Flattening prints

[KennyRE317]

Maybe it's just me but I've always been hesitant about introducing heat and moisture to my prints. I have 2 very stubborn prints that just won't even get close to uncurling and from what I've been told is the best way is to put
a humidifier in the room to help loosen up the fibers in the paper. I may give this a shot as I have a spare room so I can keep the moisture away from my other prints

[Sceazy]

Maybe it's just me but I've always been hesitant about introducing heat and moisture to my prints. I have 2 very stubborn prints that just won't even get close to uncurling and from what I've been told is the best way is to put
a humidifier in the room to help loosen up the fibers in the paper. I may give this a shot as I have a spare room so I can keep the moisture away from my other prints

Didn't even think about the humidifier. That makes sense, I'm thinking about trying the heating pad on one of my least valuable or cared about prints just to see how it goes. If it screws it up it won't be much of a loss to me.

[jc23]

So i have been flattening a print and noticed that after a few days there are vertical waves. I think it might be because i reversed rolled them. I did use the proper technique of using 2 sheets of acid free paper and the shipping tube to roll the print but i think thats the reason.

Right now im flattening again with more weight and i plan on leaving it alone for a few weeks. I called around about ways to get rid of the waves (if their still present) and neary every frame shop only gave me backboarding as an option. One place in Chicago did tell me they can do something with wheat paste/acid free paper/canvas and that would still preserve the print while getting it flat. Is this an exceptable method? if not what should i be asking for?

Also i f'ed up one print (that has little value really) by bending the edge of it. Is there anything that can be done about this? i mean i doubt it but i had to ask

[Cragars]

So i have been flattening a print and noticed that after a few days there are vertical waves. I think it might be because i reversed rolled them. I did use the proper technique of using 2 sheets of acid free paper and the shipping tube to roll the print but i think thats the reason.

Why did you reverse roll it? You should never have to do that and it's too easy to screw the print up.

Just let it sit for a few days outside the tube before unfurling it, then weight the corners down for a couple days and that should be all you need to get it flat enough. If you want it flatter then put it between two pieces of foamcore with weight on top it.

If it's an expensive print, send it to PosterMountain and they'll get the waves out.

[jc23]

So i have been flattening a print and noticed that after a few days there are vertical waves. I think it might be because i reversed rolled them. I did use the proper technique of using 2 sheets of acid free paper and the shipping tube to roll the print but i think thats the reason.

Why did you reverse roll it? You should never have to do that and it's too easy to screw the print up.

Just let it sit for a few days outside the tube before unfurling it, then weight the corners down for a couple days and that should be all you need to get it flat enough. If you want it flatter then put it between two pieces of foamcore with weight on top it.

If it's an expensive print, send it to PosterMountain and they'll get the waves out.

inexperience. Im new to the print world and i read that that gets the print flat. Live and learn. I only had it reversed rooled for a couple of hours so i hope the waves dont stick.

Any info on the second part of my post, on how to frame (and make flat) without having to backboard it?

[KennyRE317]

So i have been flattening a print and noticed that after a few days there are vertical waves. I think it might be because i reversed rolled them. I did use the proper technique of using 2 sheets of acid free paper and the shipping tube to roll the print but i think thats the reason.

Why did you reverse roll it? You should never have to do that and it's too easy to screw the print up.

Just let it sit for a few days outside the tube before unfurling it, then weight the corners down for a couple days and that should be all you need to get it flat enough. If you want it flatter then put it between two pieces of foamcore with weight on top it.

If it's an expensive print, send it to PosterMountain and they'll get the waves out.

inexperience. Im new to the print world and i read that that gets the print flat. Live and learn. I only had it reversed rooled for a couple of hours so i hope the waves dont stick.

Any info on the second part of my post, on how to frame (and make flat) without having to backboard it?

You're going to want it flat before framing, if it has some waves the best thing that worked for me was a lot of even weight

[KennyRE317]

Maybe it's just me but I've always been hesitant about introducing heat and moisture to my prints. I have 2 very stubborn prints that just won't even get close to uncurling and from what I've been told is the best way is to put
a humidifier in the room to help loosen up the fibers in the paper. I may give this a shot as I have a spare room so I can keep the moisture away from my other prints

Didn't even think about the humidifier. That makes sense, I'm thinking about trying the heating pad on one of my least valuable or cared about prints just to see how it goes. If it screws it up it won't be much of a loss to me.

