dry mounting with an iron?

hi all- in the past, i used to dry mount most of my important work, and i had access to the dry mount press at school. however, i no longer have access to a press. i have heard some people say that they have used a household iron to dry mount small prints, but i am uncertain of how effective this would be. honestly, i have no idea of what temperature a household iron runs at. anybody know if this can be done effectively or not? thanks.

I found dry mounting with a flat iron to be very frustrating. It was nearly impossible to get even heating, and the result was bubbles under the print.

If you don't have access to a dry mount press, I would suggest looking for another means of mounting. 3M's positionable mounting adhesive is a pressure sensitive material that is applied with a brayer and that doesn't require heat.

I initially started with an iron. 5X7 was predictable, 8X10 was sketchy, and I ruined enough 11X14 prints to break down and buy a used press.

I haven't used the 3M product, but with another make of positionable adhesive sheets I found the edges of FB prints lifting up when the season changed. Worked great for RC papers, thought.

I have successfully mounted up to 11x14 with an iron, but it takes some experimentation and a great deal of patience. For my most recent prints, I've just hinged well-flattened fiber-based prints behind a window mat. So far they look good, but I haven't been through a year's worth of seasonal changes yet.

DaveT

There's an excellent video on this subject done by Christopher Colley. See (there was a url link here which no longer exists) for a link. I just tested it and the video is still there. The larger 37MB version is much better quality than the smaller one.

Mike

As others say, size matters!

I still have plenty of small prints mounted with an iron from 30 years ago, but the bigger they get, the harder it is (if you'll forgive the second double entendre).

Of course you have to ask yourself whether big pics are inherently better than small ones. My own cynical view is that a lot of people make big, indifferent pics 'cause it's easier than making good ones of any size.

i usually print between 5x7 and 8x10, and maybe the 5x7s would be doable. but the more i think about it, i think i would be too worried about ruining the print to actually try this method. i am, shall i say, a rather lousy printer, so when i finally do create a print worth mounting, i don't want to take any chances with it. perhaps i'll try another method.

Roger Hicks said:

Of course you have to ask yourself whether big pics are inherently better than small ones. My own cynical view is that a lot of people make big, indifferent pics 'cause it's easier than making good ones of any size.

Click to expand...

As a (very good) photo instructor said to the class I was in once: "If you can't make it good make it big, if you can't make it big make it in colour"!

(smiley thing goes here...)

I've done it quite successfully on 5 x 7's and up to 8 x 10's. I'm not sure if I would try it on larger prints.

I tried to measure the temperature of my iron with one of my thermometers and it seems that you need to keep the iron on a fairly low setting. I just put a sheet of ordinary paper between the print and iron and slowly wiggle the iron around the print in sections (3 or 4 sections on 5 x 7's and 4 or 5 on 8 x 10's) for about a minute in each section.

It seems to work better with Pt/Pd prints than silver paper. Probably because of the type of paper.

DaveOttawa said:

As a (very good) photo instructor said to the class I was in once: "If you can't make it good make it big, if you can't make it big make it in colour"!

(smiley thing goes here...)

Click to expand...

Dear Dave,

I'll steal that! Thanks.

R.

Unless you have issues with paper curl, which is less of a problem on small prints I would just use a quick and easy t-hinge

I've managed dry mounting 8x10's with an iron but the failure rate is significant. Getting the photograph, tissue, and mount board hot is only half the job. The critical bit is to get the "sandwich" to cool quickly under pressure. That is hard when the iron is smaller than the photograph; one bit's hot while the rest is cold.

Oh, and make sure the iron is not on the "steam" setting. This, from experience, definitely does not work!

I recently had to mount a couple of prints for an exhibition, and used the t-mount method since I don't have a press. It worked quite well, though I used 8-ply board for the overmat partly to make sure there was enough mass to keep the prints flat. I flattened the prints for several days under weights to make sure they started nice and flat. I thought about dry mounting them with an iron, but decided it would be too much trouble and risk.

Like much classic photo equipment, a dry mount press is a lifetime investment. The second-hand press I bought 20+ years ago has certainly paid for itself. Spray adhesives and pressure-sensitive adhesives have been unreliable. I do prefer a clothes iron for tacking mounting tissue to the back of the print before mounting, despite having a more expensive tacking iron.

Roger Hicks said:

Dear Dave,

I'll steal that! Thanks.

R.

Click to expand...

I've seen the line attributed to graphic designer Paul Rand in this form:

"If you can't make it good, make it big. If you can't make it big, make it red."

I've done it up to 11x14, which is the largest size I (rarely) print anyway.

The trick to it is that you need to keep even heating. It's actually really quite easy- move in circles. Start by tacking down the middle, rotating the iron in an area roughly the size of a quarter, then move out in bigger circles. As you reach a big enough circle, lay the iron flat and move in slow circles. This way you evenly heat the whole piece, and tack down all of it. However, you MUST put a sheet of blank paper (regular printer paper or two sheet of newspaper work fine) between the photo and the iron, otherwise the emulsion bubbles up.

So really, just be sensible about it, and it's quite possible. I learned to do this proficiently after just a few prints- mostly because I don't have access to a press.

Keep the iron on a low setting, I put it on silk setting (level 2 to 3 out of like 9), too hot and the photo bubbles; too cold and the sheet won't adhere properly.

As I said, I cannot attest to larger print sizes; I'm certain the larger print would be more difficult to keep heated evenly.


Happy mounting!

If you look hard enough you can find an affordable dry mount press. The last one I got (off ebay) was less than $10.00 (shipping the thing cost waaay more!) It came from a High School photo lab and is in very good condition, but wasn't listed under the darkroom listing but t-shirt transfers instead. I like to think that I rescued the thing from eternal banality.

I see Seals and Technals often going for around $100 on Craig's List in large cities. Go get one!

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

might this be of any use?