There are some changes brewing at JMG-Galleries, the first being the addition of some new equipment. Just before my trip to Switzerland in October I purchased some dry mounting equipment for large prints. I blame Mark Graf for this who piqued my interest in it when I read his post Dry Mounting earlier in the year and Rodney Lough Jr. who wowed my wife and I with some beautifully mounted photographs at his Sausalito gallery.
With dry mounting on my brain early on in the year it was only a matter of time before I found the right equipment to buy. I ended up finding a great deal on a vacuum frame bench for cold dry mounting. This piece of equipment can handle images as large as 30 in. x 40 in.. I also found a great deal on a hot dry mounting press that is capable of handling prints as large as 20 in. x 30 in.. The greatest challenge aside from learning how to use this equipment is finding a place to store it, particularly when you live in a small San Francisco home.
Thanks to the help of a carpenter friend I was able to have a workbench created for these items. I’ll be putting the finishing touches on this work area in the coming weeks. I’m excited at the prospect of what will will soon be possible.
As to what other changes are on the horizon… stay tuned.
[tags]photography, dry mounting[/tags]
OK, here’s my guess. Jim is going to move to MF digital… 😉
Hey Jim, glad to contribute to a worthy cause – you spending your money.
Curious though – why did you end up with both the hot and cold mount presses? Seems that cold mount one can do every thing and larger? Look forward to your experiences with both…
BTW, I take no responsibility for your back ache in lifting the hot mount press from that bottom shelf. 🙂
@Dan I can’t say I’d be opposed to that. 🙂
@Mark You and your evil influence LOL
I ended up with both the hot and cold mount presses because I won two ebay sales that ended on the same day with in minutes of each other (same seller). I wasn’t sure I’d get either one because both were ridiculously low priced. As it turned out I was the highest bidder on both. As to the cost impact… the dry mount press was virtually free which still blows my mind. I’m going to be ok with selling the hot mount press if the cold mount does everything and more. Time will tell.
Hey Jim, I’d like to see how a cold-mount press works sometime. I never heard of that. I’d be happy to bring the beer. 😉
Happy for your excitement. Just want to add a word of *caution* if it hadn’t been mentioned to anyone before. If you ever have the hopes of your work being collected by..oh..a museum..like maybe MoMA..one word of warning…. They and all museums do NOT consider dry-mounting “archival” due to the humidity needs of a print. They prefer other methods that do NOT permanently attach the print to the back mat. I know, because I have learned this lesson the hard way myself and verified it with numerous museums.
So, not trying to ruin any fun, just want “all things to be considered.” ….I prefer “thinking from the end.” Jim, I think you have numerous images that are collectible, and just want you to mount accordingly…;-) With that said, I know dry mounting is Good for many things…. *cheers*
@John You’ve got an open invite to check it out. I’m hoping to have it fully tested out in the coming week or two as I have time and get one final piece to the puzzle.
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@Nelcha Thanks for the input. While someday I hope to be lucky enough to be honored with an image in a museum this is but one display option and not the end all for me. This serves a much needed purpose of non-museum display. If you don’t mind I’d be interested in hearing more about your museum mounting experience.
@ Nelcha – I am sure Jim would be happy to reprint an image if they are going to display it. 🙂 Museums are usually highly regulated as far as temperature and humidity, so a hinge mounted print normally wouldn’t have any issues. But throw that same print in an uncontrolled environment, and you may see some waviness. I am really interested if curators will ever change their ways on this, particularly in the age of digital printing.
@ Mark et al: – Many museums will buy a piece of art but do NOT promise to display it within any time schedule…they want to add it to their collection….and who’s to say… someone that might purchase one of the images might not have “connections” and get a piece Donated to a museum?
I doubt seriously museums would have any reason to change their mind, digital printing aside, unless it was NOT printing on any
substrate that had paper in it. If there is “paper” in it, it is still subject to the whims of humidity, and museums do the best they can, but depending on what part of the country/world they are located can cause humidity challenges.
I’m sure you will make good use of this Jim. I’ve seen some great dry mounted artworks. Machinery scares me though so I’d opt for outsourcing if I ever need to do so.