I have been told by one who should know that, in the 1970’s and ’80’s, when
people began to pay real money for ‘art’ photographs by the prominent
photographers of the day, gallery owners put higher prices on unmounted prints,
so they naturally began to be thought of as somehow ‘better’ and more valuable.
But the only reason for the higher prices was that there were fewer of
them---photographers’ general practice was to mount the prints they really
cared about. Personally, I worked on a show of Arnold Newman prints—they had
been mounted for 40-50 years by that time and were in excellent condition.
True, they were very slightly yellowed but without seeming faded. They felt
that they truly were ‘vintage’ prints.
But now there is archival dry mounting tissue called BufferMount, made by Seal
that is acid free to obviate fading. This tissue is also termed ‘archival’
because the photograph can be pretty easily removed from the rag board with
judicious application of heat without damage to the print. Whoops, just now I
see that this tissue is no longer available.
My experience is that matted but unmounted fiber prints larger than about 11x14
can become too wavy for decent viewing if they are in conditions of high
ambient humidity. If fastened with plastic corners (or corners formed with
folded rag paper) they can buckle by trying to expand against the corners
because the prints expand more than the rag paper that the corners are fastened
to. A good solution is to ‘hinge’ them to the board with archival tape along a
short edge.
Among other possible reasons, museums would be burdened by the additional space
that mounted prints would consume.
Harry
On Jan 1, 2018, at 2:22 PM, bobkiss caribsurf.com <bobkiss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I don't know what Kraft paper is. Is it 100% cotton and lignin free?
From: "`Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 1, 2018 12:41:49 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Print-Flattening Metal Plate
In this flattening method the flat plates never touch any part of the
print. The emulsion side is in contact with mounting release tissue and the
support side with several thicknesses of absorbent material like Kraft paper
or photo blotter. The sandwich is taken from the press and put under between
the flat weights. Anything in plywood weights would have to go through two or
so sheets of mount board and the other stuff.
On 1/1/2018 6:31 AM, bobkiss caribsurf.com wrote:
Just a few additions to this thread:
1) Plywood is made with acids and putting it in direct contact with a warm
print, especially one that is outgassing moisture, may well reduce the
longevity of the print and mount board. At least put some inert coating
(that hopefully transfers heat) on the surface of the plywood that will be in
contact with the print.
2) Further, using any paper other than acid and lignin free paper in contact
with the surface of the warm print can have the same result. Gaylord and
University products sell 100% cotton paper for exactly this type of use.
3) A world renowned photo conservator, Jose Orraca, who died in 2009,
advised me regularly on proper print conservation procedures. He was
renowned for, among other things, removing dry mounted Ansel Adams prints
from damaged or degenerated mount boards. When I asked him if I should dry
mount my prints he had two answers:
A) To give him tons of future work and income from removing my prints from
degenerated mount boards, please do.
B) As proper museum and conservation practice DO NOT dry mount prints. He
said to use small tabs of archival tape from the back of the print to the
back of the "window" over-matte. Or use four archival corners to hold the
print in place.
I have learned long ago that one cannot confuse people with the facts
so I don't expect many to heed this advice; we are creatures of habit. But I
would be remiss not to put the facts out there. Your decision.
NEW YEAR'S CHEERS!
BOB
From: "Les Myers" <baroque-2@xxxxxxxxx> <mailto:baroque-2@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <mailto:pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <mailto:pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2017 1:02:01 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Print-Flattening Metal Plate
Thank YOU for republishing Richard's dry mounting instructions. As I read
them, I realized that he describes my process, but without the plates. I have
an old Seal press that is VERY heavy, and it's down THERE on the floor next
to the "wet" side of the darkroom. When I want to use it, I flex some
little-used muscles and heft the thing to the table. I affix dry mount tissue
to the corners of the board using a tacking iron.
Happy New Year to all, and may none of your issues be too pressing in 2018.
Les
-----Original Message-----
From: photowonder2010@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:photowonder2010@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, 31 Dec 2017 00:02:57 +0000
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Print-Flattening Metal Plate
Thank you so much to everyone who has weighed in with ideas and methods for
post-dry mounting weighting of prints.
A similar query in a facebook group yielded someone who actually has the type
of metal plate I want, so now that I have seen the pictures and description,
I am waiting to hear the ...drumroll... price! I have a big thick piece
laminated shelf from years ago, courtesy of Ikea, but it is just too heavy
and I really want metal for the temp conductivity.
