Drying Large Images

[AnselAvedon]

sooooooo I didn't think about this step till now. Thankfully I haven't printed anything but am still getting prepared. so the prints going to be about 58" X 72" I do have the space for really any way of drying but wondered what some other people were doing. All Ive heard is to let it dry on a screen. so I'll fully admit I'm really having questions with this one.

[Thalmees]

Thanks for the subject AnselAvedon.
I should also say:

...
so I'll fully admit I'm really having questions with this one.

Apart from logic speculations, I do not have real experience in this zone, my apologies.
But, how did you solve print efficient washing if the paper is fiber base?
Even RC paper need special method to handle at that size?

[interneg]

For RC, hang it up from a washing line type setup with lots of clips top & bottom (you can even use Paterson film clips if you're worried it'll pull loose. Trim off the rebate area damaged by the clips. FB; tape it to a board of suitable material (ie one that won't warp!) or a sheet of glass or thick perspex with gummed paper tape around the edges, it'll dry as tight as drum, you shouldn't need to do any further flattening & again, trim off the bits where the tape was. Some people have issues with it sticking permanently to the glass, but I suspect this may have been because they didn't squeegee the back of the print before taping it down.

[Tin Can]

Where are you getting the paper?

B&H has in stock 56”X100’.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...one_fiber.html

Just curious!

[bob carnie]

face down on custom screens its the way I have been doing it for 30 years now with great success.. Just finished a 6 print 30 x72inch fibre project for a local Magnum photographer this way.

[Luis-F-S]

sooooooo I didn't think about this step till now. Thankfully I haven't printed anything but am still getting prepared. so the prints going to be about 58" X 72" I do have the space for really any way of drying but wondered what some other people were doing. All Ive heard is to let it dry on a screen. so I'll fully admit I'm really having questions with this one.

Well, 58" x 72" is certainly the way to get started in printing. Have you considered starting with something a bit smaller?

[Drew Wiley]

I had the good fortune of working for a company that had a significant window and door sales division, including a substantial service division. So anytime a sliding patio door was removed due to a warranty issue, any decent leftovers were stacked next to the dumpster in case anyone could use them. So I took home several big fiberglass screen sliders, all in perfectly new condition.

[AnselAvedon]

Thanks for all the advise

Except for Luis-F-S

im not scared to try a new things because they are "professional" or going to be difficult


I have made prints before. not this sized. do I understand the basics of making a print. yep Put light on paper. Put paper in chemicals. Put filters on light to adjust contrast. and the mega rule DONT ruin it with a wrinkle
as for the rest figure it out.
such as this topic of drying

look
I jumped from 35mm to 8X10 ten years ago. Did I make mistakes yes. Am I glad I made a massive jump. and didn't sissy foot around my dream working my way through 120 and 4x5 before I got where I wanted to originally end up. 100% I have had no regrets. I would have been held back the entire way wishing I was trying what I wanted.

SO I learned I learn best trying

I got the paper the space and Im going for what I want and guess the best part of it all...
No matter what I spend on failed film messed up paper and exhausted chemicals its forever less expensive than going to art school

[koraks]

Sure, experiment away. I hear what you say; some people learn by reading books and following the steps others have laid out, some people learn through experimentation. I fall in the latter category so I can relate to your position.

One thing that seems quite relevant in your case is to know if it's going to be RC or fiber prints. As interneg indicated above, the method of drying really depends on this. Fiber will curl right back into its original roll form it came in if you dry it lying/hanging down. I'm not sure how bob carnie is preventing this, but it sounds like a nightmare to me. Perhaps he dry mounts the finished prints; done properly, that'll straighten them out for good obviously.

For fiber, a dedicated set of plates (glass, metal, laminated wood - as long as it's rigid and gummed tape sticks to it really well) is obviously very nice. But odds are you already have a suitable surface for testing - does your place have one or more sufficiently large windows? There you go - just tape the print to a window using the gummed tape interneg described. It's the tape used by watercolor painters to stick the paper to the easel, I understand.

When taping with gummed tape, make sure to:
* not overwet the tape, as it won't stick to the paper well enough before the print starts to contract
* with prints the size you're going to be making, you may need as much as an inch of tape on both the support sheet and the paper, so a total of 2" width, I reckon. You'd be surprised how much force contracting paper exerts, and it's a shear force at that.
* after sticking the tape to the paper and the support, you can run something down the surface of the tape that is on the print to squeeze out excess water; it'll help achieve good contact between the paper and the tape.
* the margin where the tape is on the paper is a loss; you can cut it off or matt on top of it when/if mounting the print.
Even when dried this way, if you lay the flat print down without anything on top, it'll start to curl at some point due to changes in relative humidity. So you'll have to store them under a weight or dry mounted to a rigid support to make sure they remain flat.

Good luck with your project; I'd love to see your huge prints. Be sure to post a snapshot when you've made some!

[scheinfluger_77]

I wonder if painters tape or gaffers tape wouldn’t work as well...