Getting Fiber Based Paper Flat

[hoffy]

Howdy all,

After my first session with Fibre last weekend ended up with two very attractive potato chips (crisps for you English Folk!), I have read and re-read this thread. I have determined that the method I really want to try is the brown tape and pane of glass method. This may seem like some obvious questions but here goes anyway.

1. I know that you are going to squeegee off most of the water, but I assume that there is plenty still around once this is done. I know that the gum on the brown tape needs moistening, but can all this water make it come loose?
2. How many prints does one put on a piece of glass? I was planning on looking for and old window frame from the salvage yard nearest me and was thinking he bigger the pane, the more I can dry at once.
3. Do you dry with the glass laying flat or standing up?

Cheers

[papo]

Hoffy, I'll try to answer your questions (being actually the first who recommended this method in this thread:-))

1. I usually let the prints dry free, they will curl up but never mind. Then I put them in water for a few minutes, just to soak some water and get soft. I put the wet print on some flat vertical surface (tiles in a bathroom will do perfectly) and let the water drip off. Then I put the print on the glass, it (the print) should be wet but not with excess water. I moisten the tape by dragging it over a wet sponge and glue the paper. There should not be much water, because otherwise the glue from the tape will get under the print and the print will get stuck after drying. If this does happen then the only remedy is to submerge the glass with the print in water and it will come off.
2. How many prints you can put on the glass depends on how big the glass is. I have a glass about 50 x 60 cm, 6mm thick and dry usually four prints 18 x 24 cm at once. Because I use this format quite often, I leave the remaining tape frames (after cutting out the prints) on the glass and, in the next session, I put the prints inside the frames and glue them over the old tape. This has an additional advantage that after some rounds the frame builds up to a few tens of millimeter and levels better with the print and so the danger of the glue getting under the print is reduced. Of course this cannot be done indefinitely, if there are too many layers, I just tear off what I can and submerge the whole glass in water to get off the remaining tape, and everything begins from the start again.
3. I usually leave the glass laying flat, but sometimes also standing up. If you do as described in 1. (no danger of water flowing down under the print) then it's no difference.

[michael stevens]

I'm new to fibre paper and am currently experimenting with Dancq's stacking method. One problem I've encountered is the lines from the corrugated board becoming impressed upon the print. Perhaps I am using too much pressure. The board I am using comes from thick packing boxes. I can't seem to find any corrugated board on which the lines are not evident when put under pressure.

I am in England so don't have access to the material sources mentioned in previous posts.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[kerne]

Having recently read through this thread I tried several of the methods mentioned. At the moment I'm printing with single and double weight Ilford MG IV FB, both glossy and matte.

1. Taping the well-squeeged print to glass with a painters-grade masking tape works great, and the tape removes cleanly if you're careful.

2. If I'm in a hurry, or doing a pile of prints or proof sheets, I do the following:
- squeegee thoroughly
- bulk dry sandwiched between two window screens (cheap ones from Walmart)
- final dry between two mat boards with a layer of baking-grade parchment paper (silicone impregnated) on the image side to protect the emulsion, topped with a heavy book.

With the second method, it doesn't require a great deal of pressure, just enough to keep it flat while it drys. It may also help (depending on how much moisture is left in the paper after the bulk drying) to replace the matt board after a couple hours. I've stacked as many as six or eight layers of mat board this way without a problem. Drying time will of course vary greatly depending on the humidity, but I usually leave it at least a day or two.

Unless you're using a press, try to avoid heat. Slower drying promotes flatter drying.

[michael stevens]

Well I tried again with some heavy-weight card between the interfacing and the corrugated board to try and avoid the lines from the board coming through. The lines had gone but I got diagonal wrinkling from the corners of the heavy-weight card which transferred to the print. The boards are about an inch bigger than the print all round. Perhaps there should be more of an overlap or the prints were too wet when they went in?