Opinions Wanted drymount watercolor

[DS]

My customer okayed drymounting her wavy watercolor pictures. It is on medium to heavy weight paper. If I do drymount it, should I use speedmount, colormount, fusion 400 or Ragmount. What time and temperature should I set the vacuum press to? She mentioned that if the pictures get ruin - no problem, she can get more from her uncle who does them. I tried moisting the back with distilled water and putting kraft paper and paper towels over it - front and back -
with weights on top to no avail, still wavy around the sides of the picture.The pictures look to be black and white printed pictures of flowers that her uncle colored in using watercolors. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Jeff Rodier]

Since you are going to do this with mounting first try wetting the backs and drying them in the heat press. I don't normally suggest this but it is a technique that is used by those who are experienced with the technique. I would suggest dampening the back and if you have the mechanical press such as the 500T just clamp it down at the end of the day and turn it off over night. I have a sign that I put over the controls of my press which says "ART IN PRESS" to be sure it is not turned on in the morning to heat up without removing the artwork.

If you are using a heat vacuum press put it in the press for about 15 minutes with kraft paper on the back and release paper on the top at 160.

 

[Prospero]

There is a difference between a wavy painting and a bumpy painting. Waves run in one direction and are easy to flatten. Bumps are not. If you try to flatten a wave, the paper has somewhere to go. A bump doesn't and you can end up with a nasty half-moon ridge. The technique described points to bumps rather than waves.

It all comes down to preparation. Soaking and taping the paper to a board and letting dry will stretch the paper fibres so that when it is wetted again during painting, it will always dry flat. Drymounting the paper first will do the same job.

If as you say the customer is willing to take the risk, go ahead and drymount them. They may come out perfect or they may be ruined. But I would suggest to the customer that if they want any more doing, to bring you the blank sheets to be drymounted before they a coloured.

 

[Jim Miller]

...It is on medium to heavy weight paper...The pictures look to be black and white printed pictures of flowers that her uncle colored in using watercolors.

The critical factor is the composition of the paper involved, but you have told us nothing except that it is "medium to heavy weight". Is it watercolor paper, or card stock for printing, or some other kind of paper?