Anyone ever dry-mounted inkjet prints? Anything I should know about it?
Anyone ever dry-mounted inkjet prints? Anything I should know about it?
Ed, I have dry mounted several black and white inkjet prints with my Seal press and the lower temperature "Colormount" tissue at 200 degrees F. I used the exact method I would use for a fiber print, which means using a release board over the print in the press, and pre-heating the mount board to remove moisture. They look great. The heat didn't seem to alter the prints. I do wonder how the heat will affect the life of the print. I just did these for myself.
Since my 50+ year old drymount press broke more than a yeaar ago and hasen't been replaced, I haven't had a chance to try drymounting of inkjet prints. However, I have used Daige's Rollataq system on my most recent inkjet portfolio. This system uses archival adhesive in a roller applicator. For the mounting of inkjet prints where the edge of the photograph is hidden by an over-matt I will only use Daige's products - it is clearly better for use on delicate inkjet prints compared to drymounting, IMHO. I think that this product will give better results than dry mounting on extremely large prints also. If I recall correctly, a starter system with the small applicator is inexpensive.
I have had great success dry mounting inkjet prints from my Epson R800 printer. My temp. is at 200 degrees for about 45 seconds with the cover sheet. When comparing the dry mounted vs. un-mounted prints, there is no difference in tonality or colors. The bottom line, for me anyway, has been excellent results!
I have some mounted Piezo prints that are about 5 years old and still look good. I use Colormount at 200 degrees for 2 minutes with a sheet of matte board under and another matte board and a release paper over the work. I've also mounted darkroom color prints, Fuji Pictro and Epson color inkjet prints using the same method with good results.
Ditto for me with low temeprature dry mounting tissue designed for color prints. I've done both bw and color inkjet prints that way.
Just curious - why do you want to dry mount ink jet paper? The only reason I know of for dry mounting traditional fiber base paper is that it can't otherwise be made perfectly flat. Except for that there would be no reason I know of for dry mounting at all and the problems some people (e.g. curators and collectors) have with dry mounting wouldn't exist. Ink jet paper is already flat, no need to dry mount it to get it that way, and since dry moutning is controversial why dry mount? So that a signature can be placed between the edge of the print and the overmat rather than signing on the border of the print maybe?
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Brian, to answer your question-- I want to dry-mount for three reasons (I can't speak for anyone else). First, I use roll paper in my printer, so they don't lay flat. Second, apart from the messy spray adhesive that I occasionally (very rarely) employ, I have no other archival method of mounting photos in mattes; I've tried photo corners, but I've never been satisfied with them. Other methods (cold-mount presses, other adhesives) either strike me as cumbersome or costly to get started with, or both. Third, it's the way I mount photos-- and I don't have any plans to change anytime soon. If there is anything that folks on this forum can resonate with, it seems to me, it's the resistance to change for no big reason.
Ed: I'm not suggesting you change, but you did leave t-hinge mounting out of the list of ways to mount. For most, it is THE way to mount and provides perfect results. I support the bottom edges of the print with corners.
"For most, it is THE way to mount and provides perfect results."
My experience with T hinges is that even when starting with a flat print, the paper "warps" as soon as the humidity changes. This does not happen with dry mounting and so dry mounted prints invariably look better to me.
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