I also realized that I need to get a larger press(!!) since the 1" throat on
my 16x20 will not allow the prints in the center of the collage to fit. So
the hunt is now on for something bigger. My own danged fault for having
*large* ambitions! \uD83D\uDE0A
Lifelong collage artist (read: packrat) that I am, I actually have saved
Richard's dry mounting instructions from 2007(!) - so no need to test out
your carpal tunnel surgery here (which I am so very sorry you had to go
through!) I have followed these instructions faithfully over the years with a
couple of my own tweaks, and now have them committed them to memory but of
course still have the original e-mail saved in a word doc, so here ya go:
From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<http://by118fd.bay118.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&a=89106930d8e7d424713ebae056b902aa373bbddc486d6846fc5828abb374e0ae&mailto=1&to=dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx&msg=EA840FB8-DC94-4DA7-9FF5-1955070F03BC&st%20>>
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: how to use release paper?
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:22:15 –0700
FWIW, the method I now use for dry mounting is based partially on a procedure
described in a booklet published by Seal in the past but no longer available,
plus some changes I've found useful in practice.
The difference between this method and some others is that I bond the dry
mounting tissue to the print first. The first step is drying and flattening
the print as described. I also dry out the mounting board in the press for a
couple of minutes.
When the print has been dried and flattened I tack a piece of dry
mounting tissue to it at a spot on one edge. I then make a sandwich of the
print and tissue by laying the print face down on a sheet of release paper
with some padding under it. I then place another sheet of release paper over
the mounting tissue and some layers of padding on top of that. The entire
assembly is then put in the press and locked down for perhaps 1 to 2 minutes,
what ever time is necessary to fuse the tissue. The sandwich is then removed
and placed under the weight to cool. When cool the release paper will strip
right off the excess mounting tissue. The tissue will have bonded smoothly to
the entire back of the print. I then trim the print and tissue together to
the desired size and shape. I then tack the print to the mat, again at a spot
at one edge, and place a sheet of release tissue over the print along with
several sheets of padding paper, construction paper or blotter paper works
well for this. The assembly is than placed in the press and locked down for
the time recommended for bonding the tissue, typically about 2 minutes. The
entire assembly, including the release tissue and padding, is then put under
the weight to cool. The cooling time depends on the thickness of the assembly
and the type of material the weight is made of. For aluminum it might take no
longer than about 2 to 3 minutes, for wood perhaps 5 or more minutes.
Experience will tell.
When the finished print comes out the release tissue will just lift off.
The result is a very flat and very smooth mount with no excess tissue or
bleeding at the edges. Because the tissue is fused to the two surfaces
separately there is much less chance for bubbles or wrinkles to form. I
still like dry mounting for display prints because IMO it gives the most
uniform surface, especially for glossy or nearly glossy paper. Archivists and
gallery people prefer unmounted prints because dry mounted prints can be very
difficult to remove from their mats should some future treatment of the print
or replacement of the mat become necessary. The drying method works well for
prints to be mounted on hinges or corner mounts. When low temperatures are
used it does no damage to the prints. I typically set the press for about the
temperature for fusing color mount tissue although temperatures lower than
this, as low as 150F or perhaps even less, will work well for drying.
Note: Some old Kodak instructions show tacking the release tissue and
print by making an X across the back. This is bad practice and will very
often result in wrinkles or bubbles. Tacking at a spot or short line at one
edge works a lot better. This is the method recommended by Seal.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<http://by118fd.bay118.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&a=89106930d8e7d424713ebae056b902aa373bbddc486d6846fc5828abb374e0ae&mailto=1&to=dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx&msg=EA840FB8-DC94-4DA7-9FF5-1955070F03BC&st%20>
Thank you, Richard, and thank you, everyone, for all the advice and
camaraderie over the years - decades, actually! I have been part of this
wonderful group since about 1986!
Wishing a Happy New Year to you all,
Adrienne
Adrienne Moumin
Handmade B&W photographs and photo collages: http:// ;
<http://picturexhibit.com/>picturexhibit.com <http://picturexhibit.com/>
Architextures series: http://picturexhibit.com/html/architextures.html ;
<http://picturexhibit.com/html/architextures.html>
NYC and Silver Spring, MD
212-602-1809
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