The Framers Forum

Hi,
a friend of mine was given a limited edition print by his girlfriend, about 50 x 70cm, she had it done in a high street picture framer in a desirable area of London, just South of the river. He brought it to me to give my opinion on it, she had asked for the print to be floated on the mount but it was stuck under a mount instead.
I was amazed that a High Street framer would do something like this ( Ok I am a bit naive ) Take a look at the picture below, I'm sure you have all seen something like this before ... the print is stuck to the back of the mount using masking tape and it has no barrier between the print and the MDF board ??

I told my friend that I was reluctant to attempt to remove the masking tape as it might rip the paper. He has asked me to attempt it as he would still like to see it floated and as it's been on there less than a month I might get away with it.

As it's a friend and he is happy for me to attempt this can anyone give me any advice for releasing masking tape from a print, without having to contact a conservator ? Thanks in advance and HAPPY NEW YEAR !
B'Puss

If I was trying it, I think the best way is to hold the artwork flat with your CLEAN thumb as close to the tape as possible and pull the tape back from one of its corners folding it over on itself as far as it will go whilst pulling. The sharper the angle the tape is folded back over on itself the better. It's worked for me in the past. Of course, as soon as you see that the artwork's beginning to tear - STOP. Hopefully though, it won't. Also, you might want to post this on The Grumble. With a bit of luck, someone on there will have an answer. Maybe Hugh Phibbs might have some suggestions there.

Keith.

Certainly, if the print has some intrinsic value, you should leave the tape removal to a conservator. Hugh Phibbs is a conservator for the National Musueum in Washington, D. C., I believe, and is a great resource.

If the masking tape is not old enough to have become dry and brittle, we’ve has some luck heating the tape with the heat gun of our shrink wrap machine.

When the tape gets warm enough, the adhesive will get a bit gummy and should peel off with a little effort. It will, however, leave a residual stain, but that can usually be removed with a careful application of naphtha (cigarette lighter fluid).

Why remove it? Why not leave the little bit that is stuck to the back of the print alone and just trim all the rest off with a scalpel, I know it's not the ideal solution but better than ripping the print.

Agreed.

The problem is that any damage that occurs when trying to remove the tape will be perceived by the customer as your fault. Not the original perpetrator. Why people persist in this type of practice is beyond me. I'm sure they imagine that tabbing all round will somehow keep the print flat, when in actuality it has the direct opposite effect. That's apart from the permanent mutilation.

If it were possible, I would take it back to the original framer and demand compensation.

Run a blade along the edge of the paper (where there is tape) in a couple of passes, so you are left with tape on the back of the mount and tape on the back of the print.

See what happens when you peel the tape left on the back of the mount - if it's bad, leave it, maybe leave it anyway - but if you're going to attempt peeling it off, with or without heat/solvents, peel away from the image.

There are solvents/methods for removal that you could test on each piece left on the back of the mount, but the print may be more delicate than the mount's backing paper.

I've received mounted prints from publishers that have had similar treatment and I've just peeled the tape away - no problem - my property - also any paper that HAS come away has been well outside the image area - a bit different if you are float mounting though.

Why float mount anyway? Does the image cover the whole paper area? Or maybe the paper has a nice deckled edge?

Bagpuss wrote: a high street picture framer in a desirable area of London, just South of the river.

If they are 300m South, they should relocate 320m North of where they are!