Drying fibre prints with a dry mount press

[peter brooks]

Is that the same as a print glazer? Sounds like a good idea...

[Daniel Stone]

For drying prints flat, sandwich the print between two (framed) window screens. Pre made(or go to a glazier shop and have them made) in lightweight aluminum frames work well. The thin, rectangular profile of the off-the-shelf window screen frames allows for very little curl to develop in the drying prints.

then take binder clips and clamp the edges together of the frames, and boom done. Prints generally come out super flat(compared to just laying them open faced on a single screen) in my experience.

I just use ambient air, or if a little faster drying time is needed, take them outside and put them in the sun, as described above ^^^

-Dan

[peter brooks]

Thanks. By screen you mean a fly screen (fine mesh) material? I'm in the UK and we don't use it as much as you folks in warmer climates...

[Daniel Stone]

Yes. Another material that works well is pet screen door material. It is also a mesh, but heavier, and also PVC coated.

https://www.amazon.com/Phifer-303223...en+door+fabric

When I have sufficient space to build out my darkroom again in the next few years, I will be constructing new aluminum frames with this phifer material, as I want them to stand up to heavy, consistent use.

-Dan

[Ulophot]

I dry on nylon screens. Curling varies with humidity. I have a Zone VI print flattener. a size-adjustable plexiglass (Perspex) device that induces a reverse curl. To further flatten, I use the device I created for weighting prints coming out of the drymount press. namely, two rectangles (approx 14x18 inches) cut from a Formica-surfaced kithen cabinet door I got free during a building refurb. The two pieces are screwed together with the handle mounted on one edge for lifting. The weight of the double-thickness of 3/4-inch composite chipped wood is considerable, the surface is perfectly flat and very smooth. Naturally, cautionmust be used to ensre that no particles lie on either surface that might be pressed into the print. I have had no problems with this so far.

[John Olsen]

I dry my prints in a warm room for several hours, then use a couple of 20 s trips through the dry mount press at 175 F for a final flat and dry print. (It's really just so I can get a nice, flat print for my scanner.) Afterwards I place them between dry mount boards with nice, heavy photobooks on top for several hours. Richard Avedon books work well and provide good karma to the process.

Then, when I'm ready to dry mount my prints, I run them through again for two 20 s times at 175F. I put the mount boards through twice for 45 s too, because they get a lot of moisture just sitting around here in the Puget Sound humidity.

I'm using D&K BufferMount and have had good luck with these processing steps.

[Drew Wiley]

Fiber based backing paper and the image side of the print absorb humidity at different rates, so even if you dry them, they can still curl with significant humidity changes. A quantity of prints in the same box or case exerts weight, so reduces curl. Or maybe you just live in a dry climate to begin with and are lucky in that respect. I briefly press-dry prints anyway, just before drymounting, as one always should unless the humidity is consistently low. But museum board absorbs humidity even faster than the prints themselves, so there you go ... at that point, you either have to frame them with a flat backing material or store them in a stack of their own where sheer weight works for you. I'm dry-mounting a hundred prints this month, and rainy season has already begun; so religiously pre-drying all the sheet goods (except the drymount tissue itself) is mandatory. For sake of cleanliness and general health, I use passive electric heat in the lab, and not forced air heating, which would obviously dry moist air better (and dry or irritate my own respiratory system). Ordinary air drying is done on fiberglass window screens. For big prints I use big sliding door screens, which I got from from my former employer - we had a major door and window business, and anything that had to replaced for warranty reasons, even if brand new, was free. I got some otherwise expensive warped doors that way too. They were custom made for a military installation. I simply attached the door jambs and moldings in a matching warp, then everything fit perfectly. Nobody has even noticed, though most of the people who see my darkroom are actually the same spiders who sneaked in there in the dark, and they haven't complained yet ... but being polite hasn't saved either their webs or their little lives.

[Eric Woodbury]

I hang dry my prints, just as I do my negs. I had screens, but I could see little patterns on the surface of the prints when done, so I abandon that technique. Besides, it took a lot of space that I don't have. They curl up pretty good when you hang dry, but then I flatten them in a 210F dry mount press and stack them under a rock for cooling: face to face, back to back in the pile. They are pretty flat. Not like an RC print.

Sometimes I dry mount prints, but time is so precious and dry mounting, unless you do it all the time, is a bit risky. Mat board is expensive and takes up room (again, that I don't have). Mostly I cut an over-mat and tape the print in the proper spot with some type of tape that is used in book and box making. It's removable, kinda. Not sure what it is. It has a release paper backing. A box maker friend gave it to me.

[invisibleflash]

I dry on screens and flatten in a dry mount press.

[Drew Wiley]

A screen leaves no impression or pattern unless you're drying the prints emulsion-down for some inexplicable reason.