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Thread: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

  1. #1
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Smile Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    I find the thread about drying wet prints in a Hot Press a very bad thread. The question is ... off...

    20 years ago I took one semester of a College Film Photography class. I am still good friends with that instructor.

    He insisted we carefully follow his written, spoken and lively show/tell presentations. He made a real big deal of Hot Press Mounting. Thank you Michael!

    I would like us to discuss how to do it correctly from washed Fiber Print to mounted presentation for critique.

    I will start with two things I don't see talked about in the other thread.

    Usage of Release Paper. What is it? Why use it? Is Baking Parchment Paper a good substitute?

    How to cut mounting paper exactly to size and adhere it.

    Or not
    Tin Can

  2. #2
    Mark Sawyer's Avatar
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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    As a former high school photography teacher whose students used a dry mount press, I can convey with a high degree of confidence that re-heating Jack-in-the-Box tacos in a dry mount press is not a "best practice"...
    "I love my Verito lens, but I always have to sharpen everything in Photoshop..."

  3. #3
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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Sawyer View Post
    As a former high school photography teacher whose students used a dry mount press, I can convey with a high degree of confidence that re-heating Jack-in-the-Box tacos in a dry mount press is not a "best practice"...
    Very inventive though.
    Keith Pitman

  4. #4
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    Winner!

    All I can say, is Michael had more than few Hot Presses damaged.

    I have a very clean one, originally bought new by a woman Professional, I am very careful with it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Sawyer View Post
    As a former high school photography teacher whose students used a dry mount press, I can convey with a high degree of confidence that re-heating Jack-in-the-Box tacos in a dry mount press is not a "best practice"...
    Tin Can

  5. #5
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    Fred Picker had very good instructions, but I can’t remember where.

    From memory:
    1) Flatten dry prints between two mat boards in the press.
    2) Dry the mount boards in the press.
    3) Tack mounting tissue onto back of photo.
    4) Put photo with tissue between two pieces of release paper, and put in the press. (I wrap to mount boards with release paper and use the same release paper over and over. The boards keep it from being damaged.) The mounting tissue will now be fused to the back of the print. If you're off, some will ooze out onto the release paper, and if you miss the very edge, you'll still be ok.
    5) Trim the print. The result will be a print with the back completely covered with adhesive tissue.
    6) Position the print on the backing board and tack in one place.
    7) Put the print in the press between to sheets of release paper for the desired time.
    8) Take the print out and immediately flex both corners towards you a bit.
    9) Place press under weight until it cools.
    “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

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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    Does it really need to be said: using a dry mount press is not rocket science. Nevertheless, we should be able squeeze out 100 or so posts.

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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Sawyer View Post
    As a former high scho,ol photography teacher whose students used a dry mount press, I can convey with a high degree of confidence that re-heating Jack-in-the-Box tacos in a dry mount press is not a "best practice"...
    At a college lab, a student came out of the B/W lab with a print covered with white spots, and wanted to know what happened... I took a close look at it, and it looked like shadows from somewhere in an enlarger light path... I asked him to show me the enlarger he used, and it was one of the Omega D2V's... I opened the variable condenser door, and there was a palm full of cookie crumbs and melted chocolate chips, and some had worked their way down between the main condensers, and some even worked their way down to the lens....

    Difficult to scrape and clean the light path entirely clean, but I had to marvel how someone could re-purpose an enlarger into an Easy Bake oven cookie warmer, but then I thought of all the fingers that had been inside there and thought ICK!!!

    Happy holidays!!!

    Steve K

  8. #8
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    Quote Originally Posted by faberryman View Post
    Does it really need to be said: using a dry mount press is not rocket science.
    Neither is taking a photo.
    “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

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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Moe View Post
    I find the thread about drying wet prints in a Hot Press a very bad thread. The question is ... off...


    I will start with two things I don't see talked about in the other thread.

    Usage of Release Paper. What is it? Why use it? Is Baking Parchment Paper a good substitute?

    How to cut mounting paper exactly to size and adhere it.

