<< Guess I have to add that Bernie Boudreau's gums looked sharp, and as I
recall he said they went up to 11x14 & were not on a substrate, >>
I should clarify that in the past I have used substrate on some of my prints.
The use of which seemed to cause almost as many problems as it solved. Be
that as it may here are my experiences.
It only seems to work with the archival removable dry mount tissue. I don't
have the box here or I would give the product number. I tried plexiglass and
it worked well for three or four prints by then started to warp very badly.
Phenolic plastic seems to work pretty well I was using 1/4 inch plex and I
supposed I should have tried thinner piece.
I have had a lot of trouble with the print lifting at the edges and bubbles
forming in the middle. I found that if I put a print through the dry mount
again to reattach it I had more registration problems than no substrate.
Interestingly enough it was alway the print pulling away from the tissue
rather than the tissue pulling away from the substrate. If just the edges
pull away then I try to just repress the edges. As far as bubbles in the
middle I try to live with it as long as I can. Usually a bubble will dry
flat. But if it doesn't it makes coating very difficult.
The only way I seemed to get a really good seal with this tissue is to put it
in the press and turn off the press and let it cool down to about 150
degrees. Everything else just seemed to lift quicker.
As far as getting it off, this is the adventure. The print must be
absolutely dry. I removed a print on a humid day and wound up with a network
of fine cracks in the gum. This looked something like a old painting. I
also found out the hard way that this is a repeatable effect. Of course
this could be helped along by the number of coats I do. Maybe thinner gums
don't crack. But as the third rule of photography is: Always take creative
credit for screwing up. I have convinced myself and others this is what I
intended to do for this print.
It may be obvious but it took me a while to learn that it is more important
to get the print off the tissue than it is to get the tissue off the
substrate.
Next time I try a substrate I intend to try heating the print twice with a
waterbath in between to see if I could not get rid of some of the shrinkage I
am seeing when I reattach the print.
Bernie
Bernard Boudreau