MOUNTING PHOTOGRAPHS.
There are many photographers who, unfortunately, are quite indifferent
as to the medium they use in mounting the trimmed photographs. So long
as the medium will cause the adherence of the back of the print to the
cardboard employed, they are perfectly satisfied, whether it be paste
fresh or sour, or starch or gelatine in a similar condition. If any of
our readers have had the misfortune to have their rooms papered with
rancid paste, they will have noticed that the unpleasant smell attending
it has not been removed from the room for weeks, and that there is a
liability of the return of the disgusting odour when the air is at all
damp. In this case the fact that decomposition is going on is detected
by the olfactory nerves, because the quantity is considerable. It is
none the less true, however, that every square inch of the surface of
the wall paper is undergoing the same ordeal, and that if it contains
any colour, &c., which would be affected by decomposing organic matter,
there would be but small chance of the paper retaining its fresh
appearance. Were a silver print mounted with the same paste, we need
scarcely point out that danger to its permanency is to be apprehended.
Paste, we know, is as a rule tabooed, but there is no occasion for it
to be so if care be taken that it is absolutely fresh when employed in
mounting. In looking for a mounting material, we should endeavour to
find something which does not readily take up moisture. Glue, gelatine,
dextrine, and gum are all inadmissible on this account; on the other
hand, starch, arrowroot, cornflour, and gum tragacanth, when once dry,
do not seem to attract moisture.
Referring to glue, Mr. W. Brooks says[29] that he has recently seen
many photographs which have been mounted with that medium, and in
some cases, where the glue has been put on too thickly, it swells up
into ridges, showing marks of the brush with which it is applied, and
each ridge after a time turns brown. The same writer is not wholly in
favour of starch, but in our own opinion pure white starch is as good
a material as can be met with. To prepare it for use as a mountant,
a large teaspoonful of starch is placed in the bottom of a cup, with
just sufficient cold water to cover it. This is allowed to remain for
a couple of minutes, after which the cup is filled with boiling water,
and well stirred; the starch should then be fairly thick, but not
so thick as to prevent a brush taking up a proper supply for a good
sized print. We will suppose that we are going to mount a day's work
of carte-de-visite prints. In a former chapter we have said that it
is desirable that the prints should be left damp. If they are dried,
they should be _slightly_ moistened, and placed in a heap one above the
other, as by so doing the moisture is confined, and one damping of all
the prints is sufficient. In our own practice we have, as is natural,
all the prints with the faces downwards. A stiff bristle brush is then
dipped into the pot containing the starch, and the starch brushed over
the back of the top print. This one is then carefully raised from the
print beneath it, and, supposing it to have been properly trimmed, it
is laid upon the card, and pressed down by means of a soft cloth, and
placed on one side to dry. The next print is then treated in the same
manner, and so on. By this plan no starch gets on the face of the
prints, which is a desideratum. With a little practice, just sufficient
starch will be brushed on each carte, and no more. Young hands, however,
are sometimes apt to give more than a fair share to them; in this case,
after pressing the print down with the soft cloth, it may be useful to
place on the print a piece of writing paper, and press all superfluous
starch out by a rounded straight-edge, or an ivory or wooden paper
knife. The card in this case should be placed on a slab of thick glass,
so as give an even pressure. The starch, which will exude beyond the
edges of the card, should be carefully wiped off with a _clean_ cloth.
This is of course a method to be adopted only in the case of bungling
mounting, but it is useful then, and may save a carte. It should be
remembered that the less mounting medium used, the greater is the chance
of a silver print not fading.
To mount larger prints, the back should be slightly damped, and the
brush with the starch applied with cross strokes, so that every part is
covered. Particular care should be taken that the corners and edges are
not missed, since it often necessitates re-mounting the print, which is
to be avoided as far as possible, since it is a troublesome matter. The
rounded-edged ruler, and the sheet of white paper, is also useful here,
since over a large surface there is more difficulty in getting even
layers of starch, than over smaller ones. When a print has to be mounted
with a margin, the places where the top corners have to come should be
marked with a fine pencil point. By a little dexterity, the top edge of
the print, the back of which has been covered with starch in the manner
described, can be brought into the position indicated by these dots,
and be then lowered without puckers or folds. It should be remembered
that the print should just cover the pencil marks, since it is almost
impossible to erase blacklead with india-rubber, if any starch should by
accident get on it.
It is well to dry these prints under pressure, since the cardboard is
apt to cockle. A couple of boards rather longer than the prints suffice
for the purpose. The mounted prints are laid between them, a sheet
of clean blotting-paper separating each, and a few weights placed on
the top board. For prints of moderate size, a table-cloth press is an
excellent substitute.
As to the kind of mounts to be used, opinions vary. To our mind, the
simpler they are, the better they look. It is not rare to find a regular
advertisement of the photographic establishment below a carte or cabinet
print. To say the least of it, this is bad taste, and we are sure it is
bad art. If the work be good, it needs no recommendation; and if it be
bad, the less of an advertisement that appears, the better it is for
the photographer. At the back of a carte or cabinet is the place where
any advertisement should appear; but even here it may be overdone. When
we find the back of the carte got up with any amount of gold-lettering
flourishes, and no blank space on which the eye can rest without
encountering some one especial merit of the artist, we may expect to
find on the front of the card the same kind of tawdry work. It is
seldom advisable to have the mount of a white colour, though for cartes
or cabinets, in which the margin will be hidden in the album, this is
not of much consequence; but for prints in which the margin shows, it
is generally advisable to have some slight tint visible, preferably
of a cream or buff colour. There are some classes of work which will,
however, bear a white margin, but it is rarely the case; and we advise,
as a general rule, that there should be some tone on it, to prevent
its attracting the eye away from the picture by its whiteness. Black
mounts are much in vogue at the present time, and they are effective and
artistic; but chemical analysis has shown them not to be safe, since
they are enamelled with substances which are apt to induce fading. A
good and stable black mount is a desideratum, which it is to be hoped
will be found before long.
Notwithstanding our preference for starch as a mountant, we give a
method of preparing glue for the same purpose. The glue used should
be light, and as clean as possible. It should be shredded and soaked
in sufficient clean water to cover it for five or six hours; any dust
which may have adhered to it will find its way into the water. The water
should be poured off and replaced by an equal quantity of fresh. The
vessel containing it is heated over a small gas jet or spirit lamp until
solution takes place. The liquid is then thinned down with warm water
till it is of proper consistency, a point which is soon learned by a
little practice. An ordinary small glue pot will be found convenient.
It is sometimes useful to have at hand a mounting solution which will
not cockle the mount, and the late Mr. G. Wharton Simpson gave a formula
which is very good in this respect. Fine cut gelatine or shredded glue
is swollen in the least possible quantity of water, and this is boiled
with alcohol, with much stirring. If 80 grains of Nelson's No. 1 fine
cut gelatine are taken, 3 dr. of water should be used for making it, and
to it 2 oz. of alcohol be added. When cool this sets into a jelly, and
can be used by letting the bottle into which it has been transferred
stand in hot water. Prints can be mounted on foolscap paper with this
medium without any serious cockling being apparent.
It should be recollected that no two batches of paper will mount exactly
alike, some expanding more than others. It is well to mount a trial
print before doing many, to see exactly how the paper under manipulation
behaves.
_Rolling the Prints._--After the prints have been under the hands of the
retoucher, they should be rolled in a rolling-press in order to give a
brightness to the printed image. It would be invidious to point out any
particular press that should be used. Suffice it to say, there are many
excellent ones in the market. The directions for cleaning and using the
press are supplied with each machine; we therefore refrain from saying
anything about them.