dry mounting press in europe

ic-racer · Dec 7, 2018

This thread may be of some interest if you find a used one:
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/rebuilding-seal-200-press.68914/page-2

AgX · Dec 7, 2018

Seal presses were much more common in the USA than in Belgium, as the whole heat-mounting process.

Hilo · Dec 9, 2018

teun voeten said:
Hi Hilo, I am currently looking for a mounting press. You have a spare one? I can drive to Germany.

thanks, teun

Teun, I am in Holland, but have no spare ones. The list of people looking for these is endless. But send me a pm and we take it from there . . .

RalphLambrecht · Dec 9, 2018

foen said:
Hi guys,
here in europe find a seal dry mount press it's very hard and in the US nobody ships overseas this kind of item.
So i want ask you how i can do to replace this press? Please don't say " Use your iron ...."
I still have a Hermes / ecomat press ( from maco direct ) but it isn't the same of the seal press and that makes me a lot of problem when i try to dry mount my photographs.

Can I buy something in europe similar ?

Thank you

The seal press is the best I've ever used. Took mine back with me during an overseas move; glad I did.

David Allen · Dec 9, 2018

There is a SEAL press available for collection from Hamburg available at the moment:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Seal-Master...h=item468b692001:g:3O0AAOSwYUZcCYLn:rk:1:pf:0

Price is 880€ - which is 1/3 of the price when buying new.

Bests,

David.
www.dsallen

John51 · Dec 9, 2018

Hilo said:
But if you have any thoughts to be part of the prints selling situation you better realise that galleries, collectors and museums will always prefer unmounted prints. Probably many people here will disagree with me, but this is what I think after almost 40 years in this business.

Why do they prefer unmounted prints?

kevs · Dec 9, 2018

John51 said:
Why do they prefer unmounted prints?

Archival reasons. If your prints are worth collecting, they're worth care. If the mount board contains lignin, it's likely to deteriorate (become yellow and crumbly like an old newspaper) in less-than-ideal storage conditions. It's also very difficult to separate dry-mounted prints from their mount boards. Galleries and musea use museum board, which is buffered, lignin-free board. Presumably as well, this allows them flexibility in presentation.

Hilo · Dec 11, 2018

kevs said:
Archival reasons. If your prints are worth collecting, they're worth care. If the mount board contains lignin, it's likely to deteriorate (become yellow and crumbly like an old newspaper) in less-than-ideal storage conditions. It's also very difficult to separate dry-mounted prints from their mount boards. Galleries and musea use museum board, which is buffered, lignin-free board. Presumably as well, this allows them flexibility in presentation.

Kevs is right. It is mostly about archival reasons. But space reasons come into it as well. Collectors and museums will have most of their prints sitting in drawers of filing cabinets. Mounted prints take up too much space. They're larger and a lot thicker than a single print. I have three filing cabinets (10 large drawers each) at work, with my own prints and the prints of others. I would need two or three more of those cabinets if everything was mounted.

John51 · Dec 12, 2018

To clarify, if it isn't going to be hung on a wall, there is no need mount the print?

What about RA4 prints? A lab that offers a mounting service says that prints in a frame can buckle over time. I know of framed C prints that are decades old and no sign of buckling or any other weirdness except maybe some fading of the colour.

dry mounting press in europe

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