The Framers Forum

Hello, I've stopped framing as it wasn't working for me (working from a bedroom!), so am concentrating on my photography. But I was thinking of a cheap way to frame the odd photo, and without the big equipment

I was on a photographers website (skyline.ie) after clicking a link, and there was a video of how he has his photos mounted in a shadow box. It looked like something I could do fairly easily. His prints had the torn edge look, and mounted onto foamcore (Elmers I think). He used Hotpress mounting film to stick the print to the recessed float mount and that to the foamcore backing

But no laminate film was used to protect the photo or the foamcore (also no glass). I'm wondering whether a print or foamcore would be ok as is - I'm thinking the foamcore at least might mark if cleaned etc?

Thanks
Roy

It looks like he glazed it but skipped most of that process...

That's a nice way to display photographs... torn edge and float mounted (pedestal float mount) but I will say this about the mounting... that film is pressure sensitive film and requires pressure to form a good bond (lots of pressure i.e. roller) so it will most likely fail in the future. Far better and easier to mount the print to the pedestal foamboard with paper hinges and then glue that to the undermount with a good quality white glue like Evacon_R.

As Glimpse said glass was used in the video

See here for method of floating with hinges. You don't have to use Japanese paper and wheat paste, gummed cotton paper tape from a roll will be ok, but if the paper has some texture to it you can achieve a stronger bond by wetting the tape with diluted Evacon-R or just make some wheat paste which is easy to do.

If you're not making many frames you could order moulding on 'chop' and get friendly with your local glass merchant. All you then need is a mount cutter and an underpinner (or, if aluminium, a screwdriver). The mount cutter presumably doesn't have to be mega-sized.

I've used one of these a few times.

https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/8933/FrameC ... g-Tool-Kit

Bit cheaper than an underpinner! Did the job on most mouldings when our underpinner was out of action for a few days...

Thanks for replies - yes, looks like the glass step was skipped but there was glass. A couple of points:

1) Having framed photos as opposed to watercolours etc I much prefer it stuck to the board with hotpress film than hinges, which looks a bit wavy

2) I was hoping he didn't use glass as I'm not a fan of shiny glass - even the AR stuff I got from Wessex looks very shiny to me.

I was hoping to keep the price down - I mean my cost to make a frame, before profit, was around £45 with say £15 for AR glass and £12 for the print

Thanks
Roy

I agree strongly with David M, that mounting film will fail and show bubbles before you know it without the correct pressure being applied.
Lion now do a sticky board which allows the bubbles to escape / dissipate and I have used this successfully with only hand roller pressure, its FOAM-LiTE TAF, 9496, worth trying.
Also the edge effect is created using one of these https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/10024/Deckl ... pper-500mm
As far as glass is concerned, shiny or not, why don't you let your prospective customers decide which glass they would like so you can keep your base cost down with standard float glass and offer extra for Ultra Vue etc. After all it does not really matter what our preference is as it will not be hanging on our wall ! but it really does need some glass to protect the photo from the basic contaminants.

he defo uses glass, 360dpi does his printing

Many thanks for helpful replies

The Foam-Lite and Deckle Edge Tool sound useful.

All suggestions taken onboard, Thanks, Roy

Photos printed on inkjet watercolur paper, with torn edges and brush applied varnish could be float mounted and framed without glass if you really don't like glass... I think AR glass is like magic, not shiny at all

https://www.lionpic.co.uk/r/25739/Glamo ... id-Veneers

Video showing a paper print being varnished: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pLlZj745L

The last hyperlink doesn't seem to work, David

Thanks, this one should work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pLlZj745LQ

kartoffelngeist wrote:I've used one of these a few times.

https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/8933/FrameC ... g-Tool-Kit

Bit cheaper than an underpinner! Did the job on most mouldings when our underpinner was out of action for a few days...

Holy moly, that right there is a wonder tool, v nails, pins, flexible clips, does it cut mounts too?

IFGL wrote:Holy moly, that right there is a wonder tool, v nails, pins, flexible clips, does it cut mounts too?

Isn't it just. I bought one once. Used it once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeQzfsL0BdI

I just delivered some stuff to a woman who uses wax on photos, like the above link.

I just watched this when I should be working, not sure of the finished item though. Maybe it looks better in reality.

This is the same guy doing some mounting.

I found it ironic that the photo he was mounting perfectly illustrates the merits of his method.

It's a temporary half-arsed lash-up. Go with it and all your work will come back to haunt you.