dry mount video demonstration

Christopher Colley · May 30, 2005

Greetings!

I just wanted to share something I recorded earlier when mounting 10 prints for a project I had been working on. I don't own one of those snazzy dry mount press devices so I used an iron, I figured someone might be able to use the information so I made it available.

the video is 14minutes 55 seconds (yes its kind of long!) and I think it describes how I dry mount a print quite well

there are streams that I believe work on 56k as well as high speed connections

it is available on my website at http://www.depressing.org/archives/2005/05/dry-mounting.html

understand i am no expert at this, i am not a conservator but it seems to work for me!

Dead Link Removed

Eric Jones · May 30, 2005

Hi Christopher,

I was just about to take a whole bunch of 8x10 prints over to be dry mounted but after viewing your video I'm going to give it a go with the old home iron. Great music score by the way. Two thumbs up!

Thanks

Eric

juan · May 31, 2005

I've used almost the identical method for 30-years. Prints I mounted this way in the mid-70s are still firmly stuck to the mat, so it's a process that's successful over time, too.
juan

MSchuler · May 31, 2005

I did my first drymounting, with an iron, last week and am looking forward to seeing your technique. I had a bit of trouble with the mount board warping (not dry enough?).

Kevin Caulfield · May 31, 2005

Thanks for posting this, Christopher. I'm yet to ever mount a print, but now I will definitely be trying it with your method.

Christopher Colley · Jun 1, 2005

thanks everyone, youre welcome!

..I am considering maybe doing something like this with other things too?

Christopher Colley · Jun 1, 2005

MSchuler said:
I did my first drymounting, with an iron, last week and am looking forward to seeing your technique. I had a bit of trouble with the mount board warping (not dry enough?).

the problem might be solved by adding weight to the board as its cooling doing with the print facing down, I read this technique here on APUG somewhere (thanks ! person!) and it works nicely.

Konical · Jun 1, 2005

Good Evening, MShuler,

It's a good practice, especially under conditions of high humidity, to put the mounting board into a press for a minute of so, just to remove excess humidity. Sometimes, there can be enough moisture in a board to make a squealing noise and visible vapor as it is driven from the board. Having a dry board (and print) is critical if you're trying to mount RC material, but it's a good idea with FB also.

As Christopher suggests, warping may also be reduced by using a flat weight during the cooling process. One other thing which I routinely do is to mount a fixed and washed blank sheet of paper or a fully-processed and washed flawed print (I have a good supply of those!) on the back side of the mounting board, with the emulsion side facing out. The effect is that the offsetting natural curl of the photo paper on opposite sides virtually guarantees a very flat final product, even with variable humidity levels.

Konical

blaze-on · Jun 1, 2005

I downloaded your video but can't run it...I'm on a mac. Which program will launch it? Or, do you have it as a mpeg? Grazzi...

Christopher Colley · Jun 2, 2005

unfortunetly at this point it is only available as a Windows Media file blaze-on, i think i will have to look up getting some mpeg files of it for everyone else!

thanks for pointing that out, but sorry right now it only works on a windows machine

dalahorse · Jun 2, 2005

I downloaded and watched it just fine on my Mac. Windows Media Player is not included with the MacOS install media, but is available as a free download on versiontracker.com.

Andy K · Jun 2, 2005

Extremely educational and easy to follow. As soon as I get my DR up and running, mounting won't be far behind! Thank you for taking the time to do this. I look forward to seeing more if you should so decide.

Andy.

PeterB · Jun 5, 2005

Christopher, thanks for this.
I have been putting off mounting my prints for a while, because I haven't managed to find any definitive instructions on the net. (I'm too frugal to invest in another book right now!)

One thing I wanted to know for RC prints (or FB), relates to the temperature they can withstand. You mention settings such as silk or synthetic on the iron, but since household irons aren't calibrated on a regular basis (who knows what testing is done to them on their manufacturing floor), do you have an idea of the temperature reached for each iron setting you specify?
What is a safe temperature to apply to te surface of an RC print? You mention the number 200 degrees in your video, I assume this is in farenheight. Could you confirm this for me?

regards
Peter Badcock

Christopher Colley · Jun 6, 2005

PeterB,

Yes, I should have been more clear about this aspect.

