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I was wondering what i should use to mount my prints?

-- Anonymous, January 30, 1997

Answers

Response to

Robb, I use 3M's Photo Mount Adhesive Spray, then squegee the print to the foamcore or whatever surface.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 1997

Response to

How you mount your prints depends on how "archival" you want them to be, whether you want them to be removable from what you mount them on, and how you want them to look.

I don't know the thoughts on the longevity of the Spray-Mount adhesive. There are two methods that claim to be of archival quality (e.g., your print will not be degraded by these products, though if you didn't fix/wash/etc. "archivally" it probably won't matter). You can dry mount the photos onto mat board using sheets of archival quality "dry mounting adhesive", such as MT5 for fiber prints (there's a different one for RC). To do this you need a dry mount press, which is like a big two-sided iron that you place your photo/adhesive/mat sandwich into. This creates a permanent mount - you can't remove the photo afterwards. See A. Adams "The Print" or other photo books for details. Another method is to use mounting corners that simply hold the corners of the photo onto the mat board. These can be obtained in archival quality. Someone else in this forum also mentioned using archival removable tape to attach the photo to the window mat, taping the back of the photo to the back of the window mat.

The dry mount and spraymount will both be permanent. The advantage is that you can make a window mat cut larger than your photo if that's the way want to display it - with a 1/4"-1/2" open border between the edge of the photo and the window mat laid over. This keeps anything from touching the front of the photo, which some will claim is the best way to preserve the photo. The corner mounts and the taping are both reversible (using the right tape!) and so have that advantage. The window mat must then overlap the edge of the photo. For large photos they sometimes "bulge" when mounted this way. I've only used the drymount method since I usually like to leave 1/4-3/8" space around the photo. I find some photos, smaller ones especially, really needed this space. Being able to cut perfect rectangles for the photos and the mats is important when mounting matting this way!

A good photo supply store/art supply store should have the supplies I mentioned. Spray Mount will be found at crafts stores and other places as well as photo supply stores.

Hope this helps!

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1997


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