How do you protect your prints in presentation books?

[Mark F]

I hope that this is the right forum for this question. None of the others seem to fit.

I need to create several presentation books of 8.5 x 11 prints, each book with a different theme. Having done some research on the web I've located several vendors that sell archival binders that take inserts of archival pages. The prints are then mounted on the pages, presumably with clear archival corner hinges. I am not really happy with the look but I do not see a practical way to use matted prints. Also, I am concerned that without a mat the print surface will be damaged by rubbig against the previous page when the binder is opened and closed. One possibility is to use a high grade polypropylene page over the sheet with the print but I am concerned that the print surface will adhere to the plastic.

Has anyone dealt with this and how have you solved it?

Thanks.

[neile]

How many prints are you planning to put together, and does it have to be in book form? Also, how likely is it that people are actually going to be constantly flipping through the images and handling them? Honestly if these are for sale, chances are you have one demo copy that gets totally manhandled no matter what you do, and the ones your customers buy get opened once or twice and then put on a shelf or a coffee table...

Andy Biggs did a nice video review of various portfolio options: http://www.theglobalphotographer.com/the-global-photographer/2011/6/23/portfolios-for-photographers.html. There's probably something in there that will meet your needs. I'm partial to the folio cover option, but then again I'm slightly biased

Neil

[Alan Goldhammer]

Andy Biggs did a nice video review of various portfolio options: http://www.theglobalphotographer.com/the-global-photographer/2011/6/23/portfolios-for-photographers.html. There's probably something in there that will meet your needs. I'm partial to the folio cover option, but then again I'm slightly biased

Neil

If the OP is only doing 8-10 prints (depending on the thickness of the paper) Neil's folio covers are wonderful.  Andy's video had other solutions as well which would work well also.

Alan (a satisfied user of products from this vendor  )

[John Caldwell]

Andy's video summary was helpful to me. Andy doesn't say, but I imagine most viewers understand whether or not his prints are spray-protected before they become part of these print collections. I'm new to spraying prints and have only recently ordered the Hahnemühle print protection spray after embarrassing myself by sending out untreated greeting cards on William Turner media (which were badly worn by the time of delivery).

Would you spray any and all prints you included these display vehicles? Would it depend upon whether the media were a matte vs. glossy paper?

Thank you,

John Caldwell
Pittsburgh, PA

[neile]

I don't believe they are, and I've never heard of any of my customers spraying their prints with protection prior to putting them into folio covers.

Neil

[John Caldwell]

Thank you, Neil. Do you find that allowing matte-paper prints touch one another in a bound folio, or even in a box, does not produce abrasion of the inked surface? I assumed spray might be needed to stabilize those surfaces.

John Caldwell

[Mark F]

Neil, each presentation book will have between 60 and 80 prints and it does have to be in some sort of bound form, as opposed to loose prints in a portfolio cover. I'm hoping that the books will be looked at frequently but even without fingerprints, I'm worried that there will be surface abrasion caused by rubbing against the prior page.

Thanks for the Andy Biggs link. I find it interesting that he does not use an inter-leaf in the book examples. He has focused on Moab products with Moab paper, which I have not used. I guess that any properly sized paper could be used with properly punched holes but the Moab paper is pre-scored to bend properly. Still, the look is clearly much nicer than mounting prints with corner hinges. I wonder if other manufacturers have similar products.

[neile]

Thank you, Neil. Do you find that allowing matte-paper prints touch one another in a bound folio, or even in a box, does not produce abrasion of the inked surface? I assumed spray might be needed to stabilize those surfaces.

I can't speak to box solutions, but with the folios I sell they are sized exactly for 8.5x11" so there's no moving around of the individual sheets to cause abrasion.

Neil

[Alan Goldhammer]

I have a very successful Mid-Atlantic Blizzard folio of monochrome prints on matte paper and haven't had any problems with abrasion.  I don't spray the prints.