The Ultra Amateur Linen Backing Thread

racer59

I'm going to preface this by stating that as a fairly new collector, one of my major goals in collecting has been to be able to display my posters in the best manner available. (I know this is very subjective and I don't want to touch that subject) So, I needed to find out what to do with folded posters. Some people frame them folded, and again that's personal taste, I just don't think that looks very good, aesthetically speaking. So I discovered linen backing, and then discovered how expensive it can get. Especially when I counted about 16 posters I wanted to back, six of them being french one panels most in good shape but a few not that good. I then had one my posters backed and restored professionally. It was the most damaged poster I had that I wanted for display, a dirty one sheet with some tears, stains, tape and bad folds. The results were great. I was impressed.

 

So I decided to learn about the process and saw a few videos on youtube. Looks pretty easy, I thought to myself. Then I discovered Charlies original thread and read thru every page of it. After reading it I was a little discouraged because it became clear that if you want to do it right, it really is a big commitment (financially, time wise and space wise)

 

A few weeks passed and the itch was still there. I knew what I needed but didnt even know where to get it. Then by the process of some reverse engineering I figured out where to order from. After tinkering around and thinking about it for another two days I hit enter and placed my order. I still needed a work area and a wash table. Luckily for me, I had a empty spare bedroom in my house (where my posters were laying on the floor) and an empty pool room / shed in my back yard that I could use as a wash room) 

 

So about a thousand dollars later, I began backing my own posters. So far I've backed 6 (3 One Sheets, a French Half Panel, One Panel and Moyenne) and have made some big and small mistakes and learned something with each one.

 

One final note before I post pictures: I'd like to give big props (and thanks) to Charlie for posting his story from the very beginning. It inspired me and I'm sure many others. 

 

Pictures to follow shortly.....

racer59

First needed a room and worktable

Then build it

Finished:

racer59

Then wash table:

Charlie

It's happening!  Great setup...  

racer59

The first poster was this pretty damaged one sheet. It had tears at the fold lines and was almost completely in separate pieces, some stains and a snipe. 

Washed, bleached and deacidified. It was a hard poster to start with but eh...

racer59

Was an ok start, I learned a good deal about wheat paste, masa, working with wet paper, mylar sheets and the problems with mounting and braying, air pockets and wrinkles.Here is an example of poorly laid masa causing wrinkles

Poster as it sits now

racer59

Here is an example of a one panel as I was bleaching it. The whole thing was a bust because I thought that the bleach would take care of some writing that the poster had on back, but it didn't. I bleached it really well and it looked great when it was mounted except for the writing that was showing through, so I there this one out:

Charlie

Bleach doesn't remove writing... You have to spot bleach with solvents etc...  You can also scratch it off with a razor.

racer59

After a few more tries I decided to give one of my favorite posters a try. But only because I saw another up for auction and I figured if I botched the job, I could just buy it again. This was fairly easy now that I have some of the fundamentals down and it was small and pretty clean other that some foxing and a few little stains:

The frame

Masa

Masa laid. No Wrinkles. Like Charlie advised, wet the masa really well before laying on the paste. 

racer59

Front:

Back

Washing with Orvus

racer59

After completing the wash I mounted this one perfectly. No air pockets, bubbles wrinkles, no nuthin

Dry for a day

Today its dried for two days now and Im really happy with my work. Its ready for framing

racer59

So where does this leave me now? Still have a great deal to learn but I am much more confident than I was after my first few attempts. Plus Im confident I can now tackle my posters that are already in pretty decent shape.

I'll keep posting as I get more work in. Thanks for reading!

Charlie

Charlie

Great job!  Hey what should we call you, or did I miss?  

110x75

Charlie said:

Great job!  Hey what should we call you, or did I miss?  

Mad man for starters. And now there's 2 of you!

David

Bloody well done, you're to be congratulated.

[Deleted User]

Impressive work!

racer59

Thanks guys. Oh yeah, my name is Fernando. I'm looking forward to posts more stuff soon.

racer59

Not sure what happened with that picture of the one panel - will reupload and post again

racer59

Uploaded the picture again:

Charlie

What type of swueegee is that... It looks nicer than mine.

racer59

Its a Speedball Graphic Squeegee. They make several kinds for screen printing, this one said that it was ideal for working with paper so I bought it and it works really well

David

Squeegee envy Charlie?

racer59

Well, it is 10 inches....

Charlie

Mine is longer (12") but you may have me in the girth...   I'll have to look into the speedball...

http://www.lowes.com/pd_278374-1316-17012_0__?productId=3434976&Ntt=sqeegee&pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=sqeegee&facetInfo=

^:)^

David

Alrighty then, we have a squeegee face off.

Charlie

Yeah, but I am more experienced and have perfected my moves... B-)

racer59

...and you finish so much quicker.  

Charlie

)

This could get much worse, so I will stop before we spiral your thread out of control...

[Deleted User]

David

Too late...