With various inkjet papers, I don't use any adhesives at all. I sometimes allow a borderless print to go right against the glazing (justifiable with the right media), or I print wide margins so that the print itself is as big as the overmat. Thus, my typical framing methods need no adhesives, t-hinging, cold mounting, or hot mounting whatsoever. I have been doing this with very good success for several years, and it saves a lot of labor time when assembling the finished piece since alignment of the image within the overmat and the frame is automatic.
Attached is a photo showing an example of my adhesive-free framing technique. The print was an exact "life-size" print of my grand daughter made when she was one year old. The components in the framed print shown this image were from front to back:
1) 3mm acrylic glazing
2) 8-ply conservation quality overmat
3) the print itself (Moab Entrada Natural 300gsm with its total print dimensions matched to the dimensions of the frame interior that holds the glazing and all other components)
4) 2- ply conservation board to back the print (without any adhesives) and add moisture buffering capacity to the whole package.
5) 1/16th inch PE foam to serve as moisture barrier, dust gasket, and cushioning to eliminate any "high spot" pressure points that can occur if the final backing board and/or the glazing is not perfectly flat.
6) Artcare foamcor board as final backing board (this could be subtituted with other backing board material such as Coroplast if desired).
The whole assembly was dropped into the wood frame and fixed into place with flex framing points (Lineco frame sealing tape can be used to isolate the wood from the print components if that's a concern ... I'm not particularly concerned about off gassing from the wood frame, or one can adapt this method to metal frames as well). The entire assembly is totally reversible. Nothing is glued or bonded. The frame interior dimensions were 27.5 x 32 inches. I made three identically printed and framed copies. One is on display in my home, another located nearby in Massachusetts. The third is in North Carolina. All three framed prints have now made it through 1.5 complete annual seasonal cycles of colder/dryer to more warmer/more humid seasonal variations with absolutely no signs of waviness.
I have numerous other prints framed in various display locations with the same moisture buffer/vapor barrier method, but with the print in direct contact with the glazing, i.e., the overmat in step 2 was not used. All in various locations in USA. None show cockling even after several years on display.
I realize that allowing a print to be in direct contact with glazing is widely considered to be unacceptable conservation framing practice. This concern stems from traditional gelatin prints that cross their glass transition temperature where the gelatin reverts to sticky/rubbery gel state at typical room temperatures when humidity gets above 70%RH for prolonged periods of time (a very real world concern in some parts of the USA and indeed worldwide). However, microporous inkjet media don't have the same material properties as traditional photo gelatin emulsions, so with wise choice of media (i.e ones with decent lay-flat characteristics) and care taken to create a better moisture-buffered environment, the framing techniques I have described are safe, indeed better in many ways, for long term preservation of the work.
Prolonged high humidity and humidity cycling both cause all sort of issues for any framed prints comprised of paper or coated paper media, and T-hinging or other selective anchoring methods aggravate the problems. In particular, dry mount tissues cause some serious yellowing issues with certain popular inkjet media.
Note: I'm describing very new and as of yet unpublished work here at Aardenburg Imaging regarding interactions with poplular microporous inkjet media when in contact with widely used dry mount tissues, thus I could write a chapter on this right now, but my time and your patience probably don't permit.
Anyway, just tossing some different ideas out there for folks to consider. The key to the method I outline above is using an inkjet paper with excellent lay-flat characteristics (.e.g., double-side coated Moab Entrada Natural 300gsm) or other non RC media with a tendency for forward-curl whereby the overmat or the glazing will stop that forward-curl movement. I haven't tried the technique with RC photo papers for three reasons. 1) I now consider all RC photo media on the market today to fall short of my personal "archival" requirements, 2) the PE layers in RC media prevent the ink solvents from diffusing into the media, thus the solvents off gas onto the glazing even when extended "curing" periods are provided after printing and before framing, and 3) RC media tend to bow backwards, thus they may naturally try to bow towards the glazing when attempting to use an overeat with them, hence cold mounting or dry mounting techniques are typically invoked when framing RC media.
kind regards,,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com