Edwal Super-Flat

[DrPablo]

Does this stuff work, and if so does it affect the archival stability of prints?

All I can find are a couple scattered anecdotes out there espousing both extremes.

 

[Renato Tonelli]

I've never heard a definitive statement on it. Most people I've asked tend to think that it will adversely affect archival stability.
You would be better off flattening your prints with a dry-mounting press.

 

[Neal]

Dear Paul,

FWIW, I tried it several years ago with minimal improvement. I just checked the few prints I used to test it and they seem fine after about 7 years, but they have been in polyethylene sleeves over that time. So far, a combination of heat, pressure and time seems to work best for me. In my case, as no one is hounding me for prints, time and pressure is the norm.

Neal Wydra

 

[DrPablo]

A dry mounting press just isn't an option -- no room for it, and they still go for a few hundred dollars on E-bay, just not worth it solely for flattening prints. How about a clothes iron on a steam setting?

 

[patrickjames]

Use something flat like a book or a board and then put enough weight on it (I use a 35lb dumbell) and you will have flat prints in a jiffy.

Patrick

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

A dry mounting press just isn't an option -- no room for it, and they still go for a few hundred dollars on E-bay, just not worth it solely for flattening prints. How about a clothes iron on a steam setting?

For FB paper, I've found that normal air-drying on racks (overnight), and then pressure (photos between sheets of blotting paper, stack of book on top) is sufficient to make a proper flat print. If you do it this way, it's good to take the print out of the stack every once in a while to make sure that any humidity still trapped in the photo is dried out. Slow, but foolproof.

If you dry with heat, it is of paramount importance that you be able to apply pressure at the same time. A drymount press should of course give you good results, but a clothes iron at low heat, pressed onto a sandwich of blotter/photo/blotter gives good results as well. But you really need to make sure you apply consistent pressure.

Most curling problems I've had were due to a bad combination of quick drying / lack of pressure. The old driers with a curved bed and a cloth covering can be particularly bad in this respect: they dry too quick, and don't give enough pressure. They can be useful to accelerate initial drying, but you have to monitor them closely, otherwise your edges will curl.

You can use acid-free watercolor paper if you can't find blotting paper. As long as it leaves no fiber in the gelatin, no texture marks, no chemical residues, and can absorb water, you should be fine.

 

[kb244]

I just simply (if I am not worrying about gloss-fying the front) let it dry a lil squegeed onto a ferro plate, then when it seems dry enough not to be soping wet, but still enough so that it hasn't curled yet, put down a sheet of cardboard, then some wax paper on top of that, then the print face down, then something asorbant like say photo wipes with the end hanging off to the side, then nother sheet of cardboard, then weigh it down with a book or two. Or do the same thing with a flower press. Every once in a while I open it up, either rotate the print, or change out the wax paper or turn the photowipe around, and then reset back in there.

Someone told me the same thing I do can be done with a "Blotter Book" or "blotter roll".

 

[Dave Krueger]

I tried pressure with a big ol' stack of books many times over long periods of time (even weeks) to no available. I finally broke down and bought a dry mount press. I think the heat plays more of a role than the pressure.

Somethings just can't be made to lie flat. I just did a table top shoot with an old piece of formica I had stored more than ten years ago under a stack of plywood and acrylic sheets. It was essentially held flat for ten years and still had enough of a curl that I couldn't make it lie flat on the table even with the edges clamped under wood planks. The center still wanted to rise up. I finally caved in on that, too, and permanently glued it down.

Curl/Warpage is the antichrist.

 

[jmdavis]

I dry my prints face down on fibreglass screens. The do curl a little. I flatten them either with a drymount press (handles 16x20 and cost around $50 from ebay) or under a couple of books with 30-40lbs of weight (actaually an ammo box of tools). They seem to flatten overnight at the longest.


Mike

 

[dancqu]

A dry mounting press just isn't an option -- no room for it,
and they still go for a few hundred dollars on E-bay, just
not worth it solely for flattening prints.

I've updated a method popular years ago. It's a modification
of the corrugated board and blotters stack method of drying
and flattening at the same time. The prints remain covered so
stay very clean.

My modification incorporates a special Ventilator corrugated
board with hydrophobic separators. For less than $20 you can
have an ultra light weight easy to stow way of flattening and
drying. At www.forestry-suppliers.com you'll find a
supply of the corrugated board and driers; the latter if not
up to cutting your own. Search there for, ventilators.

A material called Interfacing, found at any fabric outlet,
does very well for my separators. Costs nearly nothing.
I allow a week for drying. Eight pounds of magazines
on top is all it takes. Sponge dry and into the stack;
20 8x10s, up to 11x14s gently drying. Dan