Signing prints

[keithwms]

Is pencil archival? Really? Yes I know all about sp2 carbon and it's wonderful properties, but, there is this 'eraser' technology....

 

[jovo]

Is pencil archival? Really? Yes I know all about sp2 carbon and it's wonderful properties, but, there is this 'eraser' technology....

Hehehe....if you've ever tried to fully erase a pencil mark on a mat board, you'll remember that it's one tough smudge to get rid of. I use a harder #2H pencil that makes a much lighter mark, but even at that, it isn't easy to fix an error. (2H pencils are available at art supply stores for those who sketch.)

 

[keithwms]

Fair enough, I've never written on mat board, I just initial on the print itself. But I suspect that tape will take graphite off of almost anything; I could be wrong...

 

[Dennis S]

Hard pencil on bottom right corner mat board and my stamp with name etc on the back.

 

[Mike Keers]

A friend of mine who has recently switched from analog to that other medium signs all his prints with a type of marker or pen that lays gold or silver looking ink? He signs his stylized initials (a sort of logo) in the lower right of the print itself, but very small and unobtrusive, unless you look for it in the corner. It seems from reading the above, this is probably not one of the more desirable ways, but in looking at his pics I didn't think the signature detracted from the image, but I'd never given much thought to signing photos.

I had only ever signed them lightly on the back with pencil, and near and edge so it would be where the print border is if on the front. Or I sign the back of the backer board, but that ends up under the paper dust cover.

For my working prints in RC paper I use a Sharpie and mark relevant exposure info and so forth along the bottom edge of the back, so if I do hinge mount them for my own use, I still have the info. I used to keep notes in a notebook on every print (I still do about film development), but after hundreds of prints, find it easier to simply refer to the actual working pic and the data on the back. I don't do complicated dodge and burns (minor as needed), but any of that is briefly noted on back as well. I've only been doing the Sharpie on the back for about a year, but never had any sort of issues on the RC paper. I wouldn't do it for a print I meant to sell, or on FB of course. Sri for the bit of thread drift.

 

[Vaughn]

Why not sign the way your buyer asks you to sign.

Because I do not ask them how to print the image, nor how to mat the image. But I'll let them decide how they what to frame it (and just keep my fingers crossed that they show some restraint.)

Vaughn

PS...#3 pencil, sharp and used as lightly as possible...on the front mat, lower right.

 

[Morry Katz]

I always use a floating matte, which leaves a blank rebate around the image. I sign my name, the year the image was taken and the copyright symbol on the lower right hand corner of the print margin. I use a very fine pen and India ink. I sign the print because, mattes often yellow. Besides, the print is the artwork, not the matte.
Morry Katz - Lethbridge, Canada

 

[bill spears]

I sign the print because, mattes often yellow. Besides, the print is the artwork, not the matte.
Morry Katz - Lethbridge, Canada[/QUOTE]

The matt shouldn't yellow if using quality conservation or cotton rag board.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

As Bill says, if your mount-board yellows, where to put the signature is not your biggest issue. Quality overmats and mount-boards do not yellow. If they do, they will eventually attack the print. Toning the print will protect them longer, but I suggest to get to the root cause and change the matting material.

 

[Jarvman]

Some really good responses here cheers

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

My style is generally to let the print speak for itself, this being very much the principle behind well-crafted Ilfochrome (Superchrome) prints, so framed chromes are never signed on the front mat (but information on image, etc and signature appears on the rear of the completed frame-up).

If the client does not want museum-grade conservation framing (9-ply cotton rag mat, UV-block glass and vac. sealing) but just the raw Ilfo' print, I sign my name and edition in the lower edge black border in fine-point gold permanent pen, lower right of the print (attempting to rub this off will be highly conspicuous as 'chromes easily show buffing or rubbing). That's it. Nothing else. Finished. In my case, for that reason, the borders on all chromes must be equidistant and straight (pro labs will take care of this small but critical point in terms of the print possibly being plate-mounted with borders, rather than framed with borders removed).

 

[DWThomas]

Thought of this thread yesterday afternoon. I went to a local juried art show, themed on "Scenes of the Schuylkill River Heritage Area," open to paintings and photographs. There were two photos by the same individual, framed with a fairly narrow single mat. She had written the title -- which was long -- plus her name in black ink, all in scrawly script about 7 or 8 mm high, not block letters -- across the lower part of the mat, just millimeters from the opening. Distracting as all get-out, don't even remember what the actual subjects were!

DaveT

 

[Vaughn]

Dave, one of the rare times I have seen writing the title, etc on the print and/or mat actually work was Mark Klett's prints. Sort of tied in with the "rebate" of the Polaroid Type 55 he used...and historically with the identification scratched onto glass plate negatives of the frontier photographers. But most of the time, it can be very distracting.

Vaughn