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So, over to the photographic print that has been laminating. It's been in there for about
5 minutes. We're going to switch the machine off, undo the latches. Okay. There's our photographic
print that's had the same treatment; so it's just had the surface of the print laminated.
You'll notice that we've actually used two different laminating films, the first print...the
paper print, we've actually used a product called Satin matte or Matte X heat-seal film
and this time we're using Gloss-Lustre or Satin X heat-seal film.
Again, you'll notice that it's got quite a large border all the way around, again for
once we've mounted in onto the canvas, the canvas and the heat-seal film will be stretched
around the back. So, again, we need to remove the release paper. You'll notice that we're
actually working on top of the vacuum press here, there's a good reason for that, because
when we're using photographic prints, it's good to try and keep the emulsion warm. It
helps stop the emulsion from cracking, so we're working on top of the press. You'll
notice that I'm putting the second release paper just back down. By working on top of
the press, that keeps the emulsion nice and soft so when we're actually stripping it and
when we're taking the emulsion off the backing paper, it's not going to end up cracking.
Across one of the shortest edges; we'll start in one of the corners, we'll bend it over
my finger. Then, I'm going to get my fingernail, dig into between the emulsion and the backing
paper and we're going to start splitting it so that the actual paper has started to split.
Always work with the photograph face up; it always has to be face up so that you're taking
the plastic off the backing paper; never work with it face down.
So, we're going to work across one of the shortest edges. As I say, just folding it
back on itself. I'm just going to pul it back on itself, just keep working across that shortest
edge. Bringing it down a little bit around the length of the print. Okay, so we've got
the lead edge, running all the way across started. We're actually going to be using
a metal bar or a piece of wooden dowel. We are going to drop that onto the heat-seal
film. Roll up the heat-seal film to the edge of the print and then holding the paper down,
we're just going to pull the heat-seal film back, taking the emulsion with us. You can
see where it's stripping here. Again, roll it up, pull it back, roll it up and pull it
towards us a little bit. So, roll it back. Again, roll it up and just keep working it
down. You can see once it's started, it gets quite easy. Take the silicone release film
away. Again, roll it up and just keep following the same action until you get to the very
end and you can see there that the print...you can see the image of the print coming through.
So, the actual print is very thin. This will then want to take on the texture of the canvas
coming through from the bottom. So, back over to the table and you'll notice that now we've
got this one stripped. We are going to put this to one side and we're going to concentrate
on the one that's soaking in the bath of water. For this, we're going to need something that's
flat and shiny. In this case, we're going to be using a piece of acrylic or Perspex;
you can see that it's been used many times before for demonstrations, a piece of glass,
anything like that is fine. Just lay it onto our work surface. Take the print that's been
soaking in the bath of water, just get a little wet; your work surface will get a little bit
wet, so have some paper towels on standby. We're going to put this, again face up the
same way that we did with the photographic print. You'll notice that this is going to
be a little bit easier than it was with the photographic print. Okay, so we've smoothed
it out. Again, let's just start; I'll move it so that
we can see it, we'll start in one corner. Again, the idea here; the Perspex is actually
going to be keeping the backing paper nice and flat and actually suck down, so the suction
is going to keep it down. You'll notice again that the print is looking very thin and it
comes off, slightly easier than it was with the photographic print. So, there we've got
a nicely stripped print. We can move that out of our way. Lay that
back down on our work surface. Again, just make sure that it's...there's no bits of debris
on the back of the print. Now, this...the process now reverts back to the same way.
So, the photographic print that you see here, again it's stripped. The paper print is being
stripped, so mounting onto the canvas is done in exactly the same way. So, heat-sealing
and laminating the surface of the print is done in the same way. The second process,
you either wet-strip paper prints, dry strip photographic prints and then we are going
to mount it again onto the canvas. So, we'll move the picture just out of the
way slightly. This is our canvas. This is an adhesive-coated canvas which has got a
protected release liner on it. This has got a heat-activated glue on here. It's a beige;
what we call a traditional canvas, which has got a heat-activated glue on the one surface
and protected by a release liner. So what we do is the actual canvas is cut larger than
the actual heat-seal film. We're going to fold back the release liner
and put it a crease in it. We'll take our paper print. Okay, so we now need to mount
the print onto the canvas. We need to line up the print with the weave on the left of
the canvas, so it's running nice and square. So, we just offer it up and make sure that
it's in the centre of the canvas. We can then look through the heat-seal film, look at the
edge of the print and make sure that it's nicely lined up. Smooth it out. Don't worry
about any creases that are on the actual heat-seal film, that's going to go right on the back
of the stretcher bar any way. Okay, so, again, we can just roll up the print,
pull some of the release liner off, expose some more of the adhesive on the canvas. We
can then turn it away from ourselves, it's a little bit easier; just rub the print down;
taking away our release liner. Again, just rubbing the print as we go; keep on going.
It is always good to keep it away from any heat at this stage because if the heat starts
to activate the adhesive, it does become quite a strong bond, so. Just smooth it out again
don't worry about any of the creases. Okay, we then need to...you'll notice that
the actual canvas is larger than the heat-seal film. If we were to put this into the press
now, we need to cover this with foam so that the foam is going to push the print down into
the texture of the canvas. The overhang of adhesive from the canvas will stick to the
film. So, what we're going to do, we're just going to trim the canvas, so that it's exactly
the same size as the heat-seal film. So, we're just going to come in about a centimetre or
half an inch from the edge of the heat-seal film, trimming off the excess all the way around. We've still got plenty
of canvas there to stretch around to the back and that's ready now to go back into the press.
So, lift the lid of the press up; again, as I said earlier, it's going to go under the
foam so we'll just move the film out of the way. Take the print, onto the base of the
press, cover it with the film and we're going to switch that on and that's going to take
around about 3 to 4 minutes in the press. Okay, so now that it's been processed in the
press, we've taken that out and you can see there that canvas...you can see the canvas
effect coming through from the back and also the deco edge that gives it a nice touch.