Topic: looking into alternatives to dry mounting

[jojonas~]

I'm having a hard time sourcing dry mounting sheets locally so I'm thinking about trying the photo mount spray by 3M.
Anyone here tried it for putting up prints?



I'm not looking for pro-grade super arhival or anything
but I like that it claims to atleast be ph-neutral and I hope there'll be no immediate shrinkage that might warp the print.
another con would be if it's strong enough to hold curvy efke fiber prints, I haven't gotten to terms with print flattening yet

[Francois]

I've done spray mounting and it works fine.
You can even do wet mounting. It's cheaper but a whole lot messier.

The trick to keeping mounted prints from warping out of control is to keep your old botched prints.
I know this sentence sounds weird but here's the official trick.

You mount the good print by putting glue on its back and you mount the bad print on the back of the mounting board by laying glue on the image side to hide the horror

Think of it as a print sandwich with board in the center. If they're both the same paper, the forces of expansion and contraction of the front print due to humidity changes get counter balanced by the same changes on the back. This results in prints that are flatter than a pancake.

[jojonas~]

I've done spray mounting and it works fine.

sounds good so far

The trick to keeping mounted prints from warping out of control is to keep your old botched prints.
I know this sentence sounds weird but here's the official trick.

You mount the good print by putting glue on its back and you mount the bad print on the back of the mounting board by laying glue on the image side to hide the horror

Think of it as a print sandwich with board in the center. If they're both the same paper, the forces of expansion and contraction of the front print due to humidity changes get counter balanced by the same changes on the back. This results in prints that are flatter than a pancake.

so I guess you mean that the front print would pull the board with it as it curves? seems like putting another print with the front onto ththe back of the board would be in the same curve but I guess it helps to hold the board in just staying in place?

[Francois]

That's what it does.
If the front shrinks a bit, the entire board would make a concave curve towards the front. By putting a print on the back, it will shrink and expand at the same rate as the front pulling everything flat.

[Andrej K]

If it doesn't work, let me know and I could get some dry mounting tissue for you and send it uo north.
I also have a double sided self-adhesive tissue that I can send you, I don't use it since I've bought the Seal hot press.

[gsgary]

That's what it does.
If the front shrinks a bit, the entire board would make a concave curve towards the front. By putting a print on the back, it will shrink and expand at the same rate as the front pulling everything flat.

We have been doing this in construction for years

[jojonas~]

If it doesn't work, let me know and I could get some dry mounting tissue for you and send it uo north.
I also have a double sided self-adhesive tissue that I can send you, I don't use it since I've bought the Seal hot press.

thanks for the offer! I'll be in touch if need be then might be a good oppurtunity to try them and if I can make it work (even though I have no heat press) I could look into sourcing from an international seller next time I need some.

[Francois]

I usually do my dry mounting with a plain old cloth iron. It works just fine if you don't use water or steam.

[Pete_R]

I've used it in the past. Always worked for me though the smell tends to hang around for some time. There used to be two types. IIRC, the red can is instant stick while the one in the blue can gave you a chance to reposition. I think the blue can one is called Spray Mount.

[Francois]

Just don't forget when you use the spray stuff to turn the can upside-down and empty the system. If that glue hardens in the nozzle or the main tube, you're never going to get it out of there!