I'm having difficulty getting my 11x14B/W FB prints to flatten. Air dried on a rack after soaking in a Photoflo dilution (read once that as a final rinse it helps prints dry with less curl), then pressed under a billion phonebooks for days and still wavy along the edges. Even after dry mounting in a vacuum press, some edges crease. Now I'm thinking of lightly misting the back of the print with water right before the vacuum press process. I don't want to resoak and redry because they've all been spotted and I have over 30 prints. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

-- Ted Davis (palmawest@mediaone.net), April 20, 2001

Answers

I slightly dampen the back of my prints with a sponge before putting in a dry mount press for a minute or so at 225 degrees.

-- Don Sparks (Harleyman7@aol.com), April 20, 2001.

Ted, Long soaking times commom to FB printing may increase drying problems, mainly at borders. And also uneven air circulation around the prints associated to low humidity. Can't think of better solution than using a real press or, a little easier, trim the edges. When using some sort of pressing system I'd suggest you to avoid working with many prints from the same stock arranged all the same way, as the waving formed from fibers extension will also be similar and counteract the pressing effort.

Cesar B.

-- Cesar Barreto (cesarb@infolink.com.br), April 20, 2001.

I don't know how archival this tecnique is but I have had excellent success with Edwal Print Flattening Solution followed by drying in a 2 sided drier with canvas covers.

-- Robert Orofino (minotaur1949@iopener.net), April 22, 2001.

After 35 years of printing, I see that fiber prints are going to curl sooner or later regardless of how you wash and dry them. As long.the air is humid enough, they flatten out - otherwise, they curl. Dry-mounting seems about the only way to keep them flat, and even then, they may come loose at the edges after awhile.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols@iopener.net), April 23, 2001.