Mounting on Aluminum

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TheDoctah

TheDoctah

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Posts
562
Location
NH
I was at a gallery in Nashua the other day, and they had work from a photographer fron NYC hanging. What was interesting about this exhibit was the fact that the photographs weren't framed, exactly; they were mounted on what appears to be 1/16" aluminum sheeting. It looked pretty cool.

Where does one obtain such a substrate? Some of the prints were quite large, perhaps 30x45. How does one affix the print to the substrate? And how does one mount the substrate to the wall? I stupidly forgot to try to look behind the photos until I was on the way home. There did seem to be a couple inches of separation between the photo and the wall.
 
Ugh. Not only has this come up before, but quite recently. And there seems to be no way for me to move my note to the relevant stream. Sorry, people.
 
Try the suppliers to the sign making business

You should be able to stick a hanging/support strip to the back of the substrate with one of the permanent adhesive tapes …….again the sign makers suppliers should have this …….just make sure you clean the aluminium well before using it…

Good luck
 
As Dermot said, one will probably have to rely on
commercial products for mounting the photo. This
will mean that one can not consider this to be
preservationally sound nor reversible. One way to
improve the product would be by using anodized
aluminum sheet, which can be found at: Southern
Aluminum Finishing, 800-241-7429.

Hugh
 
A permanent bond can be made with 77 spray. 77 will adhere to metal or even glass.
 
Mounting on Aluminum as become popular among some very renowned photographers.

Cold Mounting is the technique. These two sources can handle oversized work, but I would outsource this type of mount regardless of size.

Color Services, Needham, MA
781-444-5101
(54" width limit)

Duggal
10 W. 24 th St.
NY, NY 10010

Both have done work for prominent photographers, museums, and collectors.
 
Cold mounting with pressure sensitive adhesive is the correct method for mounting onto Aluminium.

You need a set of cold laminating rollers to perform this task properly. If you don't have the rollers, then outsource it, because it is just too difficult and too risky to do consistently by hand.

Aluminium is popular for mounting super glossy photos like Ilfochrome Classics, because it offers a super smooth finish. If you want the overall finish to be super-smooth, then not only does the substrate have to be smooth (ie: aluminium) but also the adhesive used. For this reason, spray adhesive is not suitable and will give you unsatisfactory results.

There are a few different aluminium surfaced substrates popular for mounting applications. I will list a few of them below:

Kapamount
Di-Bond
Alucobond

You can find information on these products at the Alcan Composites Website .

For those who are unaware- Alcan Composities are the company that owns and manufactures Fome-cor, Gatorfoam, Kapaboard, etc.

Regarding the adhesive, you can use a product like Neschen's "Gudy Clear" which is the smoothest Neschen Adhesive available. The more affordable "Neschen PP Mount Clear" will also offer satisfactory results, but not as liquid smooth as "Gudy Clear"

I hope this info helps remove some of the "mystery" a bit more.

Regards

Jared Davis
HUGHES MOULDINGS PTY LTD - AUSTRALIA
 
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