De-curling Roll Paper Prints

[argos33]

Hi,
I have been printing on Ilford Gold Fibre Silk paper on an Epson 9800 and am wondering how others deal with the paper wanting to curl into a tube. This can make it somewhat difficult to trim an edge or temporarily pin it to the wall. Also, I'm to the point where I am thinking about framing some of the prints and would like them to be as flat as possible.

Has anyone made and/or bought a paper decurler? I have found some simple instructions for making them such as these:

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byfor.../msg00300.html

However I figured I would share this and see what other member's experiences have been before buying some big sheets of polycarbonate.

Also, how do you store some of the bigger prints to protect them/keep them flat? Giant flat files? Large table with a sheet of something heavy on top? Keep them curled in a tube?

Thanks

Evan

[J. Gilbert Plantinga]

I use the D-Roller:

http://www.shadesofpaper.com/index.php?cPath=25

[Lenny Eiger]

I took a core from one of the rolls I have gone thru and using some good tape, taped a 4 inch piece of paper to it (from the part I cut off at the end of the roll). Cost: nothing.

Works as well as all those expensive solutions....

Lenny

[D. Bryant]

I took a core from one of the rolls I have gone thru and using some good tape, taped a 4 inch piece of paper to it (from the part I cut off at the end of the roll). Cost: nothing.

Works as well as all those expensive solutions....

Lenny

Exactly, Lenny's suggestion is an old framers trick. Works like a charm.

Don Bryant

[argos33]

That's what I thought. I'll whip one of these up. Thanks

Evan

[nathanm]

I use a 1" dia. wood dowel with a length of canvas taped to it. This is then taped down to a sheet of MDF. It works fine, but the catch is that you can get a line in there if you press too hard. Does the D-roller have a notch machined into it to account for the film thickness by chance? That might explain the high cost. I suppose if you got enough canvas rolled on there it would smooth out the bump, but certainly not as elegant as a tapered recess doodad.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Lenny, I can't understand or visualize what you are describing.

[argos33]

He is saying that there is a small ledge created by the thickness of the paper/canvas/polycarbonate, where it is first taped to the roll. This edge can then make a line on other parts of the print that are right above it.

[Lenny Eiger]

Lenny, I can't understand or visualize what you are describing.

Rolled paper comes in 2 inch and 3 inch diameter rolls. The paper is wrapped around a cardboard "core." (Just a cardboard tube.) One has to cut the ends off the paper anyway, as the paper is thicker and of a different absorbency right at the end. (You can feel this with your finger if you try hard enough.)

So I take a 4 inch or so stripe of the paper, and tape it to an empty core with white framing tape. Any good tape will do. That colored duct tape works nice also. Anything that will stay for a while...

One slides the print under the paper and rolls it against its curl, using a little gentle rubbing with one's hand to add a little warmth.

Lenny


Here's a pic: