query about facile, 'no drama' print presentation

Is there an easy way to present prints to the public (from flea markets to more formal)? My query involves this:

I was thinking of buying some high quality acid-free 'card' stock, then folding a sheet and cleanly cutting a rectangle on the front to make a quick window 'mat'. Also, I would like to receive affirmation on the use of Scotch (3M) Double Stick Removable Poster Tape or acid-free glue sticks and let that be that.

Is this a 'disaster'? There is so much dire warning about unsafe materials that I think, perhaps, this fear mongering has been 'done to death'. Today, even standard copy paper does not yellow with time and I think that the improvement with even ordinary office materials just might not be so much of an issue, unlike when I was a kid in the 50s when Scotch tape would yellow in a matter of weeks.

I am not Ansel Adams but I would like to know that a few decades will not be unbearably unkind to my feeble attempts. Please, all, try to remember that even if a print is 'done' to archivable standards you still have airborne pollutants to contend with. The world is not an incubator. Please help separate 'trend' from fact for all of us. - David Lyga.

Your acid free card stock idea sounds fine, then just use archival corners or linen tape for attaching the print. Either method is archival, reversible, and incredibly cheap. I've been using the same box of clear corners for a long time; the cost is almost nothing.

Mark Crabtree said:

Your acid free card stock idea sounds fine, then just use archival corners or linen tape for attaching the print. Either method is archival, reversible, and incredibly cheap. I've been using the same box of clear corners for a long time; the cost is almost nothing.

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Photo corners are indeed extremely inexpensive. They are also very versatile, because if you print all of your work at the same print size, the photo corners allow you to just remove a print from its mount, and replace it with another.

if you can't find photo corners you can
clip the corners off of an envelope or make them yourself
they are just a rectangular piece of paper folded ..
and with a little glue stick, you are off to the races

Archival corners and mat board 2ply and 4ply, then place in a clear archival sleeve. For more formal presentation sectional aluminum frames. Check the PrintFile site (they are APUG supporters).

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

Given your rational approach to the end product I see nothing wrong with doing it on the cheap. LI eek used to sell pre–made window mats of the kind you're after, but they can easily and cheaply be constructed at home. Instead of folding matting board, use 2 for each size/print. Simply cut a window (beveled would be nice) in one and mount the print to the other with large photo corners, as previously suggested. Just make certain the window mat borders cover the photo corners completely and overmat the print. Then, and this is the not–so–tricky part, hinge the two boards together with (self adhesive linen, if possible) tape, at the top for horizontals or on the left side for verticals. You can remove print, to be sold unmounted if desired, and reuse the presentational mountings over and over again, or sell with the print. The whole affair is not that much different function wise than "normal" presentation methods (see Print Presentation) – just loose, without archival materials, and reusable. Quite "facile", but also elegant.


P.S. Do yourself and your customers a favor and please don't use glue (sticks or otherwise) at all.

Why not just simply placing small pieces of the Scotch double stick poster tape behind the print? That seems even simpler. Thank you all. And, ROL, why not glue sticks. Are they poison to prints? - David Lyga

Also, I do have another question? Oftentimes I see prints for sale at flea markets or even galleries where they are covered with an extremely clear plastic of some sort. I believe that this is done to keep out the dirt and smudges. What is this covering and where can it be bought? Thanks. - David Lyga

David,
My wife is a painter and has used these clear plastic bags for unframed work. They are acid free. Try http://www.dickblick.com/products/acid-free-poly-bags/
or
Dead Link Removed

David Lyga said:

Are they poison to prints? - David Lyga

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Pretty much.

Thank you both. And hvandam2, thank you for the info. BLICK is only a mile from where I live in Philadelphia. - David Lyga

David Lyga said:

Also, I do have another question? Oftentimes I see prints for sale at flea markets or even galleries where they are covered with an extremely clear plastic of some sort. I believe that this is done to keep out the dirt and smudges. What is this covering and where can it be bought? Thanks. - David Lyga

Click to expand...

Like this?


Crystal Clear Bags: http://www.archivalmethods.com/Product.cfm?categoryid=0&Productid=165

Yes, is there a 'household' solution (inexpensive) or is there only the 'proper' way to do this protection? - David Lyga

david

are all your prints standardized one size print, are they all one size ?
you might be able to get a boatload of precut mats ( all acid free ) for not much $$
then you just get acid free foam core .. cut it to the same size as the overmat
.. get a few sheets of acid free paper ( copy paper is acid free sometimes )
cut a whole bunch of small rectangles and fold them in the middle to make your acid free corner
use lineco (or whatever brand you like ) linen tape, and glue the corners down with the print in the window
and get your dickblick bags and you should be in good shape for not much money.
i have a alto ez mat cutter i bought 25+ years ago ( 50$$ ) and i makes it easy to cut mats if you want to go that route
you can cut them in anything, form matboard to foamcore to ... rag paper ... you can also
get rag paper and a box cutter xacto and a ruler and cut windows that way .. a "museum sheet" of foamcore or 4ply board
will run you about 5$ ( or used to anyways ) for a 32x40 sheet rag paper is cheap too and comes in big sheets.

have fun !
john