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"Archival" mounting materials and methods?

schuster

Active member
With all the extremes of humidity and temperature fluctuations going on lately here in New England, my matted and framed prints are rippling more than what I consider acceptable.

I've been using acid-free, moisture-activated glue, linen tape as suggested by a museum curator. She recommended small strips of the tape at the top of the print, spaced two or three inches apart, hinging it to the acid-free board, then covering with an 8-ply heavy mat. Looks beautiful, and the print can be removed by moistening the tape, which apparently is important to curators. However, outside of the controlled museum environment, it's just not working for me. I tried using one continuous strip of tape across the top, and that reduced but didn't eliminate the ripples.

I have read several articles that show heat accelerates pigment/ink and paper aging, and I haven't found a mounting spray that even advertises neutral affect on prints.

Have you found something that keeps prints flat and doesn't shorten their lives?
 

Wayne Fox

Workshop Member
Storing a print in a heated place is certainly detrimental, but using a heating mounting system is certainly not very damaging.

Don't get confused with the concept of "archival" and long life. To a curator, part of being archival is the print must be removable from the frame/mounting for storage.

so anything other than that isn't considered "archival" but that doesn't mean it won't last a very long time. You certainly can heat mount your prints (and in fact that is probably a better solution than using some type of spray on adhesive) with quality materials. How they are displayed will have a lot more to do with their longevity than the mounting.
 
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