Photogeeky question:Does anyone have experience with flush mounting on foamcore versus gator board? I'm going to have 4- 11x14 and 5- 8.5x11 pieces
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i used gator board for an exhibit we built for our capstone project in college (graphic design)--it's sturdy (hence, building an exhibit out of it) but i don't remember it being particularly attractive on it's own. i wouldn't think the finish of it would compliment photography well. (we covered every visible surface with printed paper.) are you doing anything crazy with these photos? because i can't imagine mat board being anything but the ideal choice. in my experience, dry mounting (even spray mounting) on mat board has always been great, and i have boards from 5 and 6 years ago that are still straight and happy and not discolored. is this helping? probably not. but i have indeed worked with all of these materials in some capacity, so...there. :)
The photos are going to be flush-mounted, so the board will not be showing at all - it just needs to be a sturdy backing. Spray mounting is not good for photographic materials, but dry mounting would work. I'm just not sure how mat board works if you are mounting it directly on the wall (as opposed to framing it).
so, you're mounting a flush-mounted board directly to the wall? how is it fixed to the wall?
we used gator board because it had to be free-standing, and stand up to people accidentally bashing into it and whatnot, and our boards were 8 feet tall. photo paper isn't particularly heavy, so it's not like it's going to tear itself off of the wall or anything. i'm soo inclined to say that gator board is overkill--but at the end of the day, i've never had a photo show, only graphic design/photo crits, so don't feel like i all-the-way know what i'm talking about.
one thing to think about re foamcore is that the foam shows around the edges. and I'd be concerned about permanently afixing photos to cheaper materials, cause that's just the way I am.
i always use archival mat board and dry mount it and I hate foamcore with a passion.. totally non-archival and my opinion is that if you are going to be selling them and they are going to be stuck to the board forever, the board better be made out of just as high quality materials as the photo paper.. which is why I'm all about archival. the end.
I feel the same way about foamcore... it's just yucky stuff and doesn't even look good, but I was afraid flush-mounting mat board might be flimsy. I'll give it a shot.
i flush mounted on double mat board and it bowed a bit, but i pressed it right before the show went up (like...30 minutes before) and then velcro'd. it wasn't an issue when it was hanging, but since i've taken it down...it's pretty bowed. :( nay on flush mounting on mat board.
gator board was highly recommended to us by our foundation photo teachers, instead of foam core. i guess it doesn't dent as easily and obviously once it's dented, you're fucked. i think of the extra money as insurance that your prints are less likely to get ruined.
i bought it at a craft store, it's pretty cheap. it's double-stick velcro. it's cool because you can just peel it off the walls and it doesn't chip the paint....and i peeled it off the mat board after we took the show down and it didn't mess it up at all. i think about 90% of the pieces in our show were hung w/ velcro and none of our pieces showed any signs of budging/bowing while the show was up.
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are you doing anything crazy with these photos? because i can't imagine mat board being anything but the ideal choice. in my experience, dry mounting (even spray mounting) on mat board has always been great, and i have boards from 5 and 6 years ago that are still straight and happy and not discolored.
is this helping? probably not. but i have indeed worked with all of these materials in some capacity, so...there. :)
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we used gator board because it had to be free-standing, and stand up to people accidentally bashing into it and whatnot, and our boards were 8 feet tall. photo paper isn't particularly heavy, so it's not like it's going to tear itself off of the wall or anything. i'm soo inclined to say that gator board is overkill--but at the end of the day, i've never had a photo show, only graphic design/photo crits, so don't feel like i all-the-way know what i'm talking about.
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one thing to think about re foamcore is that the foam shows around the edges. and I'd be concerned about permanently afixing photos to cheaper materials, cause that's just the way I am.
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and I hate foamcore with a passion.. totally non-archival and my opinion is that if you are going to be selling them and they are going to be stuck to the board forever, the board better be made out of just as high quality materials as the photo paper.. which is why I'm all about archival. the end.
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gator board was highly recommended to us by our foundation photo teachers, instead of foam core. i guess it doesn't dent as easily and obviously once it's dented, you're fucked. i think of the extra money as insurance that your prints are less likely to get ruined.
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