Wet Mount - Why Not?

A book I have which deals with prints, preservation and display,
has several pages devoted to wet mounting. Is it one of the
"Alternative" processes?

Were those century old fine looking prints one sees on TV or otherwise
illustrated wet mounted? Dan

In article ,
(Dan Quinn) wrote:

Were those century old fine looking prints one sees on TV or otherwise
illustrated wet mounted? Dan


The thing I can think of especially if they are using some kind of wheat
paste or other "glue" is the introduction of potential fungus onto and inbetween the
print and the support matte. Yes old albumin prints typically were mounted using
wheat paste, consequentially some have major preservation issues.....aside from
poor fixing and storage.
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On Sun, 23 May 2004 12:25:35 GMT, Gregory W Blank
wrote:

Were those century old fine looking prints one sees on TV or otherwise
illustrated wet mounted? Dan


The thing I can think of especially if they are using some kind of wheat
paste or other "glue" is the introduction of potential fungus onto and inbetween the
print and the support matte. Yes old albumin prints typically were mounted using
wheat paste, consequentially some have major preservation issues.....aside from
poor fixing and storage.

Well we have 8~10 wet-mounted 8X10 contact prints that were
stored in a suitcase in my father-in-law's basement for a number of
years before we discovered them. No fungus I can see. Perhaps these
were mounted with rice starch rather than wheat.

And yes, the images are exquisite.


Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email

In article ,
John wrote:

Well we have 8~10 wet-mounted 8X10 contact prints that were
stored in a suitcase in my father-in-law's basement for a number of
years before we discovered them. No fungus I can see. Perhaps these
were mounted with rice starch rather than wheat.

John;

Your testing me right? ;-)

Not to discredit your statement, but it usually takes "years" to exhibit fungus in
prints and will not always manifest itself regardless of "basement storage. I dare
say any organic paste is subject to introducing the stuff (I think there
are inert pastes that can be used). (The issue to me would be "wet" and using of
something fungus likes) Paper in general, without paste is subject to fungal growth.
For the purpose of mounting fine prints I would carefully consider whether the benefits
outweigh the risks of wet mounting. For that matter to even adhere them to the board at
all.

If the basement is cool and dry perhaps the suitcase was a fine place to store them.
Fungus unless really pronounced is also something that requires a loupe to see.

As always Greg
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"John" wrote
GMT, Gregory W Blank wrote:

Were those century old fine looking prints one sees on TV or otherwise
illustrated wet mounted? Dan


The thing I can think of especially if they are using some kind of wheat
paste or other "glue" is the introduction of potential fungus

Well we have 8~10 wet-mounted 8X10 contact prints that were
stored in a suitcase in my father-in-law's basement for a number of
years before we discovered them. No fungus I can see.

Even in the 1800's man had several thousand years experience gluing
paper. I imagine the fungus problem had been solved long before the first
photo was ever mounted. Wall paper paste has fungicides in it. In the
pre-EPA days most any poison may have been added to glue: antimony,
arsenic, mercuric acetate, sugar of lead, cadmium ...

I believe Japanese rice glue uses/used cadmium.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
Remove spaces etc. to reply: n o lindan at net com dot com
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

On 5/23/2004 11:18 AM Nicholas O. Lindan spake thus:

"John" wrote

Gregory W Blank wrote:

Were those century old fine looking prints one sees on TV or
otherwise illustrated wet mounted?

The thing I can think of especially if they are using some kind of
wheat paste or other "glue" is the introduction of potential fungus

Well we have 8~10 wet-mounted 8X10 contact prints that were stored in a
suitcase in my father-in-law's basement for a number of years before we
discovered them. No fungus I can see.

Even in the 1800's man had several thousand years experience gluing paper.
I imagine the fungus problem had been solved long before the first photo
was ever mounted. Wall paper paste has fungicides in it. In the pre-EPA
days most any poison may have been added to glue: antimony, arsenic,
mercuric acetate, sugar of lead, cadmium ...

I believe Japanese rice glue uses/used cadmium.

So surely modren Science and Technology in the Service of Commerce must have
come up with some kind of wet adhesive that rivals or exceeds the old
grain-based pastes, dontcha think? Or are these venerable glues still usable
for that purpose?

How about that horrible stuff, 3M spray mount, f'rinstance. Archival?

Or other water-based adhesives: PVA, casein, etc?


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imagined, some new and unspeakable form of sexual debauchery practised
by young persons of dubious morality, but a way of providing news
articles to the cybernetic publishing moguls of the World Wide Wait so
they can fill the airwaves with even more useless drivel.

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Gregory W Blank wrote:

In article ,
(Dan Quinn) wrote:


Were those century old fine looking prints one sees on TV or otherwise
illustrated wet mounted? Dan



The thing I can think of especially if they are using some kind of wheat
paste or other "glue" is the introduction of potential fungus onto and inbetween the
print and the support matte. Yes old albumin prints typically were mounted using
wheat paste, consequentially some have major preservation issues.....aside from
poor fixing and storage.

Wet mounting can also be done with modern PVA glue (Elmer's etc. white
glue), which reactivates somewhat when wetted even after full drying.
And polyvinyl acetate doesn't promote fungus growth, though I can't
speak to its archival properties in other respects. I've read an
article on the web about using PVA (or, given the dating, probably
casein based) white glue in the 1960s to wet mount very large prints on
Masonite type hardboard -- like several feet on a side. These weren't
intended as archival items, of course, but rather to display a print in
mural size with adequate durability for the exhibit and good handling
and viewing characteristics.

--
I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz!
-- E. J. Fudd, 1954

Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer
Lathe Building Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/HomebuiltLathe.htm
Speedway 7x12 Lathe Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/my7x12.htm

Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth
and don't expect them to be perfect.

In article 0K6sc.101037$xw3.6014855@attbi_s04,
Donald Qualls wrote:

Wet mounting can also be done with modern PVA glue (Elmer's etc. white
glue), which reactivates somewhat when wetted even after full drying.
And polyvinyl acetate doesn't promote fungus growth, though I can't
speak to its archival properties in other respects. I've read an
article on the web about using PVA (or, given the dating, probably
casein based) white glue in the 1960s to wet mount very large prints on
Masonite type hardboard -- like several feet on a side. These weren't
intended as archival items, of course, but rather to display a print in
mural size with adequate durability for the exhibit and good handling
and viewing characteristics.

Well masonite is definately not acid free, archival is a poor
word choice (I think). Without knowing as to the inertness of the any
wet glue I would hesitate to apply it to any of my prints, RC or
othrwise. I don't doubt there inert ones, but there are better
ways of presenting work, corner mounting, hindging and gasp
even dry mounting.
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In article k.net,
"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote:

Even in the 1800's man had several thousand years experience gluing
paper. I imagine the fungus problem had been solved long before the first
photo was ever mounted. Wall paper paste has fungicides in it. In the
pre-EPA days most any poison may have been added to glue: antimony,
arsenic, mercuric acetate, sugar of lead, cadmium ...

I believe Japanese rice glue uses/used cadmium.

Well that maybe, I was kind of looking at those hearty
souls that feel inclined to mix their own glue from scratch
or at least wheat paste or flour. Hopefully your flour does not have
fungicide, arsenic or cadmium in it. But it would explain alot if
it does ;-D
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In article ,
David Nebenzahl wrote:

How about that horrible stuff, 3M spray mount, f'rinstance. Archival?

Aside from possibly damaging your central nervous system
its probably ok. Unless of course you have a problem centering prints
on the clean matte board the first time. Personally I hate that crap.
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