, Seal was purchased by Bienfang and so now that's the brand of Colormount you can now buy. I generally set my temp. to 180 F. I use two pieces of 2-ply rag board as protection sheets. I leave those in the press and slip the 4-ply mount along with the print that is "tacked" to it between the sheets. I always dust every surface with a drafting brush to avoid pits resulting from crumbs of tiny debris getting pressed into the surface of the print. A tacking iron will be the best bet for first getting the mount tissue attached (at the center) to the back of the print. I then trim the print with the tissue attached. I then position the print onto the mount and place a weight on the center of the print to keep in in place while I gently lift two adjacent corners and tack the tissue to the mount. As far as time in the press, I usually leave it in for 1-1/2 minutes. Your time may vary. If you go too long, the edges will lift up. If you go to short, the whole print will come loose if you bend the mount. It takes a little practice to find your zone. When you remove the hot sandwich from the press, you need to quickly get it under a smooth heavy weight for it to cool. Light impressions used to make a steel plate for that purpose and that is what I use. The steel helps to suck the heat out of the print and helps it cool down faster. Other materials will work, perhaps not a fast, but as long as they are smooth and flat, they should do the job.

[Drew Wiley]

Seal used to put out a good little handbook of technique. Another good source of information is the Professional Picture Framers Assn. The most important thing is to
always predry both your board and print. And as noted already, don't try fooling around with RC prints. I pretty much standardize on 4-ply ragboard and Seal Colormount. The lower-temperature mounts sometimes fail in hot weather. You want
to also place a sandwich around the material being mounted, using two sheets of
scrap ragboard. Don't use ordinary cheap matboard or the acidity might get transferred
into your work (perhaps a debatable point, but why risk it?). Foamboard can be used
but will require some refinement in technique, depending on the specific board. The
ordinary cheap art store type works poorly and isn't very smooth. Don't try Gator
either unless you're thoroughly familiar with it. Don't have time here to explain a lot
of details - but the web does contain a fair amount of practical information if you
search a little.

[jeroldharter]

I can't stand Seal ColorMount. I am sure it is a good product but the stuff has no backbone. It flops all over the place. I find it more like using a thin piece of dough. A 16x20 sheet of Colormount is difficult to trim and tack just right. Do you guys have the same problem? It has been years since I used it - maybe it has changed?

I prefer the sheets that are like a piece of paper, like Seal Buffer Mount or the Arista dry mount tissue.

[photographs42]

I can't stand Seal ColorMount. I am sure it is a good product but the stuff has no backbone. It flops all over the place. I find it more like using a thin piece of dough. A 16x20 sheet of Colormount is difficult to trim and tack just right. Do you guys have the same problem? It has been years since I used it - maybe it has changed?

I prefer the sheets that are like a piece of paper, like Seal Buffer Mount or the Arista dry mount tissue.

I've used many rolls of Colormount over the last 25 years or so on prints up to 30"x40" and never thought it was "floppy". You must be thinking of something else. Colormount looks and feels like MT5. Many years ago I did try a product that was like a sheet of thin plastic but I can't recall what it was.
Jerome

[BetterSense]

And as noted already, don't try fooling around with RC prints.

Why? Is it not possible to dry-mount RC prints, or is it just harder? What mounting method is recommended for RC prints?

[Peter Mounier]

It is definitely possible to mount rc prints. I've mounted plenty with no problems using the same technique as I do for fiber based prints (also on a Seal 210). Keep the temp at the manufacturers recommendation (190º F) for 1-2 minutes and you won't melt the rc. I found them to be easier to mount because they don't have the curl that FB prints could have.

Peter

[D. Bryant]

It is definitely possible to mount rc prints. I've mounted plenty with no problems using the same technique as I do for fiber based prints (also on a Seal 210). Keep the temp at the manufacturers recommendation (190º F) for 1-2 minutes and you won't melt the rc. I found them to be easier to mount because they don't have the curl that FB prints could have.

Peter

+1 what Peter wrote. Seal also use to market temperature calibration strips which allowed one to physically check the correct mounter temperature. They work like a champ.

Don Bryant

PS There is more than one way to skin a cat with dry mounting work flow, but if anyone has a source of the PDF copy of the Seal documentation please let us know.

[jeroldharter]

I've used many rolls of Colormount over the last 25 years or so on prints up to 30"x40" and never thought it was "floppy". You must be thinking of something else. Colormount looks and feels like MT5. Many years ago I did try a product that was like a sheet of thin plastic but I can't recall what it was.
Jerome

When I last used Color Mount it was like a flexible membrane as opposed to a sheet of paper. MT5 is different, more like a rigid substrate. The colormount would flex so once the print was trimmed it would be hard to align the sheet of colormount to tack it on a board.

Maybe it has changed?

[Jim Jones]

+. . . PS There is more than one way to skin a cat with dry mounting work flow, but if anyone has a source of the PDF copy of the Seal documentation please let us know.