    Or not
    I've seen someone singe damp prints in a dry mounting press before...

    The stuff you need is silicon release film (or similar) - it stops any dry mount adhesive from sticking where it shouldn't. Buy a roll, replace the sheets you cut if they get dented or creased (it can and will mar prints). Don't skimp here

    You'll also want a tacking iron (essentially a low temperature soldering iron that should never, ever be used for soldering).

    Trimming: use a rotatrim or a handheld rotary fabric trimmer - scalpels raise burrs, even with fresh blades

    Test your dwell time needed for your choice of tissue to melt, otherwise you won't get a good bond.

    If you want to mount certain RC darkroom papers, be very, very careful about tissue choice, otherwise you can melt them. Edit: I should say here that the paper I use is what is branded in the US market etc as Colormount (as per Drew's post), so disregard what I said about inkjet papers & dry mount tissue if you read what was here before. The stuff I use works fine with all the major inkjet materials I've extensively used it on.

    Finally, be anal retentive about cleanliness & dust & lumps of cutting mat getting between surfaces that need to be bonded. Wipe away dust all the time before making bonds, putting into press etc.

    Otherwise it's just simple assembly. Once you've done it a few hundred times in a couple of months it becomes automatic. None of this is difficult, just don't cheap out or use crap tools.

  10. #10
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Dry Mount Press Best Practices

    Release paper is siliconized. Never use wax paper or other kitchen papers; and never use silicon paper adjacent to the face (emulsion) of the print. Both mounting board and the print need to be briefly pre-dried in the press, with the press closed but not tightly locked. Two sheets of appropriate dimension museum board (in addition to the mount itself) should be on hand for all steps of the sequence, and themselves first pre-dried about 30 sec (depends on the amibient humidity - you'll typically see steam going off). Be careful not to overdry the print itself or the emulsion might get brittle. After that, my proven protocol, which I've taught others, is significantly different than what you'll read in Picker, AA, or the traditional mfg manuals on the subject. I happen to prefer Colormount, which needs a press temp of around 200F. Allow ample warm-up time, and always keep the press closed to retain the correct amount of heat. After pre-drying the print, which will somewhat flatten it, I take a trimmed sheet of Colormount, which is sold oversized, slightly larger than the image area, but a tad smaller than the full nominal paper size. This is briefly tacked to the center back of the print at just one point using a tacking iron at the medium heat setting, with a bit of release paper between it and the tissue, for about 15 sec. Then take a sheet of siliconized release paper distinctly bigger than the print, cover the tissue tacked onto the print, place these between the two sheets of matboard previously mentioned, to cushion the print from the hot press platen above and the foam rubber below. Put the sandwich in the press and close it to full tightness (assuming the tightness knobs on the top of the press have been correctly adjusted in advance - things will feel film if this is correct, without the press being too hard to close shut). After 30 sec pull out the combined sandwich. Allow the print to cool for several minutes before peeling off the release paper from the tissue. After this, trim the print to the exact size or composition you have in mind. When that is done, precisely place the print in the position you want it to be on the mounting board (itself pre-dried). Measure if necessary (it will be necessary). Briefly tack the print at the center into final position using the iron, onto the face of the print itself, gently with no release sheet in this instance. Then put your mount and print between the two larger sheets of board, insert them in the press, and clamp it firm for 40 sec or so. Pull it it out and place your mounted print under a flat weight for awhile. I use a large heavy sheet of plate glass. Colormount achieves its permanent bond while cooling, so this is a vital step. After a bit of practice, you develop a rhythm doing this and it becomes second-hand. But it's actually easier, more precise, and more predictable than the ordinarily published method.... What Interneg just posted previously is also important, so I won't repeat it myself. "Dwell time" is the time the print sandwich
    remains in the press: slightly low temp, and you use a little longer time, slightly high less. Colormount can be used from about 180F to around 250, but that upper range can be risky to some emulsions. Other types of tissue might
    have different temp parameters. Old presses might need to be tested for thermostat performance or thermometer accuracy; or just practice on unimportant prints to see if things work predictably.

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