Cutting windows in mat boards

[james mickelson]

I will chime in here with Michael on the side of dry mounting. I have seen thousands of prints. The prints that are dry mounted have a professional, finished look to them. Always! The prints which are not dry mounted are wavy, and sloppy looking compared to the dry mounted prints. Dry mounting has been used for decades. I have seen prints that old and they show no ill effects from mounting. You may get a print flat as I do before mounting but keeping it flat using any other method is problematic at best. Due to humidity and temperature changes the print will buckel. I enjoyed your article on mounting with the newer materials Michael. Thanks for the info. James

[Paul Schilliger]

Great discussion. Speaking on dry mounting, would some of you let us know what t heir experiences with dry mounting LightJet color prints to matt have been? (I'm not sure however the term applies to cold mounting!)

[Gene Crumpler]

I bought a Logan 300 about five years ago for about $70. It will handle up to 28" length and is a push type. Cutting mats is a piece of cake once you get the basic geometry figured out. I've seen the Alto and the objection I have to it is it is not infinitly adjustable for exact cuts for various size prints.

If you get standard size boards, 16x20, etc, cutting a mat takes a couple of minutes. I cut down from 32x40 boards and I spend a time getting the mats and backing to an exact size (32x40 is actually about 32 3/8 x 40 3/4). Once this is done, the mats are simple and fast.