dry mounting ink jet prints?

For years, I successfully dry mounted the prints I made in my (wet) darkroom.

I still have my ancient dry mount press, but haven't used it since I went

digital about 5 years ago. Do some folks dry mount their inkjet prints, or is

it just for traditional darkroom papers? If so, is it OK for some injet papers

but not others?

 

I know that some folks (The Hinge Contingent) are against dry mounting

altogether, so obviously you'll be opposed to it under any circumstances. My

question is directed at those of you who used to dry mount their traditional

prints. Waddya think?

Larry, there is nothing wrong or non-archival about dry mounting generally. Ansel Adams, for instance, dry mounted his silver-based prints.

 

 

Any number of people drymount their inkjet prints without any apparent harm to the print. See e.g.:

 

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00FbGG&tag=

 

 

I prefer to leave a half-inch or larger border on my inkjet prints. I then affix the print to an acid-free board with archival photo corners and overmat:

 

 

http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/servlet/OnlineShopping?Dsp=20200&PCR=30000:220000:221000:221300

Hi Larry, yes I dry mount some of my inkjet prints without any problem - have been doing it for quite some time. Try it!

I prefer cold mount adhesives rather than traditional dry mounting tissue, and always have. I

use Scotch Mounting Adhesive (check out B&H item number SCMA1650 for an example) and

it works very well.

 

More usually, however, I prefer to use archival corners to mount in hinged mats.

 

Godfrey

I use Seal (Bienfang) BufferMount Dry Mounting Adhesive. Works at 170 F. I get mine from B&H.

Yes and if you look at Adams prints today, the substrate mount board has yellowed but new matts have been added. The prints themselves look fine. The substrate shows between the matt opening and photo.

 

Linen tape hinge or corners are safest.

I've seen seen several hundred Ansel Adams prints in person across the country and have not witnessed the yellowing substrate problem of which Ronald speaks. In any event, dry mount tissue is pH-neutral and would not cause a print or an archival mat board to deteriorate.

If you used to dry mount your prints, why would you not keep on doing it? You have already made the decision to do it, so another opinion would just cloud the issue. (it doesn't bother me at all, if it matters). You do need to pay attention to mounting temp. if you don't use a cold mount, though. Most inkjet papers and inks will spec a max temp of 164F before some boiling may occur. There are now low melt substrates available specifically for inkjet prints, notably from Bainbridge and Crescent. Any of the cold mount or pressure sensitive mounts will work, of course.

I dry mount my Epson Enhanced Matte prints with Seal Buffermount archival tissue at 170 degrees F for about 30 seconds onto archival foamboard and this works really well. I've also tried this method with Epson Premium Luster Photo paper, but that doesn't work too well; thin dark lines appear in areas like blue sky and Epson told me that that paper is not able to withstand those kind of temperatures.

Luster/gloss paper's reflective surface would show up as ripples under glass, much like a traditional print. Dry mounting them can flatten the ripples. Matte paper don't have this problem, so why would you want to dry mount them?

Thanks for the variety of opinions! Much to think about ....

-Larry