Mounting Photo To Rigid Substrate

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Shayla

Shayla

WOW Framer
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A customer has a black and white print of her photography, that was printed on heavy cotton rag paper and then she had someone mounted it with glue to plywood. She's wanting to do the same thing with another photo, but on something better than wood. I usually mount postery things to some sort of foam core, and have only used other substrates rarely. If preservation isn't an issue for her, I can imagine using gatorboard. If you did this, would you use mounting tissue, Fusion 4000, acrylic gel, or some kind of glue?
 
Shayla, I have only used foam core with dry mounting tissue.
 
Kool Tack is good and has better substrate foam board.
Is she wanting to use it for target practice? Why wood?
 
monkframe said:
Kool Tack is good and has better substrate foam board.
Is she wanting to use it for target practice? Why wood?
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The plywood was done years ago, so who knows why. Her current wish is mostly just wanting a sturdier backing to mount the paper on than just foam core. She holds it up very close to her face to work on the art.
 
Gatorboard can be mounted to like any other foamboards.
Use whatever adhesive is right for the photo.
 
How big is the photo?

Some of the surface finishes on Gatorboard aren't dry mount friendly. The white is like a very thin melamine and is hard to get things to bond to it. The craft paper colored finish is easier. Gator is loaded with bad chemistry for art, so I tend to shy away from it. I'll use it as a support board if I can wrap it in metalized plastic film to contain the off-gassing.

How about ACM panel? Kool Tack makes precoated ACM called Competition Plate. I've used it to mount inkjet output of large photographic images. The temperature needed is pretty low, but I erred on the side of caution and ran it at the max temperature suggested, then turned off the heat and let it cool under vacuum (about 20 minutes to get it down to 90F). It can be trimmed with a utility knife and a straight edge, but you will want to burnish the one side after cutting and smooth it with a file so the edge isn't razor sharp.
ACM doesn't work so well with Fusion or Colormount because of the temperatures necessary to get a good bond. The core material will soften at those temps.
 
wpfay said:
How big is the photo?

Some of the surface finishes on Gatorboard aren't dry mount friendly. The white is like a very thin melamine and is hard to get things to bond to it. The craft paper colored finish is easier. Gator is loaded with bad chemistry for art, so I tend to shy away from it. I'll use it as a support board if I can wrap it in metalized plastic film to contain the off-gassing.

How about ACM panel? Kool Tack makes precoated ACM called Competition Plate. I've used it to mount inkjet output of large photographic images. The temperature needed is pretty low, but I erred on the side of caution and ran it at the max temperature suggested, then turned off the heat and let it cool under vacuum (about 20 minutes to get it down to 90F). It can be trimmed with a utility knife and a straight edge, but you will want to burnish the one side after cutting and smooth it with a file so the edge isn't razor sharp.
ACM doesn't work so well with Fusion or Colormount because of the temperatures necessary to get a good bond. The core material will soften at those temps.
Click to expand...
I already thought you were a framing Jedi, but this seals it. Maybe it's these skinny little noodle arms, or maybe it's just my general lack of fine motor coordination, but I can't imagine being able to perfectly trim a mounted photo with a utility knife and straight edge. Somewhere along the way, some bit of chaos would occur.
 
Shayla said:
I already thought you were a framing Jedi, but this seals it. Maybe it's these skinny little noodle arms, or maybe it's just my general lack of fine motor coordination, but I can't imagine being able to perfectly trim a mounted photo with a utility knife and straight edge. Somewhere along the way, some bit of chaos would occur.
Click to expand...
Lol, I am but a neophyte to the guys at Atlantic Imaging who do this kind of thing all day long. They specialize in graphics for advertising and trade shows. I was getting something cold mounted by them onto ACM, and I asked to see the machine they used to trim the panel once the piece was mounted to it. He reached for a fixed blade Stanley utility knife.
Cutting through the aluminum is the easy part, it's only 3mils thick. The plastic core takes patience and some strength, but the cut is mostly just repeated however many times it takes to get through.
 
2mm for the Fletcher 3100 and 4mm for their FSC model. Both limited to 60" whereas ACM comes in much larger sheets.

I have 2 FT3000 machines that aren't supposed to cut ACM at all.
 
If conservation is not an issue blockmounting onto 9mm MDF would be a cheap and easy way out. I used to farm this kind of job out as the specialist blockmounter could do a far better job than I could at a price that still let me make a few dollars.
 
artfolio said:
If conservation is not an issue blockmounting onto 9mm MDF would be a cheap and easy way out. I used to farm this kind of job out as the specialist blockmounter could do a far better job than I could at a price that still let me make a few dollars.
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Is block mounting done with a roller press?

Wait....I think that's bites. So, what's block mounting?
 
Shayla said:
Is block mounting done with a roller press?

Wait....I think that's bites. So, what's block mounting?
Click to expand...
Blockmounting is usually done for cheap posters. They are laminated then mounted onto a piece of 9mm mdf, usually with wet glue applied with a spraygun then finished in a vacuum press.
 
I regularly use mounting tissue + gator for photo prints in the vac press. Yes, trimming can be precarious!

I have also successfully mounted masonite + tissue + laminate for photo prints (in the vac press).

Best- clare
 
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