waves in hinge mounted prints

Mark Rogers

CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Posts
138
Loc
Dallas, TX
I was watching a photography forum thread and a number of them have said that they moved away from hinge mounting because temperature/humidity changes caused waves to appear in their framed prints. This issue has forced them to move to non-conservative techniques such as dry mounting/cold mounting/laminating. I have not run into this problem myself, and I generally recommend hinge mounting. Are they doing something wrong or running into issues because of the type of photo paper, they are using?

Mark
 
Mark,

I frame for 3 professional photographers and they all dry mount their photos. I framed for 5 photographers at my old location and they all dry mounted their photos. The photographers down here on the Emerald Coast are getting big bucks for their photos and wedding shoots, I am talking BIG bucks and they all order their photos already mounted from the labs so I have little input in how they get them mounted.

When anything is hinge mounted, photos, prints, or posters, they will be influenced by the environment of their surroundings. If they are hung in a very humid area of the country they will tend to absorb moisture out of the surrounding air mass and this could lead to waviness and buckling of the images. If you are in a dry area of the country like the desert SW, you may not experience such conditions.

My biggest gripe isn't in how these photos are mounted but how I have to handle them when adding mats, glass, and frames. I usually have to either drymount the backed photo onto another backing or inlay them into another backing so they remain centered in the mat opening. Luckily, many of them are framed without mats as is the case with wedding portraits but, without enough extra mounting board bordering the photo, it makes it difficult to place them into a matted frame package without going to extra work to remount the mount onto foamcore or backing board to keep them centered.

Framerguy
 
I thought that hinge mounting was supposed to be less susceptible to environmental issues. I am not sure about humidity, but it is supposed to be less susceptible to temperature changes since the print and frame components can freely expand and contract. I have also seen bubbles on prints that were dry mounted supposedly due to temperature changes and or humidity changes. Or does this only occur on poorly dry mounted prints?

My understanding that hinge mounting was the defacto standard for museums so I am surprised to hear about problems with the hinge mounting. I guess the museums are immune since they have to keep their facilities temperature and humidity controlled.
 
It will make a BIG difference whether the photos are on fiber-based paper (usually black and white) or RC/Resin Coated papers. The latter are essentially waterproof and tend to lay quite flat when processed properly.

Fiber-based papers may not be flat in the first place, depending on the drying method after processing. Even when they start out flat, they are subject to the same environmental hazards and changes as fine art papers.

As FramerGuy mentioned, matting a flush-mounted photo (or any print) is a special problem, since you need to build up with filler to get the package flush. (At least, I THINK FramerGuy said that. I'm sure he meant to.)

I've been getting some original Ansel Adams photos in lately and many of them are dry-mounted. You could not pay me enough to dry mount the ones that aren't, though.

I would have no qualms about dry-mounting a current photograph that could be easily and affordably replaced if something goes wrong.

Edit: A further complication is that the photo may be neither fiberbased or RC - it might be digital and senstive to moisture, heat and/or pressure.
 
Keeping photos flat is a major problem, since they
are coated on one side and not on the other. This
makes them tend to curl and cockle. The problem
is most pressing when the edges of the photo are
exposed. The use of microdot application of paste,
desiccated blotters, and passed through hinges can
help keep the photo flat, but covering the edges
of the photo with the window mat is best. This
allows for the photo to be held in place with folded paper edge strips and the gentle restraint
of the window and flexible support of the stirps
combine to keep the photo's edges as flat as possible.


Hugh
 
I think that if you put hinges on a photo or a paper print in the common fashion, ie: "Pendant hinges with a "T" placed near the edge of the art - the art will likely buckle between the hinges. Try this instead: Put the pendant hinges on the back edge of the art as you've always done but when you put the "Ts" across the pendants - only put one "T" near the edge of the art - put the other "T" way at the tip top of the pendant hinge. The one "T" close will keep the print alligned left-right, the other "T" at the tip top of the pendant hinge will allow for expansion and contraction of the art without buckling. Check out the new NORI ready to use wheat starch paste packet instruction - tips on the FrameTek web site. Under the pull-down menue titled "Free Info". OBTW - the "They" in this world don't always know all the tricks that we mortals learn by paying attention to details.
 
When I was helping in the Bainbridge booth in Atlanta a lady came up who was a framer on an army base. She watched the demo of the Bainbridge Artcare Restore Foamboard and was pleased because they have competitions on base and the photographs must be mounted. Lots of photographers don't want to mount their photographs anymore and the Restore would work because it does allow the photograph to come up and the glue or paste or whatever it is does come off. We were using photographs to demo and they came up very easily and were completely restored after and because it uses a fairly low heat, I would assume it wouldn't tend to damage the photo during the mounting or unmounting process.

It seems like a perfect product for the photographer themselves to use because they can decide whether to mount or not even when the framer may not be able to make such a decision.
 
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