Re: pt/pd mounting > gum framing

[Katharine Thayer <kthayer@pacifier.com>]

On Sep 11, 2006, at 6:39 PM, Liam Lawless wrote:

> I'm certain buffered board has been shown to slow down image and paper
> degradation due to acidity when print and mount are in a sealed or  
> almost
> sealed environment such as a frame (it is said that a small gap  
> should be
> left in the sealing tape to allow the frame to "breathe" and so avoid
> condensation).  Unless, of course, a high pH is antagonistic to the  
> print!
>
> Anyway, this might be slightly off topic, but an article by Michael  
> A. Smith
> has a little bearing on this subject and will possibly be of  
> interest to
> those who are interested in these things:
>
> http://www.superiorarchivalmats.com/sam/Article.html

Funny, I was going to ask about this material yesterday, and then I  
got sidetracked and didn't get around to it.

I had changed the subject line because this discussion had got me to  
thinking about matboard for gum.  Forever, I've been using the same  
100% cotton rag museum board (non-buffered) but after framing a slew  
of new prints last week,  suddenly I'm down to one sheet , so it's  
way time to be ordering a new supply. And as I say, the discussion  
got me wondering about whether I should consider going to a buffered  
matboard. I looked online and of course found nothing specific to gum  
printing,  but at least one of the things I looked at online said  
that even 100% cotton rag board tends to go acidic over time, which  
might indicate, if there's really nothing about the buffering that  
would be harmful, that starting a bit on the other side of neutral  
might not be a bad idea.   Looking at catalogs, I found that this  
ArtCare is the only matboard Daniel Smith offers, in a two-page  
spread surrounded by testimonials from conservators etc.  I'd never  
heard of it, and was curious if anyone had any opinions about it.   
This Michael Smith testimonial makes me even more curious.
Katharine