Digital BW, The Print

I'm not sure whether it is still available, but Seal used to sell  
something called "Fusion 2000" or perhaps "Fusion 4000" that was  
supposed to be the drymount adhesive alone, with no other material.  
It was/is difficult to work with, but it has the great advantage of  
being heat-reversible.  It bonded at a fairly low temperature  
(185-200, I think), and if you reheated it you could remove the print  
from the mounting board. It is difficult to use because it is hard to  
tack in place without damaging it (most tacking irons are too hot).

I seem to recall from twenty-some years ago that Seal Colormount and  
Seal Archivalmount tissues were generally preferred for B&W silver  
prints. My recollection is that the former allowed some escape of  
moisture from the back of the print, while the latter did not  
(probably because much color printing material was RC, so moisture on  
the back of the print would be trapped it the tissue did not breathe  
a bit).

Since Seal RC and Colormount were suppose to allow moisture to pass  
through so that steam during the mounting process would not bubble  
the print  or otherwise interfere with adhesion, you might consider  
using a sandwich of tissue-barrierpaper-tissue for mounting. If  
nothing else it would be a good selling point... along with those  
carefully chosen archival varnishes, right?  :-)

BTW, is 5 minutes really necessary? I never went longer that 2  
minutes, and I haven't had anything lift off. 2 minutes seemed to be  
enough even when I placed a 1-ply piece of material on top of the print.

Let us know what varnish you settle on. I've been trying various  
things, too. At first I though that the Krylon sprays yellowed the  
prints... until I realized that they were blocking UV, and that the  
prints I was using had optical brighteners in them.

Myron Gochnauer
BA, MA, PhD, LLB, LLM, Keeper of the Dogs
goch@...

>
> Message: 1
>    Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 22:50:34 -0000
>    From: "kipduff" <kip.duff@...>
> Subject: dry mounting techniques
>
> Dear Group:
> I believe that generally it's not advisable to drymount any type of
> "fine art" pictures, but I really prefer to see the photos flat,
> glossy, on a hard board, and not behind glass.  Thru
> the years I have frequently drymounted traditional photo prints
> (Ilford Galerie/Agfa Insignia) on matts or 1/8 of 1/4" Masonite.
> Someimtes I bond archival watercolor paper to the Masonite and then
> mount the photo onto that.  Now I'm drymounting B&W prints (Epson
> Ultrasmoothe Fine Arts paper) from my Epson 4800/K3 inks on 1/8"
> masonite. I
> print my pictures (usually 16 x 20") full frame from 8x10 negatives,
> and the board is the same size as the picture.  I'm using a
> Seal 210M press set at 200F and pressing the assembly for about 5
> minutes.  I'm using some old Seal RC tissue for now.  I'm also
> experimenting with different varnishes- I'm applying the varnish after
> the print is mounted on the board.  Havn't really settled on any
> brand or
> product yet.  I'm kinda flying by the seat of my pants on all this.
> Is anyone else using Seal or any heat/pressure mounting
> devices/tissues with inkjet papers?  I'm considering double layers of
> drymount tissue.  Any input on best tissue brand,
> pressing times/temperatures, technical resources, archival issues
> would be appreciated.
>  Thanks, Kip.