How to unroll a print

[lars13]

Hello Guys,

I know there has been lots of conversations on this before but I was wondering if anyone had a good way of unrolling prints. Ive got a print thats 100cm x 100cm and its really tightly rolled.

No sure the best way of getting round it.

Any advice would be good.

Cheers

[markw]

The biggest damage risk is the rolling and unrolling is something I always do in front of the customer - that way I can pint out the damage as it is revealed. To answer you question re unrolling. Big enough clean flat space - weights (clean and made of a material that wont mark) placed on end of roll - gently roll out and have a few weights to keep it open.

[caro]

Adding to previous post, have a sheet of tissue that you can lay on top as you unravel, doesn't hurt to wear cotton gloves too, have strip offcutsof mount board the width of the print to help flatten as you go, which you might want to put weights on, use a tube which is wider than the print and pretend you're rolling out pastry but don't apply pressure.

A related tip: to move a large piece of paper: hold diametrically opposite corners. ( but this wouldn't work for tightly rolled narrow strips)

[Roboframer]

I feed them in to print browser sleeves or Arqadia visi-files which go up to A0.

[Jamesnkr]

doesn't hurt to wear cotton gloves too,

There's a strong school of thought that you should never use cotton gloves as you're clumsier with them on and so more likely to damage the item. Moreover it encourages you to think that it's fine to touch the artwork if you're wearing them. Sweat - and thus fingerprints - pass through cotton gloves. If you keep your gloves off, then you won't be tempted to touch more than the margins.



I do what Robo does, and feed them into browser sleeves. After a week or two they're largely manageable.

[prospero]

Yep. You have to persuade them gently. Feeding into a browser sleeve is a good way. Or feed them under a sheet of mountboard last thing and leave them 'til morning.
A lot depends on the paper. Some will naturally flatten out if you leave them. The main thing to avoid is digging you fingertips in. This causes the classic half-moon crease which will ruin the print.
The worse one I ever had was a pano school photo that had been rolled in a tube since WWII. I left that in a mb sandwich under weight for about three weeks and upon taking it out sprang back into a roll again. I had to drymount it in the end. Ever trying shoving a live octopus into a bottle?

[Jamesnkr]

Damp mountboard can help a lot.

[Ricky]

Buy One Of These or make your own like I did.
https://www.lionpic.co.uk/r/25711/Expression-De-Roller

[Steve N]

Ricky wrote -
"Buy One Of These or make your own like I did.
https://www.lionpic.co.uk/r/25711/Expression-De-Roller"

Much cheaper to buy a roller blind
http://www.diy.com/departments/colours- ... 107_BQ.prd

[Glimpse]

Damp mountboard can help a lot.

Seriously?? I wouldn't put anything damp anywhere near a customer's artwork!!

I have a couple of long off-cuts of mountboard (dry ) under the counter in the shop and I use these with paperweights for rolling out items in front of the customers.

Most stuff gets a gentle warm in hotpress to flatten, or if it's something that's not heat tolerant, I leave it sandwiched between a piece of display board and a sheet of glass overnight.

Got a couple of those scratch-card-style map posters in at the moment, proper pain in the behind!!