Masking Type 55 Neg's for Contact Printing

[Bruce E. Rathbun]

Hello all,

I will be shooting a few dozen portraits this coming weekend. They will be on Polaroid type 55 negatives. The end result will be contact prints in a mat. I would like to print the negatives full frame on 5"x7" paper with a white border. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can mask out the paper outside of the negative? I have tried this before with limited success. The only way I can think of is to mask the glass on the negative side with red ortho tape. Any other ideas?

[John D Gerndt]

Try a paper mask. If you cannot get good pressure on the neg this way have some glass cut and sanded to size for the neg and shim your paper to the glass thickness.

A mask on top of the glass might work too.

Cheers,

[David R Munson]

I'd make a mask using Rubylith or Amberlith. With a little care, you would be able to use it for an extended period of time. Much more practical than trying to mask the whole thing with the tape alone.

[Jay DeFehr]

You could try aluminum foil, it's pretty thin and opaque.

[Walter Glover]

Rubylith and Amberlith can be hard to track down these days. I use Rosco primary red lighting gel.

[David R Munson]

Just for reference, a little Googling yields at least a half-dozen places to get Rubylith online, including Dick Blick, which is a good source for all kinds of stuff.

[Bruce E. Rathbun]

Dick Blick, I had forgotten about that one. I did manage to find some tape at a downtown printing supply store. It looks like ruby tape for me. Thanks to all.