Off-gassing of photos?

Echobelly

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Has anyone had an issue of photos off-gassing? I framed a glossy digitally printed photo of a white bird against a black background, using museum glass. Overnight the photo left a fog on the inside of the glass where the black background is. It's not a new print, it's been in the gallery for a number of months in an acetate sleeve. I spoke to the photographer, but she said she had never heard of that problem, but would call the company that printed it and replace it if necessary. I've seen this in pieces that have been in a frame for a long time, but this was literally overnight, and it wasn't a new print that may not have cured. I suspect the museum glass made the fog more noticeable, but was wondering if there are any remedies. The photo was separated from the glass by an 8-ply mat.
 
Did you set the glass right onto the photo. How high was the humidity in the area the photo was stored or was the humidity really high when you were framing it. Did you run air conditioner all day and turn it off when you left leaving the temperature to change quickly? There are other things that could happen but I think that these may be the ones most likely. I really don't think it would be off-gassing that quickly but I could be wrong.
 
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First thing I'd try would be cleaning the glass, refitting the print and see what happens overnight. It could be that the off-gassing was a one off. Or maybe it does it again to a lesser degree. If so, rinse and repeat.

Good luck!
 
My thinking is that if the piece was always in the sleeve, it actually didn't have the chance to gas off. If you print it and then cover it up right away, the gasses stay in the print. Once you framed it, it finally had the chance to gas off.
It used to be a common practice to leave a print uncovered for a day to let it gas off.

Open it up and clean the glass and I'm pretty sure there won't be a problem. Let the piece sit for most of the day before covering with glass and closing it up.
 
Thanks for your replies! Joe- the glass was separated from the print by an 8 ply mat, and was in the air conditioned workshop. I'm in Florida, A.C. stays on all the time! I'm hoping the others are right, that the printer put it in a sleeve without letting it cure. You'd think they'd know better, though, the photographer said she uses a large printer out of NY. I've got it framed up again and will let the frame sit over the weekend, then assess the situation. Hopefully the customer won't have to come in regularly to have us open it up to clean the glass!
 
What might have happened is that the printer put it into the sleeve for shipping and once it got to the photographer, she put it away, still in the sleeve.

If she had gotten it out of the sleeve as soon as she got it, it would have gassed off long ago.

Of course. the printer SHOULD have let it sit out for a day before packing & shipping it.
 
I agree with the piece not really curing properly before being sleeved. That and acetate has its own issues including giving off acetic acid. The print may have absorbed some of that. Take it out of the fame and let it sit with just glassine or tissue covering it for 24-48 hours.
 
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