Any tips to avoid photo paper curling

narigas2006 · Jul 16, 2014

Hi Folks,

is there any good formula for a fixer or an extra bath that could prevent curling? I am a big fan of very old expired paper and the curl up a lot after drying. Is there anything that can be done (that does not involve electric irons). Many thanks!

richardson

jcc · Jul 16, 2014

A large book, some weight, and a lot of time?

Xmas · Jul 17, 2014

Used to glaze single weight glossy on window glass

Slixtiesix · Jul 17, 2014

I happened to use my Delta 1 Drying Book recently and I was very satisfied. After years of experimenting it seems the most convenient way to get decently flat fibre prints to me. The book consists of blotter sheets, is not all that expensive and can be reused. I hung my prints on a clothesline for 2-3 hours to get most of the water out (because you can´t put them into the book as long as they are too wet, that will destroy it!) and then dryed them in the book under some weight for 48 hours. After that – just to be safe – I put them between some normal books for another week. The prints came out nearly perfectly flat with only a minimal tendency to curl.
Before that I used to dry my prints taped to a wooden frame. This way they became 100% flat but it was very inconvenient to mount every print this way plus you had to cut them out afterwards. I think I will stay with the Drying Book method.

Jesper · Jul 17, 2014

I dry my prints first and then moist the back and put them in a press with the surface out towards the cloth with no heat on and leave them for at least 24 hours. If you don't have a press then heavy books and time as mentioned will work just fine.

ruilourosa · Jul 17, 2014

a bit of glycerin in the final bath

darkosaric · Jul 17, 2014

Hi richardson,

best solution is dry mount press (Ademco Seal). Other solutions are also ok - like heavy books, tape edges while drying...

Where are you located? If in USA - then you can find easy dry mount press. In Europe it is difficult to find used one.

jp80874 · Jul 17, 2014

Squeegee wet prints in sink. Dry print on a screen with a second screen above. Make a sandwich out of the print and screens. The two screens restrain some of the curl, but not all. Then heavy book or dry mount press after print is dry.

If doing multiple prints, build a rack with slots for multiple screens. The rack I use has four slots, eight screens, for 16x20 prints or multiple smaller prints.

John Powers

PS see thread (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

David Brown · Jul 17, 2014

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Jim Jones · Jul 17, 2014

Storing unmounted prints face to face and back to back in tightly packed boxes will eventually flatten them, but they may curl when removed from the boxes, depending on ambient humidity.

jakelovesphoto · Jul 18, 2014

I've found that A. Using hypo clear reduces curling, and B. Drying in a print easel helps.

darkosaric · Jul 18, 2014

jakelovesphoto said:
I've found that A. Using hypo clear reduces curling, and B. Drying in a print easel helps.

Hi,

welcome to APUG .

Drying in print easel - yes for one print, but usually I have 20 prints in one round of printing ...

Sirius Glass · Jul 18, 2014

Edwal Super-Flat Concentrate Black & White Print Flattening Solution

Ken Nadvornick · Jul 18, 2014

Jesper said:
I dry my prints first and then moist the back and put them in a press with the surface out towards the cloth with no heat on and leave them for at least 24 hours. If you don't have a press then heavy books and time as mentioned will work just fine.

I have tried this technique as well. My experience was that care must be exercised. If too much water and too much pressure is applied the appearance of the surface texture can be compromised (flattened). So testing on scrap prints might be called for in advance if that effect matters to you. Of course, YMMV...

Ken

Tony-S · Jul 20, 2014

Sirius Glass said:
Edwal Super-Flat Concentrate Black & White Print Flattening Solution

BnH and freestyle don't seem to have this. Do you have a source?

Sirius Glass · Jul 20, 2014

Tony-S said:
BnH and freestyle don't seem to have this. Do you have a source?

I got it at FreeStyle a few years ago. Just drop into their store on Sunset Avenue and ask for it.

Tony-S · Jul 20, 2014

OK, I'll start driving tomorrow!

Mark_S · Jul 22, 2014

Photographic paper is a piece of paper with a coating of emulsion on one side. The emulsion absorbs moisture from the environment at a different rate than the paper, which makes the print curl. There are a variety of ways that you can flatten the print, but left to it's own devices, it will curl up again.

RC paper has a plastic coating on both sides, which makes it curl less than FB paper. I use almost all FB paper, so this doesn't help me.

What I do is this:
I flatten the dryed prints in a dry mount press, and then mount them to mat board which keeps them flat. For those prints that I am not going to mount, I put them in the boxes that the paper comes in, and that tends to keep them flatish. The more prints to put in a box, the flatter they stay.

Any tips to avoid photo paper curling

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