I can send you a PDF of the recent instruction sheet from Bienfang Colormount and from older Seal Buffermount, Colormount, and MT5. Much information on mounting is available from Henry Wilhelm's magnum opus on printing and preservation: http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_11_of_20_HiRes_v1a.pdf

[Michael Wainfeld]

Ansel Adams "The Print" has a useful section about dry mounting, with some illustrations.

[Ron McElroy]

I've used many rolls of Colormount over the last 25 years or so on prints up to 30"x40" and never thought it was "floppy". You must be thinking of something else. Colormount looks and feels like MT5. Many years ago I did try a product that was like a sheet of thin plastic but I can't recall what it was.
Jerome


The thin plastic product was call Fusion 4000. I used it a lot long ago, but now use Colormount as well. I don't find it that much different fell than the old MT5.

[John Jarosz]

I use a cheap infra-red non contact thermometer from Harbor Freight to make sure the press is at the right temperature. It works well with trays of developer or wash water too.

I tack the tissue to the print, then trim the sandwich to size, then tacke the sandwich to the museum board. If you are gonna go thru all this trouble, use 100% rag acid free mounting board. Dry mounting is permanent.

john

[ROL]

When I last used Color Mount it was like a flexible membrane as opposed to a sheet of paper. MT5 is different, more like a rigid substrate. The colormount would flex so once the print was trimmed it would be hard to align the sheet of colormount to tack it on a board.

Maybe it has changed?

I've experienced no particular differences in mounting among MT-5, ColorMount, or BufferMount. Although my "archival sense" tells me to use (Bienfang) BufferMount exclusively these days, I presently use it only on photos no larger than 16X20, preferring to use MT-5 (roll) on larger and mural sizes. BufferMount's heated release characteristics allow it to become un-adhered to the mount when air trapped between the mounted photo and glazing heats up within the framed piece to the proper release temperature (e.g., when direct sunlight hits any part of the framed glazing). This is just a much bigger deal with larger prints.

RC (yech!) is simply mounted at a somewhat lower temperature, and perhaps less time, than fiber.

I am presently working on a beginner's article on dry mounting for Techniques (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/techniques). Meanwhile, definitely see Adams' The Print.

[ic-racer]

I am presently working on a beginner's article on dry mounting for Techniques (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/techniques). Meanwhile, definitely see Adams' The Print.

Nice darkroom and website!

[Drew Wiley]

Jerold - seems like you're confusing Colormount with something else, maybe Fusion.
MT5, Colormount, and Archival Mount all handle similarly, but require different temperatures. There's also an inverse relation between temp and "dwell time", meaning how long it is in the press. I always use a little different technique than Seal or Adams
showed. After pre-drying all my materials, I actually mount the tissue to the print
using release paper and a sandwich of ragboard. Then I trim it prior to final mounting.
That way everything is precisely aligned (the print and the adhered tissue are trimmed
together - not tacked opposite to each other). Been doing it this way for decades.
RC prints require more skill and practice, and good temp control; the selection of
board is also more fussy, with a greater risk of orangepeel as the print softens with
heat. Cold mounting is generally preferable for RC or true polyester-based prints.

[BetterSense]

Color prints, and inkjet prints are RC, right? So, are they typically not dry-mounted? If not what technique is used?

[Drew Wiley]

RC prints have a paper core but a plastic sandwich outside this. Prints on polyester like
Fuji Supergloss and Ilfochrome use a completely plastic base. Injket prints are made on
various kinds of paper, sometimes plastic, but are not classified as RC prints. Small
color prints can generally be matted and framed without any kind of permanent mounting. Larger prints are generally cold-mounted in one of three ways. Wet mounting
using special glues is tricky and not always permanent. It takes quite a bit of experimentation before your technique is reliable. Spray adhesives are generally unsuccesful in the long run and can be distinctly hazardous; they are basically derived from nasty old-time carcinogenic contact cements. Therefore the most common method is to use a high-pressure laminating machine to evenly roll down the print onto a smooth board precoated with a high-tack acrylic adhesive foil. Over-laminating is not necessary unless someone wants this in lieu of a glass or plexiglas glazing. This is a far more unforgiving and expensive process than drymounting, and often best left to framing shops with the appropriate gear and experience. There is also a great deal of
misinformation afloat about such techniques, so if one wants to learn to do it correctly, save up a bunch of scrap prints and expect to experiment. Half the battle
is acquiring the correct substrates, which differ between wet mounting and acrylic
foils.

[ROL]

I am presently working on a beginner's article on dry mounting for Techniques (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/techniques). Meanwhile, definitely see Adams' The Print.

Making good on my promise:
Print Presentation (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/Fine%20Art%20Print%20Presentation)
including: Dry Mounting (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/Fine%20Art%20Print%20Presentation#drymounting) and Beveled Windows (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/Fine%20Art%20Print%20Presentation#beveledwindows)

[Drew Wiley]

That's a nice little concise primer which should be useful. By the way, I really like your
Lk Reflection shot - makes me itchy to get back to the high country!