How do you hang your RC prints?

MattKrull · Dec 9, 2014

I've finally got my basement mini darkroom going (it's all good, no one ever used that bathroom anyways ).

While at school, we used an RC print dryer. At home, I've been hanging my prints over a sink to dry. It works quickly, the curl is acceptable to me, and I only have one issue: the wooden clothes pegs I use leave a mark on the print. It looks like they are scratching up the top layer. My google-fu has failed me, and the only solutions I've found to this are to dry the prints flat on a screen, or use some sort of "paper organizer" that I can't find any more details on than that.

I've thought of coating my clothes pegs in plasti-dip in hopes that may solve the problem, but before I try that, I wanted to know if anyone else had a good way of solving this (that leaves them hanging to dry, I really am short on space).

RowanBloemhof · Dec 9, 2014

Personally i dont use anything like a dedicated rc dryer. I just add a wee of wetting agent to the final rinse water. let it drip off and then use a hair dryer to dry the print.

I do make sure though i do that in a dust free enviroment. Say for instance your bath room after letting the shower run for a minute or so(warm water). That way any dust present will fall down quickly. This way the print is dry in say under 2 minutes.

To make sure i dont get any water marks i blow off any waterdrops left after dripping out.

Sirius Glass · Dec 9, 2014

I avoid the problem. I picked up an Arkay 28" wide drum print dryer and I use that to dry prints. Most of my prints are FB and a few are RC.

mauro35 · Dec 9, 2014

I use something similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Monkeybrother...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00FCSTVE6

but made of plastic. Very cheap, works great for me and saves a lot of space.

Neal · Dec 9, 2014

I use one of these.

Neal Wydra

David Brown · Dec 9, 2014

Drying racks.

sdotkling · Dec 9, 2014

I've strung some wires horizontally along a wall of my darkroom, running them through the wire handles of common office 1" paper clamp-thingies, 5 or 6 clamps per wire. I then just barely clamp one corner of the RC print, and let it dangle. There may be a slight crimp at the clamped corner, but since I only use RC as a test before I go to paper prints, I never really noticed.

Oren Grad · Dec 9, 2014

I use plastic clothes pins.

Jim Jones · Dec 9, 2014

After wiping surface water from both front and back of the print, I sometimes hang it with a plastic clothes pin with the pin not intruding into the picture area. The mark left by the pin in the margin of the print can't be seen after framing or trimming. Spreading damp prints on a bed permits drying without any mark. It also works for fiber prints, although they might need to be covered with a blanket to reduce curling.

HowardDvorin · Dec 9, 2014

plus 1

winger · Dec 9, 2014

I use screens. For awhile, I had some that I made by stapling plastic screen material to wooden frames made by taking apart some decorative window inserts (the kind that make your window look like it's got multiple panes). Now, I have some Calumet screens I bought used on here or LFPF.
For RC, I squeegee both sides and put them face down; for FB, I only squeegee the back. The screens fit on a folding clothes rack.

tkamiya · Dec 9, 2014

I squeegee front and back and lay it on old and clean bath towels on flat surface face up. Absolutely no curls or marks.

bvy · Dec 9, 2014

It hangs like the laundry -- line and clothespins. Are some sheens more prone to drying marks? I use matte/satin RC paper almost exclusively. I've never made a glossy print.

MattKing · Dec 9, 2014

I press the back against a clean, smooth flat surface (actually our refrigerator) and essentially squeegee the front with a clean, lintless towel

When the front has air dried for a few minutes, I peel the print off the fridge, and stand it to dry in a rack. The old wire racks for LP records work great for that part.

bsdunek · Dec 9, 2014

Similar to many above, I use lingerie hangers like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Laundry-Cloth...id=1418155024&sr=8-8&keywords=lingerie+hanger
I have a couple of lengths of cloths line at the end of my darkroom to hold them. The spring force is very light, and i have had not problem with marks. In any case, I clip on a very corner which will be covered by the mat anyway.
This is only for RC prints - for fiber paper I use blotter rolls after pressing between towels.

nworth · Dec 9, 2014

From a retractable clothesline using small, plastic covered clips (wooden clothespins also work well). I have used drying racks in the past, and they are better in many ways.

Nige · Dec 9, 2014

I use a wire paper rack like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Metal...779?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a3b73750b Works for postcards up to a bit bigger than 8x10's. For bigger RC prints I stand them up in the sink until they look dry then put them (face up) on my drying racks to complete drying and get them out of the way.

Mainecoonmaniac · Dec 9, 2014

A paterson print drying rack hand cranked drying roller.

Truzi · Dec 9, 2014

I've not got started with a darkroom yet, but what about one of those old manual collators? The ones that fold up when you are done, like this one:
http://www.bindingproducts.com/images/12_BinCollator.jpg

You could probably hang it from the ceiling too.

NedL · Dec 9, 2014

bsdunek said:
Similar to many above, I use lingerie hangers like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Laundry-Cloth...id=1418155024&sr=8-8&keywords=lingerie+hanger
...

ditto, although I didn't know they were called lingerie hangers.

Dr Croubie · Dec 9, 2014

I got from a supermarket / homewares shop some coathangers that are used to hang up skirts, 3 for $5 or something, and just hang the coathangers off the shower curtain rail.
They've got some nice flat plastic clips on them, they leave no indents nor drying marks.

StoneNYC · Dec 10, 2014

winger said:
I use screens. For awhile, I had some that I made by stapling plastic screen material to wooden frames made by taking apart some decorative window inserts (the kind that make your window look like it's got multiple panes). Now, I have some Calumet screens I bought used on here or LFPF.
For RC, I squeegee both sides and put them face down; for FB, I only squeegee the back. The screens fit on a folding clothes rack.

I do the same as you, screens, like old storm window screens.

Question, why only squeegee the back of the FB ones?

StoneNYC · Dec 10, 2014

APUGuser19 said:
You know something? Doing the back doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. In 45 years of darkroom, I never thought of that. Think about it. The front of a FB is always going to be the first to become bone-dry, while the paper base is still a damp sponge. So the print draws and puckers from the front drawing up, while the back is still damp. By the time the paper base has become bone dry too, it dries with a "set" because of the front drawing up. By the time it's all dry, you can put them between the pages of an unabridged dictionary for 200 years, and they'll still be all wavy.
I think Winger has shared a revelation, an epiphany. Squeegee the back. How ingeniously elementary. Duh.

My immediate thought was that squeegeeing the front prevented water spots and by not doing it I would have water spots on my print.

I figured that's why she might have done that but wanted to know what Bethe had to say about it

StoneNYC · Dec 10, 2014

APUGuser19 said:
Well you've got to figure if she's a forensic scientist, she might have seen something like that. I'm pretty sure the woman isn't a dummy. She's probably dealt with paper in all kinds of circumstances.

No she's very smart and kind.

winger · Dec 10, 2014

Thanks for the compliments!

I didn't think of the squeegee the back concept on my own, though. I can't remember which instructor suggested it, but it had to be while I was taking classes at the Danforth Museum School in Framingham, MA, 'cause that's when I started using FB.
Anyway, they said the emulsion was softer and more likely to scratch on FB than RC (took him at his word). And, yes, the paper is the part that takes longer to dry, so squeegeeing it seems to make a little more sense. Whether his reason is valid or not, it's become habit and it works for me.

How do you hang your RC prints?

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