I know you want to flatten a single sheet but you can always dry mount it to a blank sheet (or a junk print for that matter) if you want it incredibly flat!
I know you want to flatten a single sheet but you can always dry mount it to a blank sheet (or a junk print for that matter) if you want it incredibly flat!
Great idea, Kirk!
Peter Collins
On the intent of the First Amendment: The press was to serve the governed, not the governors --Opinion, Hugo Black, Judge, Supreme Court, 1971 re the "Pentagon Papers."
I use a piece of granite just like Kirk, in fact I probably got the idea from him, pretty sure he has posted that suggestion previously.
Roger
I found that adding sheets of 4 or 8 ply museum board in the dry mount press to increase the pressure really helped. Think I did 3 minutes at 225 and then would have a 2nd flattening station, usually an empty 20x24 ilford box reversed, with clean museum boards, right next to the press. I would quickly take the print out of the press and while it's still hot put it face down in the paper box top, then put the bottom (smaller) piece on and quickly stack a bunch of weight on top to apply pressure as the print cools. I used big stacks of old Artforum magazines as weights and would repeat this process for each print as it came out of the press and then leave the prints under those weights for a week - 10 days...
if you really want them to stay flat in the mat without mounting you kinda have to print with slightly larger white borders though, like at least 1.5 inches
+1 on the release paper.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
I used a sheet of plate steel instead of granite.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
Bookmarks