Dry Mounting for Albums/Portfolios

[ragnar58]

Hello to All,
After using the usual books (e.g., Itoya, Prat) to store and view photographs, However, I have become disenchanted with the plastic sleeves. Either they won't lay flat and smooth or they create a glare. I like the books because if someone wants to view prints, the books are easier to handle than boxes of prints.

What would be ideal is mounting prints on both sides of a thin mount board page and using an interleaving sheet between pages. The thinner the board, the better because more pages would fit into the book. 1-ply (~0.0129") would be best but I'll settle for 2-ply (~0.0305").

So, my questions are:
Is this a common practice?

If the photos are basically the same size, would the residual stresses balance out and the board not warp?

For this application, would it be best to use a cold pressure-sensitive adhesive? I would worry about adhesive around the edges of the print.

I have access to all the needed equipment to completed the project but wanted to check this group to get some advice/experience and not have to start from scratch.

 

[tkamiya]

Dry mounting is permanent. I wouldn't do that just to show prints.

Also, dry mounting, since it is done under heat and pressure makes an indentation on the mount board. It will be very difficult to do that on both sides and have both of them look absolutely perfect.

What I do is, I have many backing board with photo corners and a mat board with windows already cut. I use that to show my prints, if Itoya stuff is not sufficiently formatl.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Drymounting could be done to create a very elegant handmade book effect. But you'd have to store it tightly closed analogous to a flower press. That's because on thin board especially, the differential between the print and backing would want to curl with humidity changes. Archival mounting substrates tend to be quite hydroscopic. If you want to go the adhesive route, don't use a full permanent type,
but removable pressure-sensitive tabs. I don't know who has them nowadays, but in the past I found
Gudy tabs quite useful for portfolio work. Othewise, reusable 3M ATG "Post-It" tape.