My dry mount press won't accomodate anything 16x20 and larger. Has anyone had any success using a regular cothes iron? ARe there any other methods? Thanx much, Joe
Dry Mount 16x20
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Dry mounting
Provided you use a spare matt board bigger than your press over the print you want to mount, you can mount using multiple pressings.
The key is to always overlap the presses and align by the corners.
For example to mount a 40" x 30" print you would mount the top left of the print then the bottom left (ensuring that the press is overlapping a part of the already mounted first quarter), then the bottom right (once again ensuring that the press is overlapping a part of the already mounted second quarter) and finally the top right corner (once again ensuring that the press is overlapping a part of the already mounted three quarters).
It is much harder to write down that actually do.
Just work slow and methodically and it is a breaze.
Best,
David
www.dsallen.de
Provided you use a spare matt board bigger than your press over the print you want to mount, you can mount using multiple pressings.
The key is to always overlap the presses and align by the corners.
For example to mount a 40" x 30" print you would mount the top left of the print then the bottom left (ensuring that the press is overlapping a part of the already mounted first quarter), then the bottom right (once again ensuring that the press is overlapping a part of the already mounted second quarter) and finally the top right corner (once again ensuring that the press is overlapping a part of the already mounted three quarters).
It is much harder to write down that actually do.
Just work slow and methodically and it is a breaze.
Best,
David
www.dsallen.de
Yeah, I did. Twice. With an iron. Once with good result, another with a disaster. No, not a disaster, but an odyssey through hell. Anyway, both times were 20x30 inch prints. First one was a flat one printed by mpix. I succeeded to dry mount it evenly after a lot of sweating and swearing. It looked good, but since it was a color metallic RC print, overheating by the iron caused slight change in color. Not very noticeable, just slightly different.
The second one started the dry-mount-road through hell. That 20x30 print I enlarged myself on Arista RC roll paper. Obviously, it curled. Curled like a snail after a few drinks. I simply could not get a good result with an iron and ended up with bubbles on the edges. After couple of hours of fumbling, I gave up and took it to Michaels store. They put it under the press, but the bubbles became wrinkles. I said "no big deal", and printed another one. I took it to another Michaels store who told me that they don't dry mount prints for "liability reasons". "Fine," I said, and took it to Kinkos who mounted it on one of those sticky foam-boards. And then without asking me, they trimmed the edges of the print. Trimmed TOO MUCH! The result was a touch too small for the opening of the frame I was planning to use. "Fine," I said, and made two more 20x30 prints. I took them to yet another Michaels store and asked them to dry mount them. They warned me about the possibility of damage to the print, to which I replied "that's why I brought two prints, if you damage one, you can try another one." Low and behold: they mounted the first one successfully. And then, without asking me, started to trim it. I guess the person who did it was not familiar with the equipment and trimmed it with the wrong blade. At 45 degree angle. And way too much. I said "no problem, that's why I brought two prints. Just do the other one, and don't trim it this time" I went around the store looking for trinkets and things. After a few minutes the person from the framing department found me. The poor lady had tears in her eyes. She made a rookie mistake of using the dry-mount tissue instead of the release paper. On top of the print... I had to calm her down: "no big deal I'll just print another one". So, last week-end I printed two more. But this time, I just taped the print to the matting. Sorry, but no more dry mounting for me for a little while ;-)
Oh wait, what am I talking about? Sure you can do it, it's easy. Just have a few spares of the print in case something goes wrong. But really, what can go wrong? Good luck
Eugene.
The second one started the dry-mount-road through hell. That 20x30 print I enlarged myself on Arista RC roll paper. Obviously, it curled. Curled like a snail after a few drinks. I simply could not get a good result with an iron and ended up with bubbles on the edges. After couple of hours of fumbling, I gave up and took it to Michaels store. They put it under the press, but the bubbles became wrinkles. I said "no big deal", and printed another one. I took it to another Michaels store who told me that they don't dry mount prints for "liability reasons". "Fine," I said, and took it to Kinkos who mounted it on one of those sticky foam-boards. And then without asking me, they trimmed the edges of the print. Trimmed TOO MUCH! The result was a touch too small for the opening of the frame I was planning to use. "Fine," I said, and made two more 20x30 prints. I took them to yet another Michaels store and asked them to dry mount them. They warned me about the possibility of damage to the print, to which I replied "that's why I brought two prints, if you damage one, you can try another one." Low and behold: they mounted the first one successfully. And then, without asking me, started to trim it. I guess the person who did it was not familiar with the equipment and trimmed it with the wrong blade. At 45 degree angle. And way too much. I said "no problem, that's why I brought two prints. Just do the other one, and don't trim it this time" I went around the store looking for trinkets and things. After a few minutes the person from the framing department found me. The poor lady had tears in her eyes. She made a rookie mistake of using the dry-mount tissue instead of the release paper. On top of the print... I had to calm her down: "no big deal I'll just print another one". So, last week-end I printed two more. But this time, I just taped the print to the matting. Sorry, but no more dry mounting for me for a little while ;-)
Oh wait, what am I talking about? Sure you can do it, it's easy. Just have a few spares of the print in case something goes wrong. But really, what can go wrong? Good luck
Eugene.
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Eugene, that's hilarious!! Sounds like me and everything I do. Ask me about trying to install some folding closet doors a few weeks ago.
My recommendation is look for a larger press if you'll be doing any more than just a few larger prints. I tried with a smaller press and would always get some type of mark visible when viewing from the side. I was given a larger press by a retired graphics artist (a Seal froggie). Keep checking the area listings.
I recently managed to pick up a Seal Commercial 200 for just $99 with the intention of tackling dry mounting some fiber prints. After reading Eugene's post I think I may have to practice some before tackling anything important.
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