bowed masonite photo

[Leslie S.]

I have a 16 x 20 photo portrait, printed on canvas (?), mounted to fairly thin masonite, and then "texturized" with fairly heavy brush strokes. It has bowed in toward the picture. In the past, on other substrates, I have counter-mounted something of equal weight on the other side to straighten the warp out. Will this work on masonite? Can it take a trip thru the heat press, or should I cold mount it? If heat, will fusion stick to masonite? Will heat affect the "texture" (I have no idea what was used on this). This is to be matted with a fillet and linen mat and frame...no glass, so no help from the sandwich effect! I know, I know, but I was not there when this came in and the client INSISTED! :rolleyes: Help!

Leslie

[Ron Eggers]

You're going to need some of Peavy's concave glass.

It's hard to imagine what would have caused this, since resin-coated photo papers (nearly all color and most modern B&W papers)do not absorb moisture.

I wouldn't apply any heat, since you can't be sure what kind of lacquar was applied for the texture. I doubt that cold mounting will help. And it's going in a mat with no glazing?

I don't think even Jim Miller can help you with this one, but try some Mylar straps.

Or beeswax.

Or Wall Buddies.

[Leslie S.]

It looks like it is printed on canvas, rather than traditional papers. Maybe it was wet glued to the masonite, thereby causing the warp. Who knows? As for the glass, the lady spends lots of money but she nearly always wants something weird, or at least done in a non-traditional manner. She insisted an mats and fillet, but ABSOLUTELY did not want glass, because it ruined the oil painting effect...also did not want museum glass....as I said, this was taken in by one of my poor, unsuspecting staff who has never dealt with this lady before. I'm pretty sure they were quivering bowls of jello by the time she left!

[AnneL]

It might be a canvas transfer. These are popular with studios as their "top of the line" finish, often just as you describe with a heavy textured lacquer finish (Ron, it's a thick, goopy lacquer that is spread on then "textured" using a trowel type tool). The canvas is often mounted to masonite by the lab using a cold mount type adhesive. Sounds like the masonite was exposed to moisture and warped. Or maybe the canvas has shrunk a bit and is pulling it. Either way, you might just want to counter mount using a cold mount adhesive. Maybe a second thin piece of masonite will work. Good luck!

[GUMBY, GCF]

Ron could not help but to notice the concave convex glass thing with you. But wouldn't it really depend on which side of the glass you were on? Kinda like if you keep making right hand turns you end up in the same place. Much like which side of the car is the right side of the car the drivers side or the passenger side? Depends on if you are in US or UK type thing. So in the glass case it would be convex if you were looking at it from the front of the frame but concave if you were installing it from the back right?
Gumby

[Ron Eggers]

I see what you mean, Gumby. If you are a silverfish walking around inside the frame, you would probably call the old bubble glass "concave."

If you are a bat hanging from the ceiling of a cave, a stalactite becomes a stalagmite, and vice-versa.

I must learn to look at things from alternate vantage points.

Do I need to roll out another silverfish photo?

[Leslie S.]

Ron,
Please, NOOOOO!!!! Not the dreaded silverfish! Not unless you want to give Merp's Mom a case of the willies!

Leslie

[Greg Fremstad]

I imagine this masonite bowed because the front was sealed against moisture absorbtion and the back side was not. Counter mounting when this was first done probably would have prevented this. Cold counter mounting probably won' t help now as I don't see what forces would apply to make it straighten out. I think that the back side has absorbed moisture and swelled. Perhaps if you could dry out the back side by putting it face down on release paper in an open heated mechanical drymount press or heat/vacuum press without the vacuum on at say 130°F for a few hours. Then counter mount with a like material or at least seal it aganist moisture with acrylic paint or something. BTW, When you are asked to mount thicker art like this, always suggest counter mounting. Mount the back side first, then mount the art to the front. Unequal laminations usually bow!

[Leslie S.]

Thanks for all the replies. When I read the other post about floating a photograph, and one of the choices of substrate was masonite, I wanted to shout "NO! Save yourself!". I was not at the store when this was taken in, and no one said anything about the bow until it was time to frame it. I actually came up with a solution, but it took three times as long as it should have, not to mention the aggravation. Also, it may explode! :D I have given strict instructions as to what to do the next time one of these puppies comes in the door...for example, why didn't they sell the client a really wide liner with hand wrapped fabric? ERRRRG.

[Greg Fremstad]

Leslie, Please share your solution for the bowed masonite problem.

[Leslie S.]

I was afraid to use heat, so I counter-mounted some thick canvas to the back side (used glue), put it under some serious weights for a couple of days. It was raining like crazy here those two days, so between the humidity and the wet mount, it was pretty flat when I took the weights off. In the meanwhile, I had prepared the fabric mat, put in the liner with glue, let that dry. I cut a strainer to the outside dimensions of the mounted picture. The fillet was fairly wide,and covered about 3/8" of the edges of the picture. I filled in around it with acid-free foamcore to make a level surface, and glued the stretcher to the back of the fillet (leaving a little more than 3/8 exposed) and the foamcore, filled in the rest of the outside with strips of foam-core to be even with the stretcher (good thing this was a pretty deep profile!) I basically made a rabbit, with something solid to put the points into to hold the masonite flat. I used a couple of sheets of plexi for extra rigidity behind the mount, shot the entire stack in with framers points. Like I said, if I had to do this again, I would do it much differently, from the get-go! ARRGGG.

[emarie]

Originally posted by Leslie S.:
Thanks for all the replies. When I read the other post about floating a photograph, and one of the choices of substrate was masonite, I wanted to shout "NO! Save yourself!"Hearing you now and running like the dickens from any future use of masonite ...

Gratefully,
E. Marie