Warped prints after framing

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Carol Neff

Grumbler
Joined
Mar 6, 2002
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42
Loc
Kaukauna, WI
I've been having problems with a few of my framings coming back to me with the prints being warped. I know that this can be caused by humidity and if it's just a print, I've put it in the heat press and it's worked. Now I have a painting that is on paper, I matted and framed it and it's now wavey. I went to pick it up from the customers house and it was very warm and humid in there house. I'm sure that had something to do with it, but how do I know if it's safe to heat press this? Any suggestions?
 
Carol,
I try to make it a point to tell my customers that a work on paper will shrink and expand with changes in humidty and temperature. So when it becomes wavy it will eventually flatten out again.

One suggestion would be to space the mat slightly above the piece to reduce any pressure on it. I don't know how you mounted the piece, corners or hinges, or some other way.

Unless your shop is the same temp and humidity as the house it's hanging in, I don't see how flattening it out again is going to solve the problem.
 
Make sure you are leaving some expansion space for the complete package. I did a test once on Cresant Rag board by drying it out in the press when it was very humid. It made an 1/8 inch difference in the size, the same can happen if it is dry when you install it.
 
We had a similar problem with a customer, she brought in a piece of art on very heavy paper with very thick acrylic paint... It was wavy when we got it, and it was wavy when it was framed. Luckily, she had the name and phone number of the gallery she bought it from and we were able to call and ask if we could put it in a heat press safely. The man I spoke to at the gallery laughed and said, "that's why WE don't frame those". Nice. So we were able to flatten it a bit in the press and then I spaced the mat away from the piece to de-emphasize the waviness. It worked. But we also explained to the customer AGAIN that any work of art on paper will be wavy unless it is permanently attached to the backing or is stored in a humidity and temperature controlled vault.
 
I had some pieces (relatively inexpensive decorator art) that were acrylic on paper that I flattened in the heat press. I only had the press at 130 degrees but still had a problem with the acrylic softening. It even tried to stick to the release paper. At first I kind of panicked but the acrylic released from the paper after it cooled a little. There was some gold areas that shrunk and became a crackle finish...enhancing the art somewhat in my belief, there were also some shiney areas from the release paper. The end customer (a corporate office) didn't notice or care. I learned my lesson cheaply and I haven't tried flattening original art since. Too risky.
 
Carol, if you'd like to bring one of those returns in some time, we could open it up and maybe figure out what's going on.
 
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