The Framers Forum

Hello everyone,

I need to mount a large print (roughly 1.5m x 1.25m, 60 x 50 inches) to a kappa mount board.
Even though the print is heavy paper 325gsm, it will bend in places if only using tape hinges. I tried and it will never hang flat enough because of the size.

To stick this print down completely, what are my options.. Spray glue for such a large area? Is there a pouring glue thin enough that I can roll it out smoothly with a rubber roller before sticking the print on? Or double sided mounting adhesive film (in such a large size?).

Any idea what would work best or you've used before? Because of the size, there's no way I could just try things out and see what happens

Thanks so much for any ideas!

Alex

If it a replaceable low value print, you can take it to your local signage/graphics company who, if they have a roller laminator, should be able to mount it for you. Forget about spraymount, none of them are actually permanent.
If it is valuable/irreplaceable then reversible hinging is your best option. There are many hinging techniques available, like pass through hinges and the hedgehog technique.
It all depends on whether you want best practices or just to stick it down permanently.

I'd second that - drymount it through a roller. As Justintime says the easiest way is to find a signwriter as they typically have large rollers, we've now bought our own for this purpose as signwriters round here don't have the attention to details that you'll have as a framer. Completely forget about spray adhesives, terrible stuff.
I don't automatically worry about the value of the print with drymounting as it's carried out as default in high end photography, but you do need to know whether your process will devalue the work or not. In many cases it won't make a difference but that is a risky assumption to make.

I've just been asked to do something similar with 2 huge posters! 1540 x 1200mm I was thinking of having them laminated at a sign makers.

So glad I saw this thread, it's given me more confidence about laminating them.