Re: Advice

Tom,

It all depends if the print is an original one-only print (e.g. paper negative from pinhole shoot) or a reproducible print from a negative.

In the case of the former, I would clearly avoid dry-mounting, even with reversible dry-mount tissue (see Talcroft's email). If the print can be reproduced from a negative, then I would go ahead with dry-mounting if that seems appropriate.

My point on dry-mounting is that if you are to do it yourself, be prepared to scratch "a print or two..." before you get satisfactory results. There are all sorts of factors affecting the process and it is really infuriating when you ruin a print because a small section in the center turns up as an air-bubble. Another possibility is that the print creases when you squeeze the press and a crease is forever... What can also happen is that the dry-mounting tissue will let you down in the middle of a show and you discover about it only when you come to pick up your work at the end of the show... -:\ !

Horror stories can go on forever, but they become a lot more funny a year or two down the road. They can even be a source of great pictorial innovation, such as when I walked away from the press to get a coffee and forgot about the print. Being new at dry-mounting, I had left the print in direct contact with the top metal element of the press. Eventually, the emulsion melted but I was able to recover the print since the melt did not stick to the meatl. On cooling, it created a rather interesting "cracked" effect which got a lot of positive comments... !

Best,

Guy

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Received on Sat Mar 6 14:56:21 2004