Flattening, Steaming, Restoring border damage (creases and wrinkles)?
I recieved another poster with border damage. It never fails how some sellers so consistently wrongly priortize packaging. It's the rolled poster ends (borders) that need to be priortized and protected. People become so focused on using a strong tube ("a truck can roll over my tubes!" etc, etc) they forget the real work and diligence is properly securing the poster inside the tube from slipping and sliding. You can use a cast steel tube but if not properly protected and cushioned the ends of the merchandise within, the tube matters not.
Has anyone heard of pressing or steaming or somehow "flattening" border crinkles and wrinkles? Wrinkles that haven't lost any color or ink, just wrinkles and creases along one border from top to bottom. I've heard of a "flattening" process over the years but have never confirmed if such a procedure exists or is just myth.
Has anyone heard of pressing or steaming or somehow "flattening" border crinkles and wrinkles? Wrinkles that haven't lost any color or ink, just wrinkles and creases along one border from top to bottom. I've heard of a "flattening" process over the years but have never confirmed if such a procedure exists or is just myth.
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It just seems I've heard people talk about a restorer, a professional restorer, maybe Postermountian that does have a "flattening" procedure without need for linen or chemicals. Maybe not. I'd love to know.
Your best bets are to either have it backed or if it is vintage paper - which tends to relax and be much more malleable - lay it flat for a VERY long time with some weight on it...
Postermountain used a heat press on that Them! I don't know what it costs but but I'd guess it isn't cheap.
If the wrinkling inst too severe I'd think steaming would probably be the best route. I've never tried it myself though. But it's an interesting idea.
I'm going re-create the wrinkle on spare piece of poster for the test. I'm just going to use plain white Mead printer paper as the burnishing sheet.
I talked to John Davis about a different ship damaged poster that was also a contemporary clay finished poster. I love that he was forthright about what he can and can't do with modern posters in the light of what serves the paper best.
It took me by surprise to hear a proprietor of a business say "Sorry, I'd rather you not pay me to do that to your poster", thank me for calling and express his pleasure in just discussing the poster with me. He really loves his work it seems on the good days and the bad.
The thicker posters pose an additional problem. Folding them actually causes the paper fibers to actually tear on the outer surface of the folds. Flattening, soaking, steaming cannot solve this, so the folds are tough. I think some form of binder might tie the torn fibers back together, but I haven't tried this yet.
I am far from being an expert, so I leave this to them. Is a reasonable strategy to use a binder on wet folds, and then an aggressive flattening?
At my parents' photography business, we would soak, dry under weight and then dry mount, followed by pencil retouching of the fold line.
The poster was gently humidified in a chamber and was temporarily mounted to a board using our proprietary gelatin procedure in order to flatten out the creases and handling damage.
Before:
After:
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This process can be used for folded posters too if you don't like linen-backing. It can expand the poster however.