How to finish, wash and dry fibre paper prints for exhibition and sale

[Pieter]

They seem flat enough for me, 10"x10" hinged and matted 16"x20".

Attachment 229581

[Drew Wiley]

There are just so many damned variables, Pieter. What works acceptably in one climate might not in another, or what is OK in a certain diurnal AC & heating display fluctuation cycle versus another. That's why museums try to keep consistent internal climate-control. Even a switch in the specific brand of mounting and matting board might cause problems due to a hydroscopic differential. Sometimes I've had to mount and frame things quite differently for a subtropical environment than a desert one, for a residential setting versus a commercial one; and now much of the climate is starting to go batty. In other words, there are no pat answers unless, perhaps, your clientele is quite localized and itself predictable. And the bigger prints get, the bigger the potential problems.

[Pieter]

There are just so many damned variables, Pieter. What works acceptably in one climate might not in another, or what is OK in a certain diurnal AC & heating display fluctuation cycle versus another. That's why museums try to keep consistent internal climate-control. Even a switch in the specific brand of mounting and matting board might cause problems due to a hydroscopic differential. Sometimes I've had to mount and frame things quite differently for a subtropical environment than a desert one, for a residential setting versus a commercial one; and now much of the climate is starting to go batty. In other words, there are no pat answers unless, perhaps, your clientele is quite localized and itself predictable. And the bigger prints get, the bigger the potential problems.

And if the photo is moved to a different climate, seems like everything is up for grabs. Maybe Avedon was onto something having his extra large prints dry-mounted on aluminum sheets for In The American West.

[Drew Wiley]

Aluminum can be obtained in a very smooth variety, but is highly thermally conductive, so might be the worst thing unless well insulated from behind. That's the first thing I ask if a print installation is going to be in a commercial building. Are any of the prints going to be hung on a perimeter wall? - and if so, how well insulated are those; and likewise, is there going to be a significant temp/humidity swing between day and night due to daily cycles in humidity, air conditioning on versus off, or even due to cycles in relatively hot display lighting? Individuals who buy prints for their own residences are more likely to treat them with care, especially if they are informed up front about certain deleterious factors like high humidity and excessive UV. For a few really excessive situations, I actually provided true hermetically sealed framing; but that's quite expensive to do.

Cosmetically, hand-coated emulsions onto things like watercolor paper really do look better mounted and framed just like a real watercolor painting, hinged from behind and "float mounted", with an evident deckle edge. But for glossy photographs in particular, keeping them truly flat either by drymounting, or in the case of color and RC prints, via aggressive acrylic adhesive foils onto smooth dimensionally stable substrates. That takes special equipment, and there's no room for error.

[jnantz]

The alternative, RC paper, has always been somewhat suspect in terms of long-term permanence, and doesn't drymount well, so has been understandably shunned by the collector market. .

Yup, everyone has their opinions. I tended to listen Wilhelm and Ron Mowrey ... and personally, I wouldn't dry mount anything if my life depended on it. It is not supposed to be very good for much of anything except enriching the companies that make dry mount tissue.

[Doremus Scudder]

Yup, everyone has their opinions. I tended to listen Wilhelm and Ron Mowrey ... and personally, I wouldn't dry mount anything if my life depended on it. It is not supposed to be very good for much of anything except enriching the companies that make dry mount tissue.

So then, how do you mount your fiber-base prints?

[Michael R]

Yup, everyone has their opinions. I tended to listen Wilhelm and Ron Mowrey ... and personally, I wouldn't dry mount anything if my life depended on it. It is not supposed to be very good for much of anything except enriching the companies that make dry mount tissue.

Some people prefer to just flatten the FB prints (heat flattening in dry mount press works well) and attach them to mount board using those little corner things that hold the print but don’t adhere to it. The downside to this is the overmat has to cover those corners and having the overmat extend onto the paper may or may not be how the photographer wants it to look. You tend to see this more with colour prints on polyester materials. Another possible option is removable buffermount dry mount tissue. Does that still exist?

[Doremus Scudder]

Well, I've been using Buffermount for years with good results. Yes, you have to pay attention to get even bonding when the print comes out of the press, but I don't have problems there. Small prints just get smoothed with cotton-gloved hands, making sure the edges adhere well. Larger prints go under a weighted platten when cooling.

I've had to unmount and remount a print or two over the years and I really liked being able to get the print of the old, damaged board and re-dry mount it onto another. This was especially nice when a good number of prints I had in storage got wet (flooding from a defective overhead air-conditioning unit in the storage unit I was renting - grrr!). Anyway, a lot of boards were damaged, but many of the prints were salvageable by removing them and remounting onto new board. It's really simple; just heat the print in the press, pull it out and quickly peel the print off the board. A bit of adhesive residue remains on the back of the print, but not much. Then, it's just dry mount as usual using new tissue.

I've used Colormount as well, but prefer the Buffermount now. You used to be able to buy pre-cut sheets in lots of sizes, but now I have to buy rolls and cut it to size myself.

Best,

Doremus

[Pieter]

I remember seeing a video once where a curator (SFMOMA?) was going though a box of Lee Friedlander prints. They were each dry-mounted to a debossed sheet of what looked like watercolor or etching paper, with deckled edges if I'm not mistaken.

[Michael R]

George Tice does something similar. The print is dry-mounted to paper which is then affixed to the mounting board.

I remember seeing a video once where a curator (SFMOMA?) was going though a box of Lee Friedlander prints. They were each dry-mounted to a debossed sheet of what looked like watercolor or etching paper, with deckled edges if I'm not mistaken.