Quick Question: Can I face mount an inkjet print?

[aaronchan]

Back in the day we can only face mount C-Prints.
But I'm not sure if we can face mount an inkjet print in today's date?

Thanks
Aaron

[pcgpcg]

To acrylic? ...only if you print on glossy paper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWowpe84rXw
www.colorplak.com

[Wayne Fox]

I’ve been face mounting Epson Premium Glossy to ArtGlass with good results so far.  Lots of time allowed for outgassing.  Dan Steinhardt from Epson recommended I try Epson Premium Semimatte for this some time ago and have just printed some images which I will face mount in a few days. He says he’s experienced issues face mounting  on the glossy paper, I assume once face mounted the matte surface is no longer apparent so visually the look about the same.

[pcgpcg]

Dan Steinhardt from Epson recommended I try Epson Premium Semimatte for this some time ago and have just printed some images which I will face mount in a few days. He says he’s experienced issues face mounting  on the glossy paper, I assume once face mounted the matte surface is no longer apparent so visually the look about the same.

What issues did he experience? Please report back on your experience with face-mounting to semi-matte finish paper.

I have yet to try face-mounting to acrylic so I can’t speak from experience, but I have been researching the process and, while at this year’s West Coast Art & Frame show in Las Vegas, I spoke with reps from three different companies that either do face-mounting to acrylic or sell equipment to do so. All three stated that the paper needed to be “highly glossy” and that it was not possible to face mount a matte finish print to acrylic without experiencing what they described as “silvering”, which is a haze resulting from many tiny reflective spots (air bubbles) between the acrylic and the paper.  I was told that silvering, in this instance, is caused by inadequate penetration of the adhesive to the surface of the paper. If the paper surface is matte, the adhesive (from either pressure or heat applied adhesive) cannot penetrate and fill all the uneven spots in the paper.

As an aside I was also told that silvering can occur over time, depending on the environment the face-mounted print is stored in, due to delamination of the print when a non-flexible adhesive is used and the acrylic is exposed to temperature cycling, causing expansion and contraction.

[Wayne Fox]

Yes, silvering can be a challenge with face mounting.  I assume that if Dano says it works, it works.  The semi-matte doesn't have a lot of texture, and the adhesive is very soft,  I use a heat assisted laminator, which softens it further.

Most silvering I've had trouble with has been pressure related,a better laminator and the heat assist has helped dramatically. And I've seen where some slight silvering actually get better after a few days.

The biggest challenge however, is dust.  Even a small spec will leave a "bubble" which is a big "silver" blob.  This can happen both when applying to the print, or when applying to the glass/acrylic.  Depending on where they are, the can kill the product. I inspect the print after applying the adhesive very thoroughly, no point wasting a the glass or acrylic, easier to reprint and try again.  (a real pain with inkjet because you have wait a few days to outages it.  I usually print 2 when doing a inkjet face mount.)

It is very hard to keep things clean enough and to keep static under control enough to avoid the dust.

[deanwork]

It depends on who is doing it and what materials they use. It certainly is possible. A LOT of people screw it up though. You have to really know what you are doing, some do, many don't.

We had a place in Atlanta, a big lab, that couldn't face mount any inkjet print without silvering and air bubbles occuring, and that was the least of their mistakes. But they were just sloppy and did not take the time to learn how to do this process correctly and use the correct adhesive and pressure adjustment of the rollers. They did it for many years and screwed it up for many years.

But now we have a great mounting pro at Digital Picture who knows exactly how to do all mounting correctly and cleanly. They do tons of very large prints off of an 11880 that are face mounted to acrylic of all shapes, thicknesses, and sizes, and they are all inkjet. They prefer to use photo surface media and use many different makes and brands of gloss and semi gloss media.

john