[pure-silver] Re: Dry Mounting REALLY permanent?
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:38:38 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrienne Moumin" <photowonder2010@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Pure Silver" <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 5:17 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Dry Mounting REALLY permanent?
Thanks, Robert, Richard & Ken, for your responses to my
query about "wrinkling" release paper (dry mount pressure
was too tight, I discovered). With trial/error/tweaking, I
got beautifully & firmly mounted prints this evening, but
further testing of the bond uncovered a brand new query.
Prior to this, I had been using a dry, pressure-sensitive
adhesive (Studio-Tac) for my photo collages. I live in a
*very* damp climate, w/my studio & display space in the
basement. When I showed some work in a dryer climate last
winter, a horribly dry/overheated place, edge separation of
the prints from the matboard substrate became increasingly
evident over the course of the month. (Luckily for me it
was a sparsely attended venue!)
An ingenious friend who saw the show, a former pre-digital
pro photog known for painstaking building of his own sets,
etc., suggested I test the dry mounted prints for edge
separation, in an effort to avoid this situation in the
future. The results were not good. Per his suggestion, I
put the drymounted prints (two 11x14's, butted up against
each other on a long, narrow strip of matboard-a typical
collage composition) into my homemade film drying cabinet, a
well-sealed plywood box with a hairdryer nozzle sticking
thru a hole in the bottom of the box.
I turned the 1500W hairdryer to the "hot" and "high"
settings, placed the short edge of the board on the floor of
the cabinet, closed the door, and let it run for about 15
minutes. The bottom 1/2 of the board (closest to the
hairdryer) curled away from the print, almost completely
delaminating the print from the board. The top half fared
much better, with the bond failing only on the edge closest
to the hairdryer.
I assume I subjected this sample to extreme conditions....or
*did* I? I keep remembering that overheated dry room last
winter, enough to make one's skin crawl, and wonder whether
the hairdryer in the cabinet was *really* much more extreme?
I'd welcome anyone's experiences/opinions, I have 2 pieces
in a show coming up, and would be mortified if this happened
to me again throughout the run of the show, since it is a
much more important venue.
Thanks for saving my arse, AGAIN, folks!!
Scratching head,
Adrienne Moumin
Adrienne, Los Angeles has a wide variety of weather
ranging from very dry desert heat (113F downtown a few weeks
ago) to sub-tropical with 90% humidity and 90F temperatures.
I have dry mounted for years using low temperature "color
mount" tissue meant for prints on resin coated paper or
plastic base. I have _never_ had a print delaminate.
Further, I have some prints done when I was a teenager in
the 1950's which were mounted with Kodak dry mounting tissue
using a clothes iron, they are still firmly mounted. You
_can_ get some times of dry mounting tissue to come apart by
applying heat, this stuff is meant to do that so that
conservators can get at the prints but most dry mounting
tissue is very difficult to get apart.
For collage of material other than photographic paper
use the same technique I described for photos but test to
make sure the media will take the heat and not allow the
adhesive to bleed through. There is special dry mounting
tissue for art materials if the regular stuff does not work.
For mounting set the press for the temperature recommended
by the tissue manufacturer. If you are uncertain of the
temperature of the press you can test it using thermometer
slips or just stick the end of a good probe type thermometer
into the press and close it for a couple of minutes. Since
the heat must penetrate the padding, etc., the temperature
at the print may be lower than the press surfaces, at leat
for a time. You can determine the correct time by experiment
but it should run in the vicinity of two to five minutes.
Somewhat longer does no damage provided the press is not too
hot.
The procedure of drying out before mounting is very
important as is the cooling under the flat weight. This last
is probably the key to getting good, flat, results since the
adhesive will stay plastic until cool. Dry mounting itself
is almost impervious to climatic conditions, the prints may
turn to sludge but will still be attached to the matte.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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