Signing name on FB paper

I'm going to have some opportunity to distribute my work in very small scale. What do you use to sign your name if you must sign on border of your prints? My paper will be Ilford FB MGIV Glossy surface.

If I was mounting it on backer/mount board, I'll sign on that with a B pencil but that's not what I'm going to do here. (I tried, it won't work)

I use pen with a very fine nib and sign my name in India Ink. And it's archival. If you're going to use a fine tip marker make sure it's acid free. Available at stores that sell art supplies.

My photo professor told me it was bad form to sign a print on the front. So I sign mine on the back, in the middle of the paper, using a soft graphite pencil; then do the same on the back of the matte.

I use a pen, on a sticker, on the back of the mount board. You can print whatever you want on the labels, or just hand write on them. I suppose you could do that directly on the back side of your prints as well. If I had to sign on the border, I guess I would use an extra fine tipped Sharpie. But honestly, I think signatures look horrible on the front (including on the board underneath the picture). YMMV, of course.

You are not worried that glue behind the sticker will yellow the print? I have seen stickers just fall right off after a decade or so and leave yellow mark.

As to signature looking badly, I really think it is just a matter of opinion. I went to a local municipal museum yesterday. I saw everything from unsigned photograph, signed ON the print in the image area, signed on borders, and signed on over mat. Strangely enough, I didn't see one float mounted and signed on the mount board. (my favorite method) A friend of mine who is an art history professor and an artist (painter) herself also says it is really up to the artist how he/she would sign (or not sign) his/her work.

Sharpie, when used on shiny surface, will eventually separate and leave a dark line surrounded by lighter area. I'd definitely NOT want to use that.

Anyway, thanks for chiming in.

A fellow I worked with whose loose prints (not dry mounted) were collected signed in verso (on the back) in pencil, and on the front on the white border lower right, in pencil also, such that the signature would be covered when over matted, as at an exhibit. So that the pencil would stick, he removed a small rectangle of the emulsion.

For this ritual, which he thoroughly enjoyed, he had a small piece of mat board with the rectangular signature window cut out. He placed this on the print, and with and architect's electric eraser took off that area of the emulsion, then signed. Just one style, that was his.

Hi, I was being facetious about the Sharpie, because I don't know what would work well.

Maybe a Deco-Color paint marker would work well. I don't know.

And yes, it's a matter of opinion. YMMV, as I said.

As for sticky labels, I have seen them on my share of old prints, as well as my share of stamps. (I used to work for an estate sales company, and dug through stuff from the turn of the century through the '80's; the average house we worked on was mostly full of stuff from the '60's and '70's.) While I have personally only put them on the back of mount boards, I think they are invisible on the back of prints as long as you don't shine light through the print. I also think the adhesive matters. You could probably do a little research with some label companies and see what they have to offer in terms of permanent archival adhesives.

So far I just sign the back of the matboard in pen. Only problem with that is they can release the print from the matboard but it isn't like I'm famous or anything... My grandfather used to sign it with, my mother said, a pen that went right into the emulsion but I'm not really sure what it was.

I just found and ordered a pen that is supposed to be acid-free and safe for photos. I'll see how it will work....

tk,
could you explain to me what "float mounted" is?

TIA

Hi,

Float mount is when a photograph is trimmed so that there are no borders. Then, this piece is mounted on a mount board. An over-mat is placed but the window is cut so that there are gaps between the photograph and opening of the over-mat. The work appears to "float" within the opening of the matting. I like this look!

Is it "float mount" or "float mat"?? Anyway, that's what I meant.

Do you sandwich a smaller piece of matt to space the rear mat and the window matt?

brucemuir said:

tk,
could you explain to me what "float mounted" is?

Click to expand...

Not tk, but here you go: Print Presentation

or

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

One well-known photographer dry mounts (or used to) the print to 2-ply mat, then attaches the piece to a regular 4-ply with photo corners, finally overmatting the whole thing with a beveled window. This to accommodate some gallery requirements that the print be removable from its substrate.

Thank you, ROL. Visual helps.

I use 2-ply mount board from FrameDestinations. If my hot-press allows, I use the same size mount board as backer board. If not, I use smaller mount board, then hinge mount that to the backer board.