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Making Museum Mounts for Photographs
Using a table saw with a 10-inch carbide finishing blade (60 or 80 teeth), rip a ¾-inch pine board into 3/8 inch to ½ inch strips. These are for the frame.
Cut them to the desired length. The final mount length and width should be about ¼ inch smaller than your print size.
Glue the corners together. I also use a nail gun, but this requires an air compressor. Corner clamps will work fine. I have been using Gorilla Glue because it is strong and sets up in a couple of hours. Be sure the frame is square.
Cut 1/8-inch Melamine so it is slightly larger than the frame.
To glue the Melamine to the frame, dampen the surfaces, apply a bead of Gorilla Glue on the frame, and place the Melamine so that one edge is flush with one side of the frame and the other edges overlap.
Be sure everything is square and clamp.
When the glue is dry, remove the clamps and scrape off the excess glue from the side with the flush edges.
Trim all edges with the table saw.
Use some 400-grit sandpaper to clean up the edges and remove any bumps from the Melamine surface.
Clean the whole mount with a damp rag to remove any dust.
Mounting the Photograph
Make sure your hands and all surfaces are clean.
I use Double Tack, a thin adhesive film sandwiched between two removable backing papers, to adhere the photo to the surface of the Melamine.
Cut a sheet of Double Tack so it is slightly larger than the museum mount.
Peel back about an inch of one of the paper backings to expose the sticky film.
Invert the Double Tack and position it so that all edges overlap the mount.
Press the sticky surface to one edge of the Melamine by sliding your fingers of your right hand from one side to the other while holding the far edge upward to force out any air and preventing bubbles.
Continue to slide your fingers back and forth from one side of the Double Tack to the other, pressing the film to the mount and working forward until the entire sheet is attached.
Trim the edges of the Double Tack with a razor blade.
You now have the Double Tack film stuck to the Melamine, it upper surface protected by the second paper backing.
I’ve been using 1-inch Gaffer’s Tape to finish the sides. To get the tape to adhere better, I’ve been spraying the wood edges of the mount with adhesive before mounting the photograph.
At this point you are ready to mount your photo.
Peel back an inch or so of the paper backing.
Position the photo so all edges overlap the mount. Just as you used the back and forth sliding motion of your fingers to press the Double Tack onto the mount, do the same with the photo, all the while peeling back the paper backing. This action forces out any air between the sticky surface and the photograph.
Trim the overhang of the photo with a razor blade.
Attach the gaffer’s tape to the sides so one edge is even with the surface of the photo.
I also attach a self-leveling hanger on the back.
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