mounting color photographs

[Dan Dozer]

I've recently gotten back into color work after a long spell with B&W. The color prints I'll be working with will be larger sizes (16 x 20 and larger). I don't have access to a drymount press and will probably want to mount the color photos myself. I've had some prints made on Kodak Metalic color paper (sorry if I have the name incorrect) and I like the effects with it. The photo lab I am working with will mount on something called Gator Board (for an added cost of course), but I'm thinking I might just want to do it myself. What I'm curious about is what techniques do some of you use for mounting larger prints yourself, and what type of board materials do you use for mounting and for overmats. I've been using Light Impressions Museum board for my B&W work but they appear to only come in sizes up to 16 x 20 (Calumet Photo has it). Daniel Smith has a museum board in large sizes made by a company called Rising - appears to be similar to Light Impressions.

[bob woitaszewski]

I'm been using Gator Foamfor several years, the black version and a 3M adhesive that comes in a roll that comes in different widths to mount. Just try and get the largest rubber roller you can find to roll over the print as you stick it to the Gator Foam. I usually get 5-10 prints and mount them all at one time. I originally used archival board (white) but I found people wanted colored over-mats so I now use a 2 layer mat the first layer that shows 1/4 " accents a clor within the picture and I use the suede mat for the top layer mat. Trouble is the suede mats costs about $30 per sheet from a retailer.

[Dan Dozer]

Thanks Bob for your advice. This is just the type of input I'm looking for. I've been out of "color work" since Cibachrome and am interested in what others are doing now. I've been able to find adhesive sheets inexpensively in sizes as large as 24 x 36, and I think I will try them out. However, I haven't seen any roll adhesive before. I did an internet search for 3M products and came up with rolls that are 75 yards long for $3,000 - not quite what I'm looking for. Do you purchase the roll goods locally or over the internet? In my Cibachrome days, I used spray mount adhesive, but it's a real pain sometimes. You mention that the inner mat is a color accent, but what about the top mat (suade)? Is is also a complimentary color to the image. I've seen the suade before and have wondered about using it - too bad about the cost.

I'm also in this quandry about when is a print to big to really bother with matting it. Have you ever worked with large sized images before (bigger than 16 x 20)?

Thanks

[scb]

the 3m is p.m.a . www.framingsupplies.com has it . mat board is the crescent rag mat 1153 for white , mounting board is 2253

[Ralph Barker]

Ultimately, Dan, I'm of the opinion that matting style is best determined by the tastes of the person who is going to hang the image (the customer), and what their display environment is like. As customer tastes and environments vary widely, it may not be productive to spend a great amount on pre-matting your prints. Thus, you might want to consider printing or trimming the prints to a borderless state, and then simply mounting them on a sufficiently rigid board to keep them flat and with a sufficient surround to facilitate subsequent matting and framing.

[Clay Turtle]

Ultimately, Dan, I'm of the opinion that matting style is best determined by the tastes of the person who is going to hang the image (the customer), and what their display environment is like. As customer tastes and environments vary widely, it may not be productive to spend a great amount on pre-matting your prints. Thus, you might want to consider printing or trimming the prints to a borderless state, and then simply mounting them on a sufficiently rigid board to keep them flat and with a sufficient surround to facilitate subsequent matting and framing.

Thank you for the answer! It was the one I was looking for or is it the one I wanted to hear?