Mounting Back lit Movie posters

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Uncle Eli

Uncle Eli

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Apr 2, 2005
Posts
554
Loc
Sunny Malibu CA.
Okay, so I just got in a movie poster that not only is the back lit kind(you know the ones they use at the movie theater) but it is also signed by all of the actors. I initially tried to sell the customer the ultimate custom job, and create a lightbox frame for him, but the cost was more than he was willing to spend. The poster is 27 x 40, so I have to mount it somehow. I was thinking about using the new Restore board from Bainbridge. But it's obviously heat activated , and I don't know how the poster, or the signatures (it looks like they were done in a metalic sharpie) will react to the heat. Any Suggestions?
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Overmat it or float it on ragboard. Unless he wants it mounted.
At low heat,the poster and pen ink shouldn't have any reaction, at least none that I'm aware of.
 
If you mount it, the option of ever deciding it would look better in a lighted box and changing it would be completely gone. In addition to being a framer, I am also an autograph collector. Mounting any signature with heat always poses a risk. The new Sharpie metalic markers you mentioned are pretty new (not a lot is known about them). What movie is the poster from?
 
If I were you I wouldn't risk immediate destruction of the signatures by applying heat to the poster. And even if damage doesn't show up immediately, the heat could cause changes in the inks that could show up later, such as premature fading (regardless of light exposure)or color-shift.

You could avoid possible heat damage by wet-mounting it under vacuum. But if you permanently mount the poster by any method, then its value as a collectible would be permanently reduced.

I suggest a non-invasive, reversible mount with at least 1/8" space under the glass/acrylic. That could be at least two mat layers, or a spacer.
 
Well, Jason, the movie is Sin City, this particular poster is just Hardigan(Bruce Willis) standing in the rain. As far as the matting sugestions, the customer doesn't want it matted, just framed, so I had palnned to use an 1/8 spacer between the poster and the glass, but as you can see this gives even more reason it needs to be mounted, as to not sag very very quickly. Wet Mounting in this part of the country (PA) is not really and option. It would last for about 4 months, and then start to sag.
 
I just got some new information. apparently a backlit poster really is just like a normal poster, it just has a reverse image printed on the backside of it. I thought that the paper itself had translucent qualities. So now the question becomes, do I dare mount a printed side of a poster????. I think I'll pull an old poster off the floor and see how the restore board likes it.

Scratch all that. I just got an email back from Chris Paschke (Godess of All things mounted) and I think I'm going to so a float mount with the tape comming through a couple of slits in the foam backer. As far as heat reacitvity for the pens, she say's it probablly will, cause early fading like mentioned here, but that regardless of the mounting choice I make the pens will eventually oxidize and show signs of aging. Thanks guys for all your help. I still think IMA try mounting a poster print side down to the restore board just to see what it does
 
Your comment regarding the pens showing aging after a while is very true. It depends on the marker. Black Sharpies will yellow after time -- trust me I have some examples. The markers I have had the best luck obtaining signatures with are Blue permanent Vis' Vis'. No signs of discoloration or fading after many years. Glad most of the in-person signatures I have were signed with this type of pen. Good luck with the poster.
 
Just to throw my two cents worth, we drymount those type of posters all the time. The unsigned ones of course. Althought, come to think of it, on occasion, when requested, we have drymounted ones that have been signed.

The only problem we have had in the past is a new employee mounting it backside up!!
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just returned from a local biz expo & saw the neatest thing in back lighting----it was a (unfortunately small) small sized(@ 16X18) 1/16" thick LCD "plate", made in France(as I recall). It has a 1/2-shoe box sized transformer(allowing, I assume, the whole thing to be a soft steady light or a blinking light-it is, afterall an advertising tool) with what looks like an over-kill 1/2" cord. The cover pic is printed on "plastic" & velcroed to the light sheet. All this and a nifty little stand for the low-low price of $990.00(give or take a Franc). GREAT idea---Lousy price but it dose give off a very pleasant/soft light. the tampa guy pushing it was Burton McNeely, owner of www.creativecolorinc.com, if anyone's interested.
Bill Ward
 
Bill, I've seen those, and you can buy Movie poster Marquees for your house that all run about that, but if you have the time, tools, and knowhow, you can build a lightbox of equal qaulity even at retail prices for much less than that. I wanted to do that for this customer, but I quoted the job at about $700 retail. The job he ended up going with finished out at $200.


++++ Hamster: have you ever mounted them on the restore board? if so, have you tried to reverse it? I asked this question to Chris Paschke (Godess of all things mounted, and Bainbridges spokeswoman for the porduct) and her response was, "it's really a crap shoot, just try it and see what happens. While I wish I had her confidence, it would be nice to hear at least one person say they had done it first. But hey, I may have to be the Pioneer here, who knows?
 
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