Client asking us to "flatten" their print for framing

[K.Murphy]

Hey all! When a client brings you a rolled print (in this case $200 limited edition giclee, for whatever that's worth) that we do not want to dry mount and the client does not want matting, how do you go about flattening it so it looks presentable inside the frame package?

We have a bienfang D-roller, but it's so old and sketchy looking I'm afraid it's going to crease or harm prints, so I try to avoid using it like the plague. We also have our dry mount press we use to "iron out" prints on a crush board, but I've read some giclees are unpredictable with heat and I honestly can't tell the difference between papers and inks to know what reacts and what doesn't.

Are perimeter hinges with spacers theoretically my only choice in this situation? Or perhaps DCO with plexi? But then you get into microabrasions and all that

How would you handle this?

 

[Mary Beth van der Horst]

I recently had a large signed movie poster on thick rag paper. Possibly a silkscreen or something. It had gotten crushed while rolled and looked like garbage as a result. We also didn't want to mount it, but with lots of shrugs and disclaimers, we(the customer and I) decided to iron it out in the drymount press which worked wonderfully! I sandwiched it between clean pieces of matboard and let it run in bites around 200 F for about 5 minutes. We then did a direct contact with acrylic into a frame cut to size and lined with barrier tape. One of the reasons we felt good not mounting it though, was the paper was REALLY thick and could stand up well on its own. A more conservative temp for the press if you aren't sure about inks and materials may be 180 or less. Or no heat at all... sometimes just pressing for a day or more can do wonders. Don't attempt any flattening without disclaimers and fully informing the customer of all involved risks. Ultimately, the customer has to make that decision after you lay out all the pros and cons. Microabrasions are a thing, but DCO will flatten it out with the least headache. Want to avoid that? Optium Museum Acrylic will minimize that. It's all going to be a balance of risk, budget, and aesthetics for the customer.

How would you describe the inks and paper it is printed with? That could help assess some of the risks involved.

 

[Ylva]

I would suggest the DCO with plexiglass but point out the potential abrasive risks with that. Whatever they decide, there will be risks and to me the DCO is probably the least risky of them.


If it would have been perfectly flat, how would you have framed it?

Some paper will relax under weight, I sandwich things between 2 pieces of foam board and weigh it down for a week or so. Sometimes good results, sometimes not much change at all but in general, it does relax a little bit.

Some framers would try to counter roll it over a large diameter tube.

 

[wpfay]

Straight framing has inherent risks, and all the prep work in the world won't diminish that.
This would qualify for an AFA designation (Against Framer's Advice).

Flattening without humidification won't change the "memory" of the paper, and it will want to return to the rolled up state should a rapid environmental change occur (opening a window on a nice fall day after breathing HVAC air for 3 months). This is best done by a conservator, so the practicality of passively pressing the piece between two solid sheets of board for a while is your best option. I have used heat, but not on contemporary giclée due to the uncertainty of their reaction to heat.

If you do a DCO with acrylic, and I agree it is the least harmful option, cut the backing/acrylic/frame 3/8"-1/2" oversized, and loose fit the piece in the frame, allowing for natural expansion/contraction. A bare minimum of hinges should be used, if at all.

 

[tedh]

I’ve been surprised at how well rolled prints flatten out after two weeks between clean sheets of foam core, and just a little weighting. Patience pays off.

 

[K.Murphy]

I recently had a large signed movie poster on thick rag paper. Possibly a silkscreen or something. It had gotten crushed while rolled and looked like garbage as a result. We also didn't want to mount it, but with lots of shrugs and disclaimers, we(the customer and I) decided to iron it out in the drymount press which worked wonderfully! I sandwiched it between clean pieces of matboard and let it run in bites around 200 F for about 5 minutes. We then did a direct contact with acrylic into a frame cut to size and lined with barrier tape. One of the reasons we felt good not mounting it though, was the paper was REALLY thick and could stand up well on its own. A more conservative temp for the press if you aren't sure about inks and materials may be 180 or less. Or no heat at all... sometimes just pressing for a day or more can do wonders. Don't attempt any flattening without disclaimers and fully informing the customer of all involved risks. Ultimately, the customer has to make that decision after you lay out all the pros and cons. Microabrasions are a thing, but DCO will flatten it out with the least headache. Want to avoid that? Optium Museum Acrylic will minimize that. It's all going to be a balance of risk, budget, and aesthetics for the customer.

How would you describe the inks and paper it is printed with? That could help assess some of the risks involved.

I haven't seen the art yet, the client called earlier in the day and is supposed to come in this Saturday so I can see the print and discuss options for it. She started the conversation by asking if "we have room to flatten art" as she doesn't have space at her home, but we don't necessarily have space in the shop to leave something large hanging around like that (moreso my anxiety lol). We usually run our press at 160 since we use KoolTack products outside of the occasional 180 Buffermount.

How did the creases/crush marks look after you ran it through your press? Were they still super noticeable? I just had a conversation with a gentleman yesterday about a cheap poster he wanted me to magically repair after it had gotten crushed in the mail lol.

I would suggest the DCO with plexiglass but point out the potential abrasive risks with that. Whatever they decide, there will be risks and to me the DCO is probably the least risky of them.


If it would have been perfectly flat, how would you have framed it?

Some paper will relax under weight, I sandwich things between 2 pieces of foam board and weigh it down for a week or so. Sometimes good results, sometimes not much change at all but in general, it does relax a little bit.

