print drying question?

[stradibarrius]

I use a nylon window screen to dry my prints on and was taught to dry them face up. I have read in several of my books to dry them face down.
My concern about face down is that somehow the screen pattern would get into the emulsion while it was wet.

How do you do it...face up or face down?

[hmf]

I learned that one should dry the prints face down. But I got screen marks, so started to turn them over. I've never had a problem drying my prints face up.

[mike rosenlof]

Face down for me. Lots of curl if dried face up in my experience. Face down, I can see a wet screen pattern if I pick up the print while wet, but not on the fully dry prints.

My screens are nylon or polyester, "sweater drying racks", they certainly shouldn't be metal screen material.

[Vick Ko]

Face up for RC.
Haven't done fiber in decades.

[Peter Lewin]

Face up. Many years ago this was covered in one of Fred Picker's ZoneVI Newsletters; since he was getting patterns on occasion when he dried them on screens face down, he recommended drying them face up. I've been doing it this way ever since.

[Dan Henderson]

Several years ago I dried prints face down on screens. Some...naturally ones that I had printed for a time-sensitive project...showed screen marks. I'm not sure which paper, maybe Foma. My recollection is that good, tough MGIV was fine, but some with more touchy surfaces were not. Since then I have dried all of my prints hung from line. Yeah, they curl, but a minute in the press takes care of that.

[DanK]

Face up on screens here as well....

[AF-ULF]

Face up, with a twist. I put a second screen on top of the screen with the prints on it. There is a gap of about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch between the two screens (the thickness of the metal frame of the screen. The prints will curl a bit, until the edge comes in contact with the top screen--they stop curling and there are no screen marks as only the print edge touches the upper screen. This method really helps to control the curl of FB prints drying face up.

[Mark Woods]

I only do fiber base and dry face up on screens. If you tone, the prints will show screen marks. I also squeegee the prints on a flat surface.

[jeroldharter]

Face up. But I gave up screens altogether. I had some screen marks even drying face up. Now I hang them from a line, usually with two prints back to back, and no problems and reasonably flat prints.

[John Kasaian]

Face up. A ride through the dry press after remedys any curling.

[Doremus Scudder]

Face up on nylon window screens after stabilizing and squeegeeing with a windshield wiper. That's for fiber-base prints. I don't do RC. I, too, got screen marks, especially on selenium toned prints, when drying face-down.

Curl is not an issue for me since I dry mount, but it's fairly easy to flatten the prints first with weight and then in the dry-mount press.

Best,

Doremus

[Rafal Lukawiecki]

Face up on nylon window screens after stabilizing and squeegeeing with a windshield wiper. That's for fiber-base prints. I don't do RC. I, too, got screen marks, especially on selenium toned prints, when drying face-down.

Doremus, do you clean your screens often? I'm asking because I dry my prints face-down, fibre, and I also tone in Se. I don't get screen marks, and face-down helps me counteract curl and it reduces dust sticking. However, I quickly wash screens before each use, and more and more thoroughly about once every 5 sessions.

[stradibarrius]

Obviously if you hang them back to back you do not have a problem with them sticking together???

[Brian Ellis]

Face up, with a twist. I put a second screen on top of the screen with the prints on it. There is a gap of about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch between the two screens (the thickness of the metal frame of the screen. The prints will curl a bit, until the edge comes in contact with the top screen--they stop curling and there are no screen marks as only the print edge touches the upper screen. This method really helps to control the curl of FB prints drying face up.

Ditto. The two criticisms I've always heard about face-down is screen marks and possible chemical contamination on the print if the screens aren't kept clean. I tried face-down once and got screen marks but I'm not sure whether the print was dry or not. In any event, the two-screen system described above worked well for me for many years with FB paper, never used RC.

[vinny]

Selenium toned fiber (kentmere glossy) face down. Never any screen marks. Never.

[Jim Jones]

When my darkroom was a one-man room in a Navy barracks, I dried fiber prints by spreading them on my bunk and covering them with a sheet and blanket. They dried nearly flat. Storing prints of one size face to face and back to back in a tightly packed box keeps them flat.

[John Olsen]

I squeegee with a windshield wiper and blow dry with a hair dryer until the wet haze disappears. This gives me an opportunity to check each one carefully and dries the surface before any lint gets stuck to it. Then they air dry in a heated room until they start to curl. At that time I slide them into a parchment blotter book. If the prints are too big for the blotter book, I just flip them over on a clean sheet. At the end of the day the whole batch gets a gentle dry mount press treatment before storage.

[Woodturner-fran]

I could never get screen drying to work well for me. Horrible amounts of curl, like a potato chip!!

I tape my prints to some glass when still wet (but after squeegee type removal of surface water). I get 100% flat dry prints although you are left with the tape stuck to the edge. I just size the print to allow for this. I use paper gum tape for the job. No or very little dry down either.

[Scott Walker]

I use fiberbase paper and always dry face down on nylon screens, I have not had any issues.
Prints are flattened in a dry mount press.