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Thread: keeping fiber prints flat?

  1. #1
    runs a monkey grinder Steve M Hostetter's Avatar
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    keeping fiber prints flat?

    Hello,,

    I just made my first fiber based paper print and noticing it wants to curl.. Is there a best way to dry the prints to keep them flat..?
    Hang like film and press them flat..?
    Maybe I haven't let them dry long enough.?
    Please help
    regards
    steve

  2. #2
    Robert A. Zeichner's Avatar
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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    A popular method is to dry them on fiberglass screens. You can make these by stapling window screen material onto artist's canvas stretchers or you can by some from Calumet Photo. After the prints have washed sufficiently, squeegee them off (I use an Etore window squeegee available at finer hardware stores) and lay them emulsion down on the screens. You need to leave a couple of inches of air between screens for proper circulation. Below is a photo of a rack I made to hold 8 of the Calumet screens.

  3. #3

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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    Using a drymount press to heat and press them will flatten them. However, they will curl somewhat when the humidity goes up.

  4. #4
    Big Negs Rock!
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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    I use large telephone books when I need to flatten the prints. I too use the fiber glass screen material mounted on frames I built. Works great. In my dad's studio, he wrapped cinder blocks with brown wrapping paper and set the blocks on the prints. He was doing a lot more prints than I ever do. :-)
    Mark Woods

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  5. #5
    Greg Lockrey's Avatar
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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    I always used a fero print dryer... when I didn't want that glossy look from gloss prints I put them in upside down. A drymount press works too.
    Greg Lockrey

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  6. #6

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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Lockrey View Post
    I always used a fero print dryer... when I didn't want that glossy look from gloss prints I put them in upside down. A drymount press works too.
    Wow, classic. I haven't seen a ferrotyped print outside of clipping files from the 1960's. It certainly gives a great look.

  7. #7
    Greg Lockrey's Avatar
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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Toyon View Post
    Wow, classic. I haven't seen a ferrotyped print outside of clipping files from the 1960's. It certainly gives a great look.
    Yeah, when I turned it on I didn't have to worry about heating the lab in those days.
    Greg Lockrey

    Wealth is a state of mind.
    Money is just a tool.
    Happiness is pedaling +25mph on a smooth road.



  8. #8

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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    You can more or less flatten them by putting them under any kind of weight for a few days, a stack of books works well. But you'll still have ripples along the edges. The only way I ever found to get a truly flat - i.e. no ripples along the edges - print on fiber base paper was with a dry mount press. That's a quick and easy way to do it and you probably can pick up a dry mount press pretty cheaply these days.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  9. #9

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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    Things dry fast around here. I hang them up with a clothes pin, by a corner. I alternate corners every 15 minutes or so. As soon as they just feel dry to the touch, I put them between blotter sheets between my "patented" print flattening plates ( slabs of fake marble sawed out of the neighbor's vanity top). Leave overnight or longer and they come out beautiful. Slight curve along the length. Dry mount or just draw them over the edge of the counter if I want 'em dead flat.

  10. #10
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
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    Re: keeping fiber prints flat?

    I dry them hanging from a corner, and then flatten by putting in a book of acid free watercolor paper, with a pile of wieghts on top.

    This does a good job, but the results aren't quite as slick as with a drymount press.

    And they'll still curl from changes in humidity. Some papers are worst than others; my paper of choice was fortezo, which curls up every time you turn your back on it.

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