Without a press, flattening prints can be problematic. Here is a simple way that is working for me.
I work on 11x14. I have cut three glass pieces about 5 mm thick and slightly larger that this size. After washing the prints and leaving the extra water to run out, I place them lying flat emulsion up on newspaper pages (the prints did never stained with ink!) and let them dry. After that – may be better if a minimal residual wetness remains in the emulsion – I place the prints emulsion down on a sheet of clean watercolor paper and cover it with a sheet of black cardboard. Then I cover that with the two remaining pieces of glass to flat the print and put it under the sun leaving them there between 15 and 40 minutes – depending on strength of the sun light -. The black cardboard absorbs the sun energy end heats up. After this time the print is flat and separates well from the sheets of watercolor and black cardboard. To avoid some minor curling when the print colds, I put it in a big enough book placed under a few more, and let it there for some time. If the number of prints to be flattened is not large this appears a very convenient way.
I live in the Mediterranean cost of Spain where – especially in the summer – sun is strong; in other latitudes times may be different, or perhaps this could be done under an infrared lamp – allowing standardization -. Interested to see whether this works for others and get opinions.
Eliseo Pascual
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