Hopefully I'll be able to set it up tonight but I'll let you know how it goes

[jc23]

I got 3 of my prints separated by acid free paper and sandwiched between two foam boards. And then i sandwiched the foam boards between two pieces of plywood and put 90 pounds of plated weight evenly over them.

I thought the plywood would help distribute the weight better. I plan on flattening for the next month.

[KennyRE317]

I got 3 of my prints separated by acid free paper and sandwiched between two foam boards. And then i sandwiched the foam boards between two pieces of plywood and put 90 pounds of plated weight evenly over them.

I thought the plywood would help distribute the weight better. I plan on flattening for the next month.

That's pretty much how my stack is being flattened

[plasticmoz]

Sorry to bring this one back from the dead, but after using books and misc. weights for a while I encountered a couple of rather stubborn prints that must have been tubed for a while. Thanks to some suggestions earlier in the thread I ended up doing more distributed weight + running a humidifier for a few hours over a couple of days and it worked a treat.

For the weight, we had the top of an old ping-pong table (~3/4" MDF) in the garage I hadn't done anything with in years that I ended up cutting into 3 28" wide pieces and gluing together and putting in 4 screws at the corners. Sanded the corners/edges down a bit and put some heavy duty drawer handles on the top to make handling it a bit easier and it's working out great for flattening -- plus I don't have to have a bunch of books piled up on my flat file. Probably around 50-60lb total and I just pop it on top of the foamcore sandwich when I need something flattened.

[summoner]

I have started being all green and fudge, and re-using those phone books that get dropped off on the door step (they are only about 1.5"s thick) to completely cover whatever I am flattening. They are pretty much in the goldilocks zone for weight, have a super smoother finish on the cover and are soft on the prints.

I also find, and it could all be in my head, that when you have a print in a sealed poly bag they tend to flatten much better than if they are not. Just make sure to get as much air out of the bag as you can... Seems to be something with the vacuum that is caused with the plastic and paper. But like I said, that could just be in my head.

[7thSon]

I generally flatten my prints by putting them face down on archival backing board and weights on top. I am a little paranoid about the inks rubbing off onto the board during the flattening - would it be recommended to put a layer of glassine/mylar/other material in between the board and face of the print? My thoughts are glassine or mylar would be less likely to absorb inks compared to the backing board.

Any suggestions/thoughts?

Thanks

[mindtrick33]

I pretty much do what everyone else does. Let it relax a few days then start putting weights on it. I am not a fan of just putting wights in the four corners. I guess this is where I differ. I put glassin on top of the print, and the heaviest book I have in the middle of the print. I then cover every inch of the edges with bean bags or heavy books. This seems to help with the print from getting wavy. Still looking for a good method of flatting prints that have been rolled for multiple years. I was toying with the idea of humidity but seems like things could go wrong fast.

[KennyRE317]

I generally flatten my prints by putting them face down on archival backing board and weights on top. I am a little paranoid about the inks rubbing off onto the board during the flattening - would it be recommended to put a layer of glassine/mylar/other material in between the board and face of the print? My thoughts are glassine or mylar would be less likely to absorb inks compared to the backing board.

Any suggestions/thoughts?

Thanks

I always put glassine between the print and a wood board/mdf (not archival), if i'm using acid free foamcore or acid free mats I don't use glassine

[KennyRE317]

I pretty much do what everyone else does. Let it relax a few days then start putting weights on it. I am not a fan of just putting wights in the four corners. I guess this is where I differ. I put glassin on top of the print, and the heaviest book I have in the middle of the print. I then cover every inch of the edges with bean bags or heavy books. This seems to help with the print from getting wavy. Still looking for a good method of flatting prints that have been rolled for multiple years. I was toying with the idea of humidity but seems like things could go wrong fast.

if a print has been sitting rolled for years I usually get a long piece of board and hold down the entire side first, the problem with doing only one corner than the other before uncurling to flatten the other side is sometimes it wants to hold its shape too much and you'll get a crease in the middle of the print because the other corner wants to snap back into the rolled position. I would then uncurl half way and use one of my smaller boards say 8"x 26" and i'll put it in the middle of the print and slide it to the other edge to hold it down.

if you use the humidifier don't have it spraying at the print, put it about 10' away overnight or 24hours and it should be much better. if you're going to use a humidifier you can't just hold down the corners, you'll need put it in a full sandwhich with some weight so you won't get waves