Some framers would try to counter roll it over a large diameter tube.

If it were perfectly flat and the client insisted on no matting, I'd use wrap-around hinges to secure it to the backboard and then loosely fit with spacers and frame seal tape. I used to be gung-ho on plexi DCO, but learning about micro-abrasions has made me a little gun-shy, but I haven't seen the art yet to judge exactly how tightly rolled/wavy it is. The price of plexi in our shop also hasn't made my job any easier lol.

 

[K.Murphy]

Straight framing has inherent risks, and all the prep work in the world won't diminish that.
This would qualify for an AFA designation (Against Framer's Advice).

Flattening without humidification won't change the "memory" of the paper, and it will want to return to the rolled up state should a rapid environmental change occur (opening a window on a nice fall day after breathing HVAC air for 3 months). This is best done by a conservator, so the practicality of passively pressing the piece between two solid sheets of board for a while is your best option. I have used heat, but not on contemporary giclée due to the uncertainty of their reaction to heat.

If you do a DCO with acrylic, and I agree it is the least harmful option, cut the backing/acrylic/frame 3/8"-1/2" oversized, and loose fit the piece in the frame, allowing for natural expansion/contraction. A bare minimum of hinges should be used, if at all.

I remember hearing an adage of something along the lines of "for as long as something has been rolled, you need at least that much time or double that to get something to flatten out". Can't remember if it was from Mr. Phibbs or Mr. Miller, haha. I may have a chance to talk the client into matting, but if that goes south I think I'm going to stress a DCO to her.

 

[Mary Beth van der Horst]

The crush-marks were almost unnoticable after we ironed our print, but again, I recognized it as heavy rag paper, so my reasoning with the customer was it was just as safe for the paper as ironing a cotton pair of pants. The only risk was how it would have affected the ink. We got lucky.

 

[Prospero]

Are you a Framer or a Restorer?

Two very different disciplines. I've learned just enough about restoration to know when to leave
well alone when I am out of my depth.

If the print has been rolled then the furthest I would go is to sandwich it between two sheets of matboard
and leave it for several weeks. If that doesn't do the trick you could give it a quick squeeze in a vac press.
But BEWARE. If there are localised 'bumps' in the paper they will flatten into half-moon creases and the
print will be destroyed.

It must be flat before it goes into a frame. The framing process itself will not flatten it, despite what customers think.

 

[framah]

I had a piece come in to be mounted only and it was very large, heavy weight paper and tightly rolled.
I tried to open the rolled piece and realized that I couldn't even get it to open enough to get a start on putting weight on it.

After over 30 years experience in the business, I decided to just put it back and call the customer and tell her that I can't do anything with it and to come and pick it up.
My time can be better spent on work I CAN do and to just move on.
Sometimes, it is better to know when to reject work.
Let it be someone else's headache.

 

[Jim Miller]

...Microabrasions are a thing, but DCO will flatten it out with the least headache. Want to avoid that? Optium Museum Acrylic will minimize that. It's all going to be a balance of risk, budget, and aesthetics for the customer.

I would suggest the DCO with plexiglass but point out the potential abrasive risks with that.

...I used to be gung-ho on plexi DCO, but learning about micro-abrasions has made me a little gun-shy...

In researching the potential of abrasion for the DCO book (described on page 4), I learned that conservators' opinions may differ, but they generally agree on these points:

1. Micro-abrasion refers to microscopic scratches that occur over time, due to the slight, rubbing movement caused by expansion & contraction cycles, which affect the materials in contact differently. Rapid and/or radical changes of temperature or humidity, vibration, and impact are most likely to cause such movement.

2. When two surfaces are in direct contact, the potential for abrasion is mostly on the smoother or more-fragile surface. In DCO framing, the acrylic surface usually is smoother and more fragile than the fibrous surface of the fabric or paper in direct contact.

3. Anti-reflection coated acrylic has a slightly harder surface than ordinary acrylic, so it is less likely to be affected by micro-abrasion.

4. Almost any surface can be abraded.

When micro-abrasion is a problem, it will probably affect the acrylic sooner and more obviously than the other surface. Fortunately, the acrylic glazing is an easily replaceable component of the framing assembly. In the real world, micro-abrasion might not show up for decades, if ever.

 

[K.Murphy]

Thank you everyone for your experiences and wisdom! Client came in and the print was not nearly as curled as I expected. The print was made fairly recently and it has been rolled for only a couple weeks.

The "fine art" quality of the print and subject made it very easy to convince the client on a handsome 8-ply mat, solving the initial problem right off the bat. It's currently stored between two pieces of matting in our print sleeves (which are thankfully a little tight now due to business picking up) so I'll assess it sometime next week once materials are here and ready to produce.

Thank you all again for your wealth of knowledge! I won't be so hesitant on the DCO anymore

 

[tedh]

It looks non-threatening, but that guy’ll still give you a few problems when framing it. Get it flattened. Give it a couple of weeks between sheets of foam core. You should have absolutely no ripples.

 

[Eric A]

There are de-rollers that are basically a piece of 2? pipe with a tarp like material attached that you put the print in and roll it the oppisite way and it takes it out but probably not worth the cost if you dont do it a lot. You really can build one pretty cheap. Pratice first and deep the tarp tight so it does not crease the print. This one originally had a harder plastic where the tarp is not and it worked a bit better but this one is 20+ years old.
Eric