Signing Prints

[kbg32]

Sharpies - a permanent marker, have a fair amount of alcohol in them I believe. It will discolor the print after awhile. They are certainly not archival!

http://www.sharpie.com/sanford/pdfs/Sharpie Industrial.pdf

 

[Matthew Runkel]

If you decide to sign the border of the prints, a dip pen with India ink works very well on photo paper. (Never put India ink in a fountain pen.)

 

[darkkavenger]

I sign on the back of the print, generally with a little message to the recipient, and always include the date.

 

[mike goldberg]

Hi...
I'm for signing in pencil in front, only on the matte board, in the lower rt corner [with edition numbers in the left corner]... and, rubber stamped copyright info on the back.

Having dry mounted 16 x 20 inch photos in the past, I hate it!

If, by chance, the rubber stamp is going directly on to the back of the actual photographic print, then the appropriate archival ink is required for the stamp pad. If the picture is framed, repeat the stamping on the brown paper which seals the back of the frame.

It's important to have location and year [of copyright], also on the back.
Mike

 

[stevew]

Label printer.

Label printer.

I read on another forum, I believe the Large Format, someone was using a label printer that ataches to a computer to print out the data and stick to the back of the photo. Years ago I used to use the rubber stamp route but it is a pain. I haven't sold photos for years, so now I just sign the overmatte. But!!!! I'm thinking about trying to sell again, so I guess I need to settle on a system.

Isn't it amazing how much the mundane but necessary tasks intefer with the creative things we would rather do.

 

[stet]

I'm curious now about the stamps for the back of a print. I imagine that along with copyright info, there could be fields to fill in for date taken, place, etc. Could anyone post pics of theirs? Avotius, I'd also like to see your Chinese stamp.

One guy who came to the frame shop used a wax stamp to sign his pieces. Very nice, although that meant his works always had to be framed with a thin shadowbox or frame spacing.

 

[Avotius]

What's a black sharpie - in the UK that can mean a scalpel!!!
i like the idea of the stamp going over the writing - can you show a jpeg of that?

BTW this is an interesting thread as its not something i've ever really discussed with anyone over the years of making prints and in shows it's hard to see behind the print.

woops, sharpie is a brand of permanant marker in the usa. Basically any decewnt black permanant marker will due. I dont have a picture of a pint that I have signed but its an idea, ill take a photo and stick one up here later today for you to see

 

[Avotius]

Sharpies - a permanent marker, have a fair amount of alcohol in them I believe. It will discolor the print after awhile. They are certainly not archival!

http://www.sharpie.com/sanford/pdfs/Sharpie Industrial.pdf

hm....ive been told that they will not damage the print of you sign them on the back as I do. I have a print here from a year ago that I signed on the back and nothing has happened to it yet, guess need to keep watching.

 

[RML]

Name, title (if any), year, shorthand signature; on a sticking label, stuck on the back of the photo. I don't write neatly; I can't. And I don't use pencil or ink dipping or fountain pen; it'll just get messy. A simple ball point will do. If you don't like it... too bad. It's not like I ruined the front side of the photo with my messy handwriting and blotchy fountain pen. 🙂

 

[GWHomeyer]

I've got three opinions from three different instructors I've had when it comes to signing. One is don't, ever. The next is to sign the mat board if dry mounted, or if not dry mounted and there's enough border on the print, and the border will show through the window of the top mat, sign in the border with pencil only, signature bottom right and edition or date bottom left in the border of the print so that it shows through the top mat and is not covered (so that the pencil won't smear to the bottom of the top mat). The third, who is a definate post modernist, thinks a fat sharpie marker (or equivilent) in the print area itself, on the front, is best, even if it discolours, etc..

Personally, if I have to sign a print, I use a Staedtler pigment liner pen, and sign the border of the print, bottom right, but I mat so that it's covered. The pigment liner is archival and very, very perminant, and I've yet to see it transfer to the top mat even if it gets wet, seems to write on just about any paper I've ever used as well. I don't like pencil, smears to easily and doesn't always like papers without a surface tooth.

Gerald

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

Name, title (if any), year, shorthand signature; on a sticking label, stuck on the back of the photo. I don't write neatly; I can't. And I don't use pencil or ink dipping or fountain pen; it'll just get messy. A simple ball point will do. If you don't like it... too bad. It's not like I ruined the front side of the photo with my messy handwriting and blotchy fountain pen. 🙂

Remy, i can't write neatly either - being left handed and also having a rather long second name - my signature is often hard to recreate time and time again.....🙂

 

[kbg32]

Many years ago I had a conversation with then photo director of the Brooklyn Museum, Barbara Millstein. She said to always sign your prints, even if you put them away in a box. She was seeing too many photographs signed by people who were not the creator of the image.

 

[Swissmadepix]

I've never sold a print, but have often framed photographs I've taken, as a gift.

While less "handmade feeling", I have a template that I fill in with the relevant information, and print it out in 2 copies, on archival paper. One goes to the back of the print before matting & framing, the other on the back of the frame. Both "labels" get signed. Their size is a bit smaller than A5. Nothing on the mat.

Here's a "virgin sample". Should anybody wish the template (*.doc) - without the logo, of course - just holler and I'll send it.