Aaron Randall
CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
I just spent the last three hours reading everything I could on framing vintage posters, as I had 4 canvas backed posters come in the shop. I'm not sure if I know less or more than when I started. I know I won't go to Ed at learnaboutmoveposters or his super framer Sue anytime soon. This is one topic where the best practices seem to wildly vary.
I have 4 late 70's, early 80's movie posters, from Poland, of American movies. They are just over 40 inches and the customer would like to use museum glass. My original plan was to mount them to 4 ply cotton rag using Fusion 4000(with glass spacers), but after my research, I'm going to reevaluate. These will be going in the basement of the customer's home, converted to a movie room, so humidity is an issue. I don't really want to use a DCO method to mount, as the ink seems fairly unstable, so I'd rather not have anything, even acrylic touching the art. I could hinge them at the top, but they have been rolled, and I'm pretty sure they will get wavy soon under the spaced out glass. No way am I going to mount them to stretcher bars or any similar option.
So, I'm not sure I understand the aversion to mounting them. I've mounted canvas to rag board in the past, albeit 20 years ago, and I never had a problem removing a piece from backing using Fusion. It always seems that between the cotton rag and porousness of the canvas, they pretty much peel right off with a little heat. The other concern with mounting is the level of conservation(Fusion not being truly archival), but it seems to me that between the AF rice backing paper, canvas, ph neutral Fusion, and rag board that the original poster is pretty well insulated from anything that can harm it. Am I off base in this assessment?
Is this just one of those cases where we are going to have to live with wavy posters in the name of preservation?
I feel like my only viable option is DCO and hope for the best, and that is rather unsatisfying.
Thanks for any guidance.
I have 4 late 70's, early 80's movie posters, from Poland, of American movies. They are just over 40 inches and the customer would like to use museum glass. My original plan was to mount them to 4 ply cotton rag using Fusion 4000(with glass spacers), but after my research, I'm going to reevaluate. These will be going in the basement of the customer's home, converted to a movie room, so humidity is an issue. I don't really want to use a DCO method to mount, as the ink seems fairly unstable, so I'd rather not have anything, even acrylic touching the art. I could hinge them at the top, but they have been rolled, and I'm pretty sure they will get wavy soon under the spaced out glass. No way am I going to mount them to stretcher bars or any similar option.
So, I'm not sure I understand the aversion to mounting them. I've mounted canvas to rag board in the past, albeit 20 years ago, and I never had a problem removing a piece from backing using Fusion. It always seems that between the cotton rag and porousness of the canvas, they pretty much peel right off with a little heat. The other concern with mounting is the level of conservation(Fusion not being truly archival), but it seems to me that between the AF rice backing paper, canvas, ph neutral Fusion, and rag board that the original poster is pretty well insulated from anything that can harm it. Am I off base in this assessment?
Is this just one of those cases where we are going to have to live with wavy posters in the name of preservation?
I feel like my only viable option is DCO and hope for the best, and that is rather unsatisfying.
Thanks for any guidance.