To Trim Prints or Not

[photomc]

Do most of you trim your work when dry mounting (i.e. trim the white border)? Also, how do most members mount their work - dry mount/corners/hinge/other?

Thanks

 

[Ed Sukach]

Do most of you trim your work when dry mounting (i.e. trim the white border)? Also, how do most members mount their work - dry mount/corners/hinge/other? Thanks

No, I don't trim.

I have been cutting an undermat, using Bienfang "Canvasette", for the texture, and a overmat of 2-ply mat board, either black or white ... BUT:

I am think of going to what would be an 18% gray for the overmat. Some colors "work" others do not ... and I have *no* idea why.

I had been hinging, using self-adhesive linen tape. I avoid, like the plague, the water-moistened tape as it has proved to be unstable as $%#$5, resulting in wrinkling in the frame.

I plan, in the future to use nothing but 'foamcore' as backing - either hinging to the undermat, or cold (spray) mounting to the foamcore with good old 3M 77 adhesive.

Interesting subject. I am going to re-mount everything I will exhibit in 20" x 28" frames -- (in England: 28" x 20") - portrait-wise, and mat to the necessary format, landscape, portrait, or most probably square.

There is a certain "rhythm" established by the same frame size and presentation, which I like. The images themselves will vary in size as they seem to work aesthetically.

 

[Ole]

I don't mount - it's as simple as that. If I want to frame a print, I go to the local frame shop and explain what I want. They then mount and frame it for me.

Prints to be shipped are not mounted for reasons of both postage and security. A mounted print is actually more likely to be damaged by rough handling than one shipped between two pieces of cardboard. It takes a lot less bending to damage cardboard than photo paper! The needed force may be greater, but in my experience the postal services of the world have sufficient force to bend anything. so I include cardboard to take the damage, and leave the print unmounted.

 

[lee]

For gallery shows, I use Light Impressions's Westminster buffered mat board. I cut a mat using the add about 3/8" to both sides and top. For the bottom I add an extra 1/2" to that side and then cut the mat. With the dry mount tissue attached to the print I run the print thru the paper trimmer and cut the print to size using the image as the guide mark. I then place the print on the board and put the cut mat on the whole thing and square up the mat. Then I square up the print and then tack a corner down to the back board. Once that happens I place the print and the back board in a pre-heated drymount press. The backboard and the tacked down print are slid in between two (2) pieces of mounting board that are at least as large as the backing board. The press is closed and I count "one thousand one one thousand...for about a minute. The press is opened and I remove the print and board. I generally flex the board and inspect the bond. Sometimes it needs to go back into the press for an additional minute. After the print is mounted and looks like it won't come off, I generally place the bonded material "upside down" to cool. If I have done the job correctly when the print is cooled I then place the mat on the board. I generally use 4 ply mat board and I think that is enough to separate the print surface from the glass if it is to be framed.

lee\c

 

[dr bob]

All prints for show or otherwise put on sale are mounted, over-matted and framed with the cheap Nielson black anodized aluminum frames. I trim the prints after attaching the mounting adhesive in order to achieve a "perfect" mount with no adhesive showing. I need this because the over-mats are cut to reveal about 1/2 inch of the mat board. I have done some commissioned work with the bottom relief 3/4 inch to allow for a title, date and signature. I perform the mounting but I have the mats professionally made. In my opinion, glazing is essential for any work for sale or display, however I have entered competitions where frames and glass were disallowed.

 

[Jorge Oliveira]

I don't mount and all my prints are borderless (using an easel less easel).

Jorge O

 

[removed account4]

i don't dry mount because i was always under the impression it was an unreversable situation. when i used to show a lot and part own a gallery, i would 4ply sheet with archival corners for the print and make a window out of another sheet of 4ply. i usually "top weighted" the image ( centered the window, but raised it an inch so it was off-set ) and i also left a little bit of a white border around the image. i worked in a frame shop for a while and liked how this sort of presentation looked. i also make series-images into japanese bound books. sometimes the images are the book pages, sometimes the top edge of a trimmed image ends-up being rice/wheat-pasted onto a rag paper page.

-john

 

[fparnold]

I prefer to leave a 1/4" (~1/2cm for the rest of the world) border, then hinge mount and place an overmat that just covers the border to help keep the print flat and away from the glass. Partly because of the old argument that leaving a border gives a barrier through which crud has to diffuse before finding the edges of your image, and partly because I still have the bad habit of composing to the edge of the frame, and was tired of losing part of the image to the mat.

Now if I could just spend less time obsessing about he overmat color for color pictures.

Follow up question: Glass or Acrylic?

 

[Ed Sukach]

Now if I could just spend less time obsessing about he overmat color for color pictures.
Follow up question: Glass or Acrylic?

When you find the anti-obsession formula for this color choice, let me know.

I'll choose glass. Cheaper - about half the price, and acrylic scratches like #$%#@.

 

[L Gebhardt]

I am slowly moving back to glass, I was getting plexi because the cheap frame places would ship it, but I always seem to have problems with dust - and scratches. I guess I will just stock up on glass at the hardware store. A nice white, or maybe black, works fine for color prints - I don't like colored mats.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I use glass for smaller prints and UV acrylic for larger ones, because it is lighter and easier to deal with.

 

[michael9793]

I do what Lee/c does from the same company, It will set off you work so much better and makes it look like you care about your work to others.

I even cut my own matts. Not hard if you buy the right equipment.

I'm torm between plex or glass for my 20x24 photos on 28x32 matts

 

[photomc]

Thanks for all of the input...Another question though... what size do you trim your prints to for mounting 8x10, 11x14, etc. and how do most of you mount, ie with window flush to the print, or with a slight border?