Print stuck to MDF board!!!

[Bagel Framer]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone's ever had to try and remove a print that has been stuck to an MDF board.....?!

A frame was brought to me by a customer - said frame had fallen off the wall shattering the plastic frame that it was in so i've made a new wooden frame. I've salvaged the mount that was stuck to the print, but I should have checked the print but assumed it wasn't stuck to the backing - alas it is....!

To add to my woes, the MDF backing is severely warped as it's got damp in the past.

I wonder if an iron would lift the print with no damage to the print?

Failing that the customer will have to get a new print which I can put in the frame properly..........!

[prospero]

I'd say you are mostly up the creek with it.

Can you tell what adhesive was used? If it was spraymounted it might be persuaded to drop off with a bit of heat.

More likely it was drymounted in a heat press. Probably the best thing to do is put it back in a press and see if that will
flatten it out. It might work but I'm not optimistic.

[JFeig]

Alas, The old trick of a customer...............
Making their problem, your problem.

The picture framer always looses.

[Jamesnkr]

Memo for next time, pull the frame to pieces in front of the customer...

Just put the old board in and put some new board behind it...

[kartoffelngeist]

Alas, The old trick of a customer...............
Making their problem, your problem.

The picture framer always loses.

Yep.

I wouldn't even be attempting it. I'd happily put the customer in touch with someone who could probably do it, but the cost would probably be more than a new print!

The only way I think I would be doing it would be scanning and reprinting it. Might be copyright issues though.

I would probably just keep the board it's on and pin it in to the frame with another piece of backing board for stability.

[Not your average framer]

There is no nice, easy answer to this one. Whatever you do will be at best an inspired bodge. Not all bodges are something to be ashamed about, sometimes a good bodge can save the day.

My suggestion is this:- Make a new frame using a moulding which has both a deep rebate and one that is not easy to distort when fixing this distorted piece of MDF in the frame. Cut a new mount, fit the print and it's distorted MDF backing board behind this and then add an additional backing board behind this made from 6mm MDF.

Hopefully this will flatten the print and distorted MDF to an acceptable extent. Explain the problem to the customer before you do this and explain what you are doing. Hopefully the customer will be delighted and call you a hero! If not, at least you have not done anything which cannot be reversed.

[Tudor Rose]

I would give the customer the two options open to you:

A) offer to reframe the original on the warped MDF with the extra backing board as others have suggested or

B) as you originally stated at the bottom of your OP, suggest they get a new print and frame that for them.

We've had quite a few over the years where getting a new print has been the preferred option, sometimes due to the fading of the original, sometimes due to other damage such as the damp you've described on this one. The customer has brought in "their problem" but actually it is easy to solve by explaining the solutions you can offer and the costs involved with each one.

[prospero]

What you have to consider is where framing ends and restoration begins.
Restoration is a whole different ball game and not undertaken lightly.

What you have there is a restoration job.

[Steve N]

sounds like contract framing to me, especially with the print glued to the backing, most probably wet glued, best to start over fresh, see if you can get another copy or the print.

[Not your average framer]

best to start over fresh, see if you can get another copy or the print.

That is assuming that it is a genuine print and that someone, somewhere has a decent copy carefully stored away somewhere.

Having been trained by a framers which mounted and sold huge quanities of what appeared to be genuine authentic prints to the public and various galleries all over the country, I can tell you that I had to dismantle and dry mount two different calendars in the run up one particular Christmas both boxes contained 400 calendars each. I can also tell you that they all sold out as well.

This sort of thing happens quite a lot more than most people have any idea. If it's dry mounted on MDF for cheapness, don't be surprised if it's a page out of a book, a calendar, or something similar. Which could mean that it never was a proper print in the first place and therefore getting another print in that size and format, is not going to happen.

[Steve N]

Very true Mark, it's not always possible to get another copy of a print, especially if it's out of a book or calender, , cheap and cheerful wall decorations