Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
my framer just told me that the acid from Formacote eventually leaches through and wrecks the mat and print and that I should use Foamcore - which is not what a framer preiously told me.

Has anyone had experience of Formacote not being archival?

thanks,
Richard
--
http://smallfield.vze.com

   "Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first 
   and the lessons afterwards."
   --anon

I happened to be taking a workshop with some conservation scientists, 
so I double checked and they confirmed what I thought.

Foam Core/FomeCor isn't recommended as a product for this kind of use 
if Preservation is important.

There is a version where the outer barriers/layers are acid free, but 
it's not considered terribly effective. But the core is the main 
problem. The foam is unstable and usually deteriorates - often within 
ten years and also gives off all sorts of crap (technical term...)in 
the process.

Is Formacote (Formakote) specifically a NZ product? I couldn't find 
much about it. It sounds like a board laminated with similar clay 
coated outer barriers as foamcore. But I couldn't find anything on 
it's use for preservation or being tested.

Are you just using it for the thickness? 

You'd probably be better off just using proper acid free mounting 
board and if you need the added thickness for the frame, use proper 
Coroplast, which is inert.

tim a

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Richard 
Smallfield <r.smallfield@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> my framer just told me that the acid from Formacote eventually 
leaches through and wrecks the mat and print and that I should use 
Foamcore - which is not what a framer preiously told me.

> 
> Has anyone had experience of Formacote not being archival?
> 
> thanks,
> Richard
> --
> http://smallfield.vze.com
> 
>    "Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first 
>    and the lessons afterwards."
>    --anon
>

Tim Atherton wrote:
> You'd probably be better off just using proper acid free mounting 
> board and if you need the added thickness for the frame, use proper 
> Coroplast, which is inert.


I suspect that 'Coroplast' might be uncommon in New Zealand, and that 
the common local equivalent is 'Corflute'.

Peter Marquis-Kyle

Hello Tim,
thanks for your looking into this for me. 

In response, I just checked my supplier and all he has is:
http://www.tayles.co.nz/index.php?cPath=4&osCsid=67eeaf6e53c36555eb9fe707f7f2a95d

... Foam Board and Formacote. Which is all anyone in New Zealand seems to use.

I'll keep asking,
Richard 
--
http://smallfield.vze.com

   "The warning message we sent the Russians was a 
   calculated ambiguity that would be clearly understood.
   --Alexander Haig