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Author Topic: mounting-hot or cold?  (Read 2073 times)

bwana

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mounting-hot or cold?
« on: April 12, 2013, 11:13:55 pm »

 I recognize that archival mounting seeks to preserve the art without irreversible damage- but the kind of mounting popularized by Ansel Adams continues to this day - with photographs sealed to a mounting board with adhesive tissue that is activated by heat.  There have since been many cold adhesive sheets as well using cold lamination. As I have no experience with either method, I wonder what the experiences of others have been.  ???

Of course, no one like to recount tragedies where one of their prized images became a source of grief. And anectodal evidence is just that, to be taken with a grain of salt. Still I wonder what is less likely to fail with delamination, discoloration and deterioration of the photograph. Is there a thread that has struck a chord for people ?-  my google skills do not reveal a consensus.
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Schewe

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Re: mounting-hot or cold?
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2013, 11:38:08 pm »

Any way you look at it, mounting a print–whether hot or cold–completely to a mount board is not a good idea if you want to meet long term conservation...mounting the print in a manner that allows easy and non-destructive changes to the mount board is the best practice if long term conservation and preservation matters.
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bill t.

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Re: mounting-hot or cold?
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2013, 03:22:33 am »

We can go round and round about this subject.  So let's not.  Best I can offer is a couple anecdotes, then I'll leave the room.

In the late 50's I mounted several silver paper prints to wildly non-archival Crescent matte board.  Because nobody new how to spell Archival then.  At my teacher's insistence I dutifully did separate drying and then attachment presses.  Those pieces are still perfectly attached, thanks in no doubt to the de-humidifying steps which is the secret of long lived dry mounting.  The acidic mount board is turning yellow but so far 54 years down the road the layer of tissue seems to be acting like a barrier, which considering the images may or may not be a good thing.

OTOH, have not had happy experiences with adhesive mounting, with many failures and defects in the range of just a few years.  Will not burden you with my woes in that regard.

And yeah, hinge or corner mounting is chemically archival, but they allow anything but the smallest vertically mounted prints to warp in the range of a few months to years.

So what's a framer to do?  Hint...a fair number of folks with non-mounted prints in a frame go sort of crazy as they watch their prints slowly curl and warp as the months and years tick by.  So they take them to framer to be "flattened" as by dry mounting, and framah is my witness.  Personally, I no longer drymount, adhesive mount, or engage in any form of hinge mounting.

And persons wishing their work to last forever should work in chalk pastels on gold panels, and store their art in deep, dark caves under a pyramid with only neutrinos for company.  Because for pieces of Art, the price of Admiration is Death.
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bwana

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Re: mounting-hot or cold?
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2013, 07:43:32 am »

Yes. I too remember one of my instructors emphasizing drying before mounting but that was back in the day of fiber paper. Agfa brovira always used to curl on me like a kettle cooked potato chip. The glossy prints were nicer since they sat on that chrome sheet for a couple of days. But these were photo graphic papers that started dripping wet. I am talking about inkjet prints from a pigment printer like the big epsons. From what I've read, they too have an emulsion that accepts the pigment. These prints come out dry. Are these the ones you have seen delaminate w adhesive? 

Two methods for hot mounting are using a hot press or a hot laminator. The laminator seems more cost effective but cold lamination is even less expensive. ( I have seen 60" cold lam machines on eBay for <2k) with gudy 0 adhesive tissue (see Talas online) onto buffered foam core I would imagine good longevity. As these prints are for a couple of people who bought the photographs, I want to be able to give them a time guesstimate on longevity. They asked me to mount the prints borderless for display in a lobby. Archival mounting under glass is not A choice.
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Paul2660

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Re: mounting-hot or cold?
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2013, 11:27:01 am »


I would prefer not to have to dry mount, however in Arkansas, with the high humidity, it's a given in most cases.  100% cotton paper like Platine, will eventually start to show ripples.   You can consider a mounting adhesive like Fusion.  This is designed to allow you to dry mount a print, but later under heat take it off.  I have used it for a few jobs and it worked fine.  I tested it on RC paper and it did not do so well, not able to really bind to the RC material.  However it did well with the alpha cellulose and 100% cotton rags.  I like the Epson Exhibition Fiber paper for larger prints that I plan to hinge mount since it's sold in larger sheets.  Larger sheets will always lay down better than a roll. 

Another solution, I use is ragmount, by bingfang.  Again it's a 100% mount, cannot be removed, however it's acid free and has a 100% cotton rag liner built in.  It's a bit thicker than most mounting materials, but I have never had a failure with it.

Spray mounting, can be done, as there are many acid free spray adhesives and I mainly use these on RC jobs. 

One added advantage to heat mounting is it pretty much removes all out gassing on RC prints. 

Paul Caldwell


Paul Caldwell
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Paul Caldwell
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ChuckT

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Re: mounting-hot or cold?
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2013, 08:15:21 am »

I'll chime in with this:

Gatorboard - my current PITA. It has dandruf, lots and lots of dandruf.
And dry winter air makes static electricity, that makes the drandruf stick to everything AFTER it's floated around in the room for awhile.
White Gatorboard dandruf especially won't show up until after I've mounted the black-on-white cartoon on white board and of course it has to be on the board under the tissue and stick out like a sore thumb.
BTW I do clean up - vacuum, tack cloth, sticky roller, etc, ad nauseum.
Right now I'm dreaming about cutting the stuff with one of those extreme high pressure water jets!

That's life

cvt
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mstevensphoto

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Re: mounting-hot or cold?
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2013, 09:56:48 am »

the biggest thing I can say is to avoid spray adhesives of all types. I've had prints delaminate/bubble/ripple with EVERY major brand regardless of amount applied and method of burnishing after application. I will not use any spray mount for a client or myself. The quickest problems come from the transition to my dry climate to more humid locations, but even here the best I've seen is 3 years before a problem.
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Rob Reiter

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Re: mounting-hot or cold?
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2013, 12:21:23 pm »

One good option is to print with wide borders. The wider the borders underneath your mat board, the less ripple you'll see. Perfect always? No, but simple hinging or photo corners does no damage. I have 30"x30" prints on 300 gsm paper displayed this way and after 15 years can see no rippling. Depending on print size, 1"-3" should be enough.

And if doesn't work to your satisfaction, at least you haven't damaged the print and you can now try your Gorilla Glue or double-sided tape or bubble gum.
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