Gluing Prints to Art Board

[phred426]

I have the opportunity to display / sell some of my images in a small foyer for Customers to view as their waiting. I could go to easy way and just print off an image and slide it into a plastic sleeve. But I’d like to have them not only look better but to be able to withstand a little abuse if it’s an impulse buy and they could slip them into their luggage was their waiting. I’d like to able to affix them to a firm art board backing before slipping them in a plastic sleeve. Do any of you have an “easy” way to glue a print to art board? Cutting out art board of course won’t be tough, but what glue to use that won’t soak through, how do you keep the image centered, how do you roll any bubbles out, etc? All the while keeping the labor needed to a minimum. All questions that I’m not sure how to answer.

I’d suppose building a fixture in the shape of an “L” would be one way to keep the art board from moving and be a starting point to lay the print on it. The fixture would need to accommodate many sizes of prints (4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10, 11 x 14 and 13 x 19).

Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I thought I’d inquire if any of you have come up against the same questions and had any luck figuring it all out?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[RDKirk]

I can't really tell what your actual purpose is--how long-lived you want the finished product to be or how resistant to physical damage you want it. Are these on display only, or will customers be able to take or buy them? You seem to imply both.

You can use synthetic adhesive to mount prints--there are photo-safe sprays you can buy (check the label for use for photographs--adhesives such as rubber cement can ruin a photograph pretty quickly). You can buy mounts that already carry the adhesive under a peel-off release sheet. Both methods take a bit of time learning how to mount the print without bubbles. Also, ultimately all adhesives fail, and depending on environment conditions, that can be sooner than later.

Traditionally, photographs are sandwiched between a cardboard backer board and a cardboard mat board with a appropriately size window cut out of it to view the image, the same as drawings and watercolors. There are various methods of fastening the print to the cardboard backer: Tapes and corners (with the same problem of adhesives eventually failing and making sure the adhesive is safe for the print). I personally print the image on paper the full size of the mount, but have the image sized in the middle of the paper to fit the window of the mat. That way, I don't have to adhere the print to the backer at all.

You would also have to use an "archival" backer board (mount) and mat purchased at an art store, because most cardboards contain acids that will damage a photograph fairly quickly.

Do some googling for not just photograph mounting, but also art mounting to find more information.