What is dry mounting?
Dry mounting is a permanent process whereby a piece of artwork, photograph, poster, or material is bonded to a conservation board, museum board, or 5mm foam board using a adhesive heat-activated tissue and a hot press resulting in a flat, smooth finish. The process of dry mounting allows us to remove creases, bends, and cockles from Artwork.
Our Acid-Free Mount Film is a pure film adhesive. The acid-free adhesive melts as it is heated in our Hot Press Vacuum press and bonds as it cools. This bond can be reversed by re-heating the adhesive, though we would advise against this and offer no guarantees.
Photographs – To give a flat perfect finish and remove any movement from paper
Watercolours – When watercolours are not sized properly the paper can cockle and bow, whilst sometimes this can be disguised with a mount, dry mounting guarantees a perfectly flat finish.
Damaged work – Creases, rips and tears can be removed by adhering the artwork to a board thus also stopping the work from getting damaged further.
Fabrics – When lacing or stretching fabrics is not an option, dry mounting can be a quick and cost effective option
Artwork stored for too long in a postal tube – we see it so often, artwork crammed into a tight postal tube causing the work to be rolled tightly and not un-curl and even causing creases.
Things to consider before dry mounting your artwork
Because this is a heat-activated process, this process does carry a slight risk which can result in the occasional crease or reaction to the medium used.
We would always recommend checking with the Artist that the mediums they have used are suitable for use with this heat/ vacuum process and doing a test piece where possible. Our framing experts can also advise you in our free framing consultation.
Because dry mounting is an irreversible process and artwork cannot be removed from the mount board/foam board. Because of this, it is not advisable for one-off original artworks or highly valuable prints.
Etching Printing Press No. 2
by Gordon Yapp, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
Etching Printing Press No.1
by Fiona Thomson
