Drying fibre prints with a dry mount press

[peter brooks]

I've read that you can dry fibre prints using a dry mount press.

Does anyone do this? If so, what kind of temperature do you use and for how long? Print size would be 10x8.

I currently dry fibre prints by taping them to plywood squares using Micropore (a wonderful breathable and apparently waterproof adhesive tape, used a lot in the medical world and once kept a rear light cover attached to a Saab of ours for several years ). It works well and the end result is good and flat but I'd like something simpler and quicker (and greener - I doubt if the miles of Micropore I am using are biodegradeable!)

[koraks]

Out of interest: does the micropore release from the emulsion after drying and/or does it leave traces? I'm currently using gummed tape, the kind for watercolor artists (very environmentally friendly!), but you have to cut the margins or overmatte them as the tape attaches permanently unless it's made wet again (which would defeat the purpose).

Sorry for not answering your question; I've only used a clothes iron to straighten out air-dried fiber prints; worked reasonably OK at the wool setting of the iron. That would probably be something around 80C but I haven't measured it.

[JMO]

If you already have a dry mount press, the old tried and true method of laying the damp prints on horizontally-oriented plastic or nylon window screens is simple and fool proof. After the prints come out of the final wash I squeegee them, then hang them from a nylon twine in my darkroom for about 20 minutes so any surface drops leftover from the squeegee are dried, and then place them (face down) on the window screens for a couple of days (under my basement conditions). The prints dry nearly perfectly flat and are easy to trim and dry mount.

[Alan9940]

I use print drying screens to air dry prints, then use a dry mount press to flatten prints to be mounted.

[Peter Lewin]

I use print drying screens to air dry prints, then use a dry mount press to flatten prints to be mounted.

That's my approach as well. I dry face up on home-made screens, an old Fred Picker suggestion. The prints dry pretty curly, but the dry mount press flattens them perfectly. I've never heard of anyone using the press as a drying mechanism, I suspect the wet emulsion would adhere to whatever you placed on top of it.

[Joe O'Hara]

What Alan9940 said. After I dry (in the press) the mat board that I will use for the mount (one minute, open the press
and remove the mat to let the steam evaporate, then 30 seconds more), I put the print on top of the dried mat
and give it about 30 seconds (my press is set to 190 F as I am working through a stash of vintage Kodak dry mount
tissue). The print comes out perfectly flat and at about the same moisture content as the board it will be attached
to, so I never have a problem with the mounted print curling or coming up loose at the edges.

BTW, I found that the prints stick better if they are covered only with a piece of vellum during the sealing process.
I used to put another mat board over them, and besides it taking a very long time, there was often a problem with the
very edges of the print not being perfectly bonded. The instructions with the old Kodak tissue recommend using only
a sheet of paper, and sure enough, they were right.

[Willie]

You don't dry them in the press, you flatten them. Putting damp prints into the press can cause major problems for you with emulsion sticking to whatever surface the print is in contact with. Once dry you put the slightly wavy print into the press - using clean mat board and changing it often as any chemical contamination in the print can transfer and then contaminate other prints in the process.

The drying screen method works well. A good feature is that if you discover you put prints that were not well rinsed on the screens you can hose them off to assure they are clean for the next prints.

[jp]

There's really no place for much excess moisture to go when wet things go into a press and water is liberated with the heat energy. Curling is a result of the print having moisture but not so much for it to be wet. A quick bit of heat to flatten it does liberate moisture as it stays flat until it absorbs some again. The material you sandwich it with in the drymount press also needs to be heated and pulled out to dry it before and after use.

[peter brooks]

Thanks everyone - that was a quick batch of replies!

So a press can be used to flatten prints once they are dry but not from wet. Makes sense. I'll try the window screen / mesh method for initial drying and see how I get on with that.

Out of interest: does the micropore release from the emulsion after drying and/or does it leave traces? I'm currently using gummed tape, the kind for watercolor artists (very environmentally friendly!), but you have to cut the margins or overmatte them as the tape attaches permanently unless it's made wet again (which would defeat the purpose).

Yeah, the micropore was my modification of the gummed paper method. It releases really well; it might leave a very few tiny bits of tacky adhesive but these are easy to see (and feel) and another piece of micropore can be used to remove it (just stick it locally and release it again). It's got a very gentle adhesive. I use 1".

If micropore didn't seem so indestructible it would be my perfect method.

[Ginette]

If you wish to help drying FB print before flattering in the drymounting press you can use an electric print dryer available easily used in varied sizes. If you bought an used one, you can change the apron which is most often vey soiled.