Getting Started with Acrylic and Glass Facemounting

[disneytoy]

Okay guys,

I've read everything here on acrylic facemounting. I have a customer asking about it, but I don't want to turn him to another vendor.

Previously, I was going to dip my toes in facemounting. I have a sample roll of Drytac Opticlear. a laminator.

I use Epson Premium Glossy 250 in a 9890. To me it is not that "glossy." Is their a better, flatter gloss paper that would be more successful with the Drytac adhesive?

My client may be willing to give it a try on some smaller test prints 16x20-20x30".

My plan was to mount some 3mm black sintra to the back and glue on a french cleat.

I forgot, I read either the plastic covered or paper covered Plexi is better to use?

What is the preferred plexi thickness for a 20x30" 1/4"?

Thanks

[dgberg]

Pictorico high gloss smooth film.
Ilford Prestige high gloss smooth film. (Pretty close to the Pictorico with a light metallic tint.) but discontinued.
Both of the above medias are as smooth as it gets.
Just about any metallic paper looks pretty good for face mounting as well.
1/4" for those bigger sizes would be best.
It takes a clean room and practice.
When I started my failure rate was 50% (dust)
Now it is around 25% which is just too high for me to make any money so I do not even offer them for sale.
I read somewhere that the larger shops average between 10 to 15% failure rates due to contamination.
You can pull the image and adhesive off and use the plexi again but it is a real pain.
I enjoy demonstrating the process for workshops and do them occasionally for myself.
Fantastic look when they come out.

[disneytoy]

Thanks Dan!

The paper recommendation is very helpful. I have a sample 25" roll of the Drytac stuff. So I might as well give it a try.

Maxi

[Wayne Fox]

I use Epson Premium Glossy 250 in a 9890. To me it is not that "glossy." Is their a better, flatter gloss paper that would be more successful with the Drytac adhesive?

The glossiness of the paper isn't that critical if you face mount - the process pretty much eliminates any surface characteristics of the paper itself. I've successfully face mounted several Espon glossy prints, but I've switched to Epson Semi-gloss instead.  Main reason is it seems easier to handle and less prone to smudges etc.  End results after face mounting are indistinguishable.  The Semi-gloss prints face mounted to me are nearly identical to the look of FujiFlex face mounted which is the glossiest image material there is when printed.

But there are other things to consider, which is the contrast/paper base.  Dan's mentioned a couple that offer a little different look once face mounted.  Kodak metallic (chemical) prints are stunning face mounted, and really no inkjet metallic looks quite the same.

Good luck.  I face mount mainly to glass now ... much easier to control the dust so my kill rate is pretty low.  The acrylic has so much static build up it's almost impossible to keep the dust out unless you have a clean room and some good anti static brushes and blowers.  Smaller stuff on acrylic isn't too bad, but once you get to 20x24 and larger then it gets pretty tough.

As far as thickness, there are two thoughts.  Thick acrylic will stay flatter For small prints that are to be hung without a frame, thicker acrylic with the sentra backer is a good look.(even up to 1/2").   For large prints to be hung without glass I'd stay minimum 1/4" or thicker.   However, if being framed , thiner acrylic and then mount the print on diBond to keep it flat is a nice look.

[disneytoy]

Thanks Wayne!

Great info. Are you using Drytac's Opticlear or another brand?

I may give the glass a try.

Maxi

[ThirstyDursty]

Thanks Wayne!

Great info. Are you using Drytac's Opticlear or another brand?

I may give the glass a try.

Maxi

Is Your laminator a cold Roll?

I've been interested in doing this and then doing clear transfers on top of the glass or acrylic where white would show through to facemounting print.

Have been eyeing up some coldroll manual laminators...also make mounting my traditional work fast and easy.

[Robcat]

Good luck.  I face mount mainly to glass now ... much easier to control the dust so my kill rate is pretty low. 

ever tried museum glass? I'd love to have a non-glare face mount. But I understand Museum glass is much more brittle than regular glass.

[Wayne Fox]

ever tried museum glass? I'd love to have a non-glare face mount. But I understand Museum glass is much more brittle than regular glass.

I've used museum glass.  The risk of breakage isn't in the mounting, it's the handling of the glass before/after, especially a large piece.  I've never had the glass break while mounting the print.

The reason I moved from museum glass is my presentation leaves a 2-3" clear glass area around the print.  This was difficult to do until I switched to the ArtGlass WW, which allows me to slightly over mount the print and then trim the leading and trailing edges.  I found that most bubbles were in the first or last 1/4" or so.  I can print a couple of inches of white before and after the print so I have areas to handle and grip the print, and then trim after, leaving  a very clean edge.

I've done this with museum glass as well, but it's a bear to clean after peeling off the edge. It also can scratch in the process.  I've attached an image of a piece I recently sold which uses the full 60" of glass.  You can kind of see what I'm talking about.

[pcgpcg]

That is a stunning image. Beautiful!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... I've read everything here on acrylic facemounting....

It might be helpful to others in the future, when they are searching post titles by "acrylic," to correct the typo ("Acrtlic") in the title of the thread.

[disneytoy]

BRAVO WAYNE!!!

That looks amazing. Do you have any other photos of the 3" clear area you describe? Is the glass floating in the frame?

So, you trim the head and tail, and you don't have an issue peeling off the Opticlear film?

i may try a small test.

[Wayne Fox]

BRAVO WAYNE!!!

That looks amazing. Do you have any other photos of the 3" clear area you describe? Is the glass floating in the frame?

So, you trim the head and tail, and you don't have an issue peeling off the Opticlear film?

i may try a small test.

yes the glass is about 1” in front of the matt board in the back.  As long as you cut and peel right after mounting, it’s pretty easy.  I cover most of the adhesive on the head and tail with thin paper so only about ½” of the opticlear sticks to the glass past where I want to cut.

[dnarich]

I just began acrylic facemounting and I've had good success with the Epson Metallic Photo Paper Glossy and mounting to 3/16 inch acrylic.

Dust was an issue with my very first (admittedly rushed) mount, but all of my recent images appear dust/bubble free. It is a chore, but the biggest problem with dust seems to arise during the bonding of the adhesive film to the print. During the bonding of the print/adhesive layer to the acrylic, I just clean everything very carefully before running through the laminator, and by slowly peeling back the adhesive release coating and the acrylic protectant layer just before they go through the lamination rollers, it seems as though problems with dust have gone away.

To make matters challenging however (this is mostly for humor), my printing studio is adjacent to my wood studio. Yes, I have a central vac and HEPA in the wood studio, but I still have a separate HEPA unit in the photo section and doors between are kept closed. I am still constantly cleaning, but I can't persuade myself to give up either hobby just yet!