First time printing in the new house

I just moved into my own place Jan 1 of this year. It is a small rental but it has a 7.5'x7.5' utility room with the washer and dryer in it, so of course that now plays double duty to the darkroom. Printed for the first time in about 2.5 months last night.

I mounted two safelights on the walls, covered the window with a black trash bag, and I was good to go. Plenty of space in there for one or two people to process. Enlarger sits on its own cabinet and processing trays go on the washer and dryer.

I only spent about an hour printing and made two prints from old negatives. One 5x7 from 6x6 Ilford FP4 shot while I was testing my girlfriend's Yashica D:


And one 11x14 from a 6x6 Ilford FP4 I shot with my Mamiyaflex and 135mm lens:


8x10 was the largest print size I had ever made, so I just wanted to print something big and someone had given me a box of 11x14 paper. The print of the dog (Scout) is destined for the fridge, not sure where the flower will go. Excited to finally have my own space to develop and print in!

Side question: do y'all print borders when you intend to mat and frame a print?

Nice job!

I actually don't know how to print without borders. Maybe on a vacuum easel? Or a glass plate? Print it with borders and then cut them off? But then again, I only ever print FB paper, and it won't lay flat without something holding it down. So yeah, regardless of how it gets displayed, it's going to get a border in my world.

Borders are important, because they give you an area of the print where you can handle the paper without impinging on the image. They also provide an area that the easel can use to hold the paper still and flat.
The only time I print regularly without borders is when I print postcards. For those, I choose a negative with relatively unimportant areas at the edge, so if the prints differ slightly with respect to their position in the image, the resulting cards will all still work well.

jim10219 said:

Nice job!

I actually don't know how to print without borders. Maybe on a vacuum easel? Or a glass plate? Print it with borders and then cut them off? But then again, I only ever print FB paper, and it won't lay flat without something holding it down. So yeah, regardless of how it gets displayed, it's going to get a border in my world.

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MattKing said:

Borders are important, because they give you an area of the print where you van handle the paper without impinging on the image. They also provide an area that the easel can use to hold the paper still and flat.
The only time I print regularly without borders is when I print postcards. For those, I choose a negative with relatively unimportant areas at the edge, so if the prints differ slightly with respect to their position in the image, the resulting cards will all still work well.

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That's essentially why I was asking. I didn't know hoe to keep the paper flat and in place without using the easel to print a border. I have a borderless easel, but it doesn't work very well. It just seemed strange to me printing a border if I am just going to cover it up.

saman13 said:

That's essentially why I was asking. I didn't know hoe to keep the paper flat and in place without using the easel to print a border. I have a borderless easel, but it doesn't work very well. It just seemed strange to me printing a border if I am just going to cover it up.

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Some people like to float mount (may not be the right term) their prints inside of the opening in the mat. In that case, the viewer can see a small bit of the backing board outside of the print area.

I do a lot of lith printing on when-they're gone-they're-gone papers, and I'm also used to people saying "wait, they still make FILM?" "You do that red-light room stuff, like in the movies??"

So I like to treat some prints somewhat like "this is an artifact". Like, mount a 16x20 Ektalure print to cotton rag paper just a hair narrower than the print (to keep it stiff but still a sense that it's a sheet of paper), and then float it a hair in the frame (like foam board behind, and hidden by, the print, so it 'floats" in the frame). There's the 2D image, and then there's the 3D "print" itself - 2 levels of visually experiencing it. An image and an artifact, so to speak.

When matting, I really try to leave like 1/8" of printing paper visible, for the same reason - "this is a print on paper", not just an image. Some prints, I may decide I'd like them cropped tighter and so I'll lose the print border.

I used to print everything with a larger bottom border, sign and date the print itself, and matte with 1/8 to 1/4 all around, with extra opening at the bottom, treating the signature as part of the print. Some prints that looks great, some it looks "off" - never really figured out what makes it work on one or not the other. So lately, I leave a thin border all around, and sign the matte.

I do clean up my borders regardless of matting - any testing stains or (lith) fingerprints and generall what-the-hell lith border stains - bleach them off. Kind of figure if someone ever re-matted the print, they won't see a total mess under there.

i am for fortunate that i have a spare bedroom... each print i make i pin to a blank wall and "live with it", enjoy it. i study it for awhile and modify, reprint it if i see an improvement. They all have no border. many pictures go up on the wall and i removed the borders to fit more - no aesthetic decision.

once i decide to give one away, sell it, exhibit it, or submit to a competition i reprint and matte, sometimes with border, sometimes matted to the edge of the print, each depending on what seems to fit the image.

i've grown accustomed to the whole process - and get to see, print and enjoy more of my work.

Good for You! Printing is what it's all about. I love borders. I must have 2 dozen easels. My favorite is my first. My Dad's 1940's era Airequipt 4 in 1 easel. Gives perfect 1/4 inch borders on wallet, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 prints. Still abundant on Ebay.
Have fun, Mike

Good to see that your hard work is paying off. Enjoy!!

mshchem said:

Good for You! Printing is what it's all about. I love borders. I must have 2 dozen easels. My favorite is my first. My Dad's 1940's era Airequipt 4 in 1 easel. Gives perfect 1/4 inch borders on wallet, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 prints. Still abundant on Ebay.
Have fun, Mike

Click to expand...

I found my 2-blade easel at an old camera store and it looked pretty scary, but it was the only one they had and I wanted to start printing already. But, it cleaned up well, holds my paper flat, and will print up to 1.5in borders on 11x14 paper. My only complaint is that two opposing borders are always 1/8" longer than the adjacent borders (top and bottom borders are slightly larger in the above prints). But, I can just tell people it is artistic choice. It is much more important to me that the borders are straight!

And you're right. Printing is what it is all about. It always gets me excited about shooting again. Or frustrated. Or both.