Getting Fiber Based Paper Flat

[Anton Lukoszevieze]

I hang prints back to back, then when 97% dry, smooth mount board either side of foto, heavy books on top, 24 hours, very flat.
With very large prints I tape with brown gummed tape onto rigid surface, allow to dry, cut dry carefully, pretty flat then.

[ldh]

I have a post here about how I make my fiber prints flat...if you do a search it should be here...its a little labor intnsive but it works very very well!!

Larry

[dancqu]

By "facing material" you mean the polyester separator
sheets? I can't see that an issue. Pre dried by sponge or
squeegee and placed upon those non-wetting separators
precludes contact with the corrugated board. No more
than water vapor transfers from the prints, through
the boards facing's, and out of the stack. A print
layer with top and bottom separators. Dan

My Corrugated Board Stack Dryer has evolved some.
A few have mentioned edge waving or frilling. It is not
due to humidity. It is due to a differential in the rate of
drying. With some drying methods the very edges are in
effect more exposed. The more rapid drying induces stress.

Interestingly with corrugated board the waving only
occurs if the print's outer edges are placed close to the
open ends of the corrugations. Edges within the stack and
those parallel with the corrugations show no sings of waving.
Likely those using platen drying methods, heated or other
wise, will observe the same.

I placed prints deeper within the stack and that cured my
minor case of wavy outer edges. Also, I managed to reduce
the post dryer development of the inevitable gentile concavity
towards the emulsion side by drying emulsion to emulsion
with a separator twixt. So the stack now builds thusly:
C. board, separator, prints, separator, prints,
separator, C. board. Dan

[harrydel]

After I have toned and am positive I will never get my 16 x 20 prints wet again, I trim the edges ever so slightly w/ an xacto knife and ruler. The dimensions of the prints I'm working on right now only allow trimming of two sides; works as well as trimming four.

After the prints are trimmed, I place them individually between 2 pieces of 4 ply acid free board in dry mount press at 200 degrees for a few minutes. I then put them under a print flattening plate I got from light impressions to cool though I have used a heavy book in the past. A teacher explained that trimming the prints releases the surface tension of the dried emulsion.

It's super easy and my prints are flatter than the unexposed paper was straight out of the box. A 1/32" trim or even less has worked for me. hope this helps.

[LaChou]

You can make a dood gloss with a glossy FB paper and a plexiglas sheet without surface defects. Put the prints in the water for 24 hours. Before applying them to the plexiglas, put them into 95-100C water for 1-2 minutes. The plexiglas must be washed with soap just before the procedure and be still wet. Press very firmly and make even (also firmly) with an iron through a newspaper or, better, flimsy. Wrap in some cloth and put vertically in some quiet place to dry. When the print has dried it must not come off but will stay on the glass due to static electricity. Take it off the glass with a distinctive sound of micro electrical disharges. You will have a glossy even print.

[jmal]

Just wanted to mention that I finally tried dancqu's stack method of drying and the result was perfectly flat prints. No edge waving or any other issues. Took about 4 days to fully dry. Thanks Dan.

[catem]

I line dry, back to back, pegs at 4 corners (pegs with grips that don't bite in, plastic not wooden, though not a problem if you trim off).
Then under weights for a day or two if necessary (it isn't always).
Air drying is supposed to be the safest 'archivally'.
The wavy edge lines are usually from handling the prints whilst wet/paper stretching - tends to be more noticeable on larger prints.
With careful handling throughout the process, it can be prevented (don't grip the print in the middle of an edge, but at the corners).

[jmal]

catem, I NEVER grab the print in the middle and do not touch prints except for moving from tray to tray (again, always by the smallest bit of corner necessary). As dancqu mentions, the wavy edge is due to the difference in drying time for the emulsion and non-emulsion sides. His stack method slows the drying time enough that the prints come out flat. Perfectly flat.

[johnnywalker]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but wasn't there some talk a while ago of Ilford coming out with a flat-drying fibre paper?

[catem]

jmal - yes, sorry, I should read all the thread more carefully before responding, I admit I scanned through later posts and was in fact addressing the point below, rather than answering you specifically.

I agree that slow-drying is best and that's largely why I use the method I do - where I don't get wavy or frilly lines at all. Granted, with prints over 12 x 16 it can get cumbersome (though I do use it for 16 x 20 which is the largest I print). With larger prints I use 2 pegs at least at each top corner. You also have to make sure the prints are 'joined' before you lift them out of water. It's normally possible to avoid any cockling if you're careful, and anything that's there is likely to be a stress mark.

I tried it once with limited success for 16x20 where you hang two of them clipped back to back on a line. Worked OK but they were kinda "ripply".

Anybody do that method?