Spray or tissue

Which is the better.
To use a spray adhesive or to use dry mount tissue and heat to mount prints?
Tissue seems to almost unobtainable here in Canada whilst there are various sprays available.

Melvin J Bramley said:

Which is the better.
To use a spray adhesive or to use dry mount tissue and heat to mount prints?
Tissue seems to almost unobtainable here in Canada whilst there are various sprays available.

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do yourself a favor and stay away from spray adhesives. the spray gets everywhere and makes a BIGmess. gry-mount tissue is available online.

Never use spray mount. You can use linen hinges if you don't want to dry-mount with tissue.

Melvin J Bramley said:

Which is the better.
To use a spray adhesive or to use dry mount tissue and heat to mount prints?
Tissue seems to almost unobtainable here in Canada whilst there are various sprays available.

Click to expand...

Melvin, I buy rolls of it from Prographics in Calgary.
Did you try Carr Mclean ?

Spray is nowhere near as good as tissue. There's no comparison.

I wouldn't try to dry mount RC.

Dry mount tissue, a press and weights. Proper size, I have old Seal brand, metal weights to press the photo and mount while cooling. Still my favorite way to handle fiber base paper. When my dear father was still with us he'd make me nice frames out cherry and oak.

Spray adhesive is not only long-term unreliable, with the solvent outgassing really bad for prints, but is quite hazardous to your health, and should ONLY be used in an aggressively ventilated explosion-proof coating tent wearing a full-face organic vapor respirator. It's the type of product which deprives your brain cells of oxygen and rots it out just like glue-sniffing, and has in fact outright prematurely killed a considerable number of pro picture framers of a former generation, when it was once a popular method. The damn stuff should be outlawed. Insulation applicators use it for attaching fiberglass insulation to plumbing pipes, generally in confined spaces. It doesn't take long for them to start acting disoriented and wacko, if they haven't already blown themselves up smoking a cigarette. Yeah - I've actually seen and heard the results of that too. "Heard" is an understatement.

I am very surprised you would even think of mentioning spray adhesive!
In Australia, that hazardous stuff went out for EPA, workplace health and safety reasons (in commercial production facilities) many years back. In all of my museum-grade conservation framing I have used (and continue to use) Seal ColourMount tissue and mounting press; never had a hiccup or fault with this and it is readily available, though has increased incrementally in cost over the last 5-6 years. Even schools have banned the use of spray adhesives for art/craft classes, chiefly because some kids will flog a can and share-a-sniff with their mates (with well-documented catastrophic effects).

Stick with dry mounting tissue... but I agree. It's hard to source here. I haven't bought any for years, as I work mainly with Alt. processes, and hinge mount... If I were to buy it again, I would probably try the Canadian company Carr McLean

Andrew O'Neill said:

If I were to buy it again, I would probably try the Canadian company Carr McLean

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I doubt it.
You would have spent every last dime on a Hasselblad...

If you have a Walmart or fabric shop near by you can pick up this material, it will work in your heat press.

Rick A said:

If you have a Walmart or fabric shop near by you can pick up this material, it will work in your heat press.

HeatnBond UltraHold Iron-on Clear Adhesive for Fabrics, 17 Inch x 5 Yards - Walmart.com

Buy HeatnBond UltraHold Iron-on Clear Adhesive for Fabrics, 17 Inch x 5 Yards at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

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I thought that had a slight texture to it. My wife uses something like it.

I only use dry mount tissue. I use 2 dry mount presses one turned on and the other turned off. I cook it in one and press and cool it in the other. Just did 3 prints yesterday morning. Many years ago I tried spray mount and they all failed in one way or another.

Since 20 years or so I mount my prints using Gudy 831 Fine Art smooth. It is easy to use, PAT-tested and holds the print flat and reliable. I never had any problems with this doublesided foil. Possibly also for others to be considered? I can buy it here in Germany quite easily, but I think you can get it almost everywhere.

Seal Colormount became D&K Colormount, which in turn has been functionally replaced by
Drytac Trimount. I've been using this category of drymount tissue for decades - more reliable than lower temp buffered "Archival Mount", which was meant to be removable (and might do so even in a hot delivery van or hot car trunk!).

In terms of pressure-sensitive cold mount adhesives, Gudy 831 is similar to 3M PMA (Positionable Mounting adhesive). Talus Bookbinding Supply sells it here in the US. It's really more of a bookbinding cover product, and perhaps suitable for smaller FB prints. A lot less elegant than drymounting, and can look like "orangepeel" hell with glossy prints on less than completely smooth substrates. Print edges are also likely to lift over time unless held flat by a partially overlapping window mat. But it's a good suggestion for certain kinds of smaller prints.

Serious permanent cold adhesive foils require a professional roller press and some training.
One mistake and you've ruined the print. That kind of procedure is best for large RC and polyester based color prints, big inkjet work too.