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Thread: Mounting without a press?

  1. #1
    Ironage's Avatar
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    Mounting without a press?

    I am fiddling with wet mounting prints using white glue, having read about it in the old Time Life series of books. I tried it using Elmers foam board and found that mounting on one side resulted in warp when dried. Mounting another print on the back side helped. I am also concerned about the thickness of the foam. Anyone else using this technique and have suggestions for materials?

  2. #2

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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    Tried this a few times but always resulted in that warp when dried. Having the white glue dry with the print and board under a flat board with a weight on it solved the warping problem, but it took forever (days) for the glue to completely dry.

  3. #3
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    Tin Can

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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    White glue shrink as it dries, might try wood glue which does not. However I am not sure about the "archival qualities" of it. 3M PMA would be a good solution, but you will need a roller or a squeegee to apply the adhesive backing to the print. If you go that route it would be a good idea to place a protective sheet over the print and squeegee/roll from the adhesive side (print face down).

  5. #5
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    Wrong glues. Daige has an excellent wet mount glue called Rollataq. Order directly from them. Seal Vacumount was also excellent, though the brand name has no doubt changed. You don't need a vacuum press, but both surfaces need to be somewhat absorbent (works for FB prints, not RC). The best board for this is called Mighty Core; you won't find it at art stores, and need to order it in case quantity from a specialty supplier. Apply with a closed cell high quality smooth foam mini "hot dog" paint roller like Whizz brand. Be very careful not to get the glue anywhere except on the back of the print. Then put the sandwich under a flat weight in a low humidity environment till the glue dries. Larger boards will need to be counter-mounted on the back with something analogous to prevent them from warping. "Cold mounting" is a completely different category than wet mounting, and is difficult to do well without a dedicated roller machine. Daige sells application machines for both methods if you want to make operation more efficient. But either require quite a bit of practice. You'll ruin a number of prints in the learning curve, so save up some of your scrap ones, and when learning wet mounting, you can practice on lower quality art store paper-faced fomeboards.

  6. #6
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    PS - drymounting with heat is far easier if FB prints are involved.

  7. #7
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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    If it was an old time life article, it might be referencing old thin singleweight paper. New photo paper is heavy duty art material. Old single weight paper was that era's equivalent of drugstore prints, but thinner and lighter.


    If you can get it flat and staying flat, hinge mounting is an option... Use some good tape like filmoplast p90 and it's totally reversible.

    A lesser option is mounting spray... Spray glue that gets on everything and go everywhere. Ideally glue only goes between the two surfaces being bonded.

    Back in the days before desktop publishing, prepress people would use a hot wax roller to attach photographs, ads, text columns, etc to a mounting surface.

  8. #8

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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    I recommend Yes! A Stick Flat glue. I keep this paste in my finishing box.

    Takes a bit of practice but is quite good fo an occasional mounting

  9. #9
    Joe O'Hara's Avatar
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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    Another method, which I used before I started dry-mounting, is to use self-adhesive acrylic mounting corners. They are available from Archival Methods and others. You will need to leave some margin around the image so that the corners will be hidden by the overmat. You will need to "somehow" get the print perfectly flat (a slight curl is OK but not any waviness) for it to look good. Ironically the easiest way to get prints flat is with... a dry mount press. But you could probably use a clothing iron as well for that if you keep the temperature below 200 F.

    Corners are nice because there are no concerns about them causing degradation to the image over time, and you can remove the print if the mount becomes soiled or if you rethink how you've printed it.

    BTW foam board to my knowledge is not considered an "archival" mounting substrate for photographic prints, but of course not everyone is worried about that.
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  10. #10
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Mounting without a press?

    I once too tried Yes glue. But looking at some of those old prints very recently, there was strong discoloration not only under the print, but visibly creeping past the margins into the adjacent museum board. Thought about why - It's a dextrin glue, so a potential microbe food source.

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