RC prints are very sensitive to the heat from an iron, you probably should use a test print before you decide to put on the final one to be sure your iron is not too hot. Youll probably want to use the lowest setting you can somewhere from 170-200F should be fine (if you can measure that), though much above 200F might be too hot. If it gets too hot you will know within a few seconds as the cover sheet will stick to the print as the plastic melts... usually bringing up some plastic with it when you remove the protective cover sheet, I learned this the hard way by having my iron set to a 'medium' temperature instead of a really low one when I first attempted this. If you keep moving and use a temperature you know is safe it should be something that probably would never ruin a print unless you made an accident somewhere along the line.

I dont have experience with every iron of course, but finding the temperature thats right for your paper should be possible with nearly every iron..

as a side note, i believe you can get wax sticks that are called 'tempilsticks'. these are made of wax that mels at different temperatures, allowing you to find out how hot the iron really is... i.e. use the 210F degree stick to find out if your iron(or press) is at 210F yet...

Ive mounted RC from 170F~ thru around 210F, at about 210F is when it became too hot for my paper.... I am only guesstimating about the 170F, interpolating how long it takes to mount in a press at the same temp. to how long it takes to mount with the iron and figuring they are about the same amount of time...

Hope this helps!

(I should update that page now)

PeterB · Jun 6, 2005

Christopher, thankyou very much for your useful reply. I have a non-contact digital thermometer made by Fluke that will allow me to measure my iron's temperature rather easily.

regards
Peter Badcock

mikeb_z5 · Jun 20, 2005

Thanks Christopher! I successfully mounted my first prints this weekend using your technique!

As for checking temperature, I set the dial on the silk setting and gave the iron the old "wet finger test" If it sizzled I just backed off on the heat setting in very small increments until it stopped. It worked for me.

Thanks again,

Mike

Carol · Jun 21, 2005

Hi Christopher. I would like to add my thanks to you for taking the time to make this clip. It is now something that I would be game to have a go at. Much appreciated.

richardmellor · Jun 29, 2005

thank you for the great tutorial .A picture is worth a thousand words
a video is 5 thousand. the frame shops around here will quote you weeks to
get your work back . you have saved the members many hundreds of dollars
in shop costs. thanks again

cool tunes too

mmcclellan · Jul 22, 2005

Hi Christopher!

I finally downloaded your video and it's great! I highly recommend this to anyone who needs a dry mount press but does not want to go out and buy one -- even if they can find it. An iron can be found anywhere and your method is excellent and does the trick. Thanks again!

Doug Gordon · Aug 8, 2005

christopher,
i enjoyed your video and site. i was wondering what you used as a protective covering for your print. being a novice at dry mounting i'm under the impression i'll need release paper.

Christopher Colley · Aug 9, 2005

Doug, I just used a 'scrap' matte fibre based print that was laying around, I applied the heat to the side of the paper without emulsion.......

It was a sheet of Ilford MGIV fiber base matte, 8x10

you could use another matte board as well, I tried once with a 4 ply and it worked but a thinner board might be better (quicker)

dbltap · Dec 23, 2005

Christopher:
Very nicely done!! I had picked up on this idea from Fred Picker's book, but he disdained the idea, so I went ahead and gave it a try any way. Your video will help me fine-tune my technique. I have found that brown kraft paper works well as a release paper, or, just as well, a paper grocery sack slit open. Again, thanks for your effort.
Jim

Daniel Lawton · Dec 27, 2005

Thanks alot for sharing your demonstration Christopher. I tried to drymount using an iron but had trouble with prints larger than 8x10. Your method works great and now I don't have any problems.

Steve Weston · Dec 30, 2005

Hi Christopher

Just watched the video more out of interest than anything as it is a method I have use for a few years mounting upto 12 x 16 prints. I to had the same problem with curving boards after mounting. What I started to do was Iron the mount board first to remove any moisture and then proceed as you have described in your video. It is worth mentioning that before mounting to make sure that the board and the back of the print are clean i.e small pieces of cuttings etc as once the artwork has been mounted there is nothing worse than finding you have a lump sandwiched between them. I have also found that tracing paper is a good protector on the print as it allowes you to see what is going on as you work.

Steve.

photobearcmh · Jan 24, 2006

Chris, thanks a million. Great demo! I had never done that before and after viewing your demo tried it out and it worked like a charm. Should be a big money saver for me.

dry mount video demonstration

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