Techniques for drying FB papers.

try and find a Salthill print dryer and be thankful for small joys. will never give mine up ;)

or blotting paper (get at good art supply stores)

never done screen drying but it's relatively cheap but space intensive
 
Those papers are not meant to be dried.
Mount the pictures in an aquarium instead!

(yes, I'm also experiencing problems with FB paper :bang:)
 
gns said:
squeegee, then air dry, face down on screens.
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Yep. Make sure the screen material is PLASTIC, not metal of any kind. By placing them face down, they will curl a little less. If curling is still a problem, then I would press them (after drying) in a Seal dry mount press between two sheets of heavy card stock. You don't have to do the entire print in one shot, you can do in in halves or quarters, for instance. It takes a little fiddling to the get the temp just right, but you'll figure it out quickly. Just be sure to to your figuring on some test prints, not your final work!
 
You could take a few minutes to read through this rather long thread over at APUG.

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum37/57699-getting-fiber-based-paper-flat.html

I have tried the taping to glass trick, and this works. I also have a small heater from an old ferrotype-drier thing which works for drying 10"x12" prints, without using the plates. Previously I've also used a blotting book too.

Lots of ways work for someone, but what is going to be the most convenient for you depends on space and resources, same as everything else!
 
I also like the art store blotting paper with tons of books loaded on them. Makes a good use for those heavy coffee table photo books that were looked at twice.

One of these days I'm going to try a water color technique, but you need a little margin around the print. Just staple it all around to a piece of plywood while it's wet, and hopefully when it begins to dry down it will shrink and become taut. Well, it works for water color paper. Not sure about fiber photo paper, but you never know.
 
I bought a print dryer several years ago...best money spent on my darkroom stuff...
If the print isn't completely flat I place them under a stack of heavy books...
Been thinking of making a simple press for flattening prints...
 
I like taping them to wooden boards or glass plates around the edges with wet tape. Essentially the same as the staple technique, except with less ka-chunk. It works well, and the slow air-drying will give the paper a beautiful broken sheen.
 
rxmd said:
I like taping them to wooden boards or glass plates around the edges with wet tape. Essentially the same as the staple technique, except with less ka-chunk. It works well, and the slow air-drying will give the paper a beautiful broken sheen.
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+1

i use aquarel tape, the back goes on the glass.
 
Same as RC paper, on a piece of cloth. Then just let them lay half a year or longer under pile of heavy books and they gonna be flat enough to frame them.
 
Thanks to everyone for the input. Now I go for search of the blotting paper. I hope art store may have it and as I understand, I should go for the best they have.
 
I don't have a lot of experience with FB yet, but I've been hanging up two prints clipped back to back (one clip at each corner), and it works pretty well. I use these little white plastic snack bag clips that have a small rounded rubber bump where they clip the paper. It leaves a very small indentation in the corners, but no discoloration.
 
I hang them up on the washing line. Once dry and nice and curly I stack the prints up and place them between two sheets of mdf board. Two lengths of 1x2" timber on the top and two underneath and clamp together with four G-Clamps. I'll leave them for a few days - a week's even better, and they come out nice and flat.
 
I would only like to ask about the blotting paper thing- I have recently bought a blotting paper book (for this very purpose) and would like to give it a try. My question is - how wet may the print be before it goes in the blotting paper - does'n the emulsion side get scratched doesn't it stick to the blotting paper during the drying?
 
rxmd said:
I like taping them to wooden boards or glass plates around the edges with wet tape. Essentially the same as the staple technique, except with less ka-chunk. It works well, and the slow air-drying will give the paper a beautiful broken sheen.
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That's exactly how I do it. Ilford mgw glossy air dried - delicious :)
 
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