The Framers Forum

Hi all,

I’ve not had huge experience dry mounting. The framers that I am currently working at uses hot dry mounting occasionally for posters.

Recently, a customer has come in and firmly requested for us fo drymount an oil pastel/ mixed media. It’s already really flat and supported on grey board so I don’t know why they want it dry mounted really! But I don’t take the orders and rarely get to talk to customers. My main question is surely heat from dry mounting is not good for oil pastels?

Is the customer the artist? As far as I know to dry mount original artwork is a no no unless it is the artists decision as it will reduce the value considerably. Of course the customer is always right, but sometimes they make mistakes!

atomgallery wrote: Wed 01 Nov, 2023 8:14 am Is the customer the artist? As far as I know to dry mount original artwork is a no no unless it is the artists decision as it will reduce the value considerably. Of course the customer is always right, but sometimes they make mistakes!

Apparently she is the artist. I’m going to call her to discuss her order, but I wanted to be sure of what I’m saying. I’m worried that the heat of drymounting will melt the oil pastel? I mean, it needs to be hot enough to melt the glue of the drymount tissue.. surely it’s not good for oil pastels?

I have no idea about that, see if she can give you a failed pic or a sample of paper with the same pastels on it to test?

It may depend on the heat that the particular brand of tissue you use requires, but I would comfortably say no. My hotpress runs at 92o for mounting, so it' is going to melt anything oil/wax based!
@atomgallery If the process and implications are explained fully to the customer and they make an informed decision, then that is theirs to make and I'm happy to do it. A £200 print is a valuable piece of work to some customers and disposable art to others!

Mounting 101: NEVER stick anything down that you can't replace.

If the piece needs to be drymounted then the artist should mount the substrate before executing the work.

*I would be very wary of applying heat to an oil pastel. It would need to be cold-mounted using PVA and left under weight
for 24 hrs.

Have a look at Kool Tack. Centrado sell it. Activates at 65°

My first thought is a big NO for all of the above comments. The number one directive is to do no harm and to not experiment on a clients work of art.

On the other hand, if you accept the challenge and it goes wrong, who is a fault and who is going to pay for

the waisted materials
the customers art
the release board / paper and other cleanup that might be required
your time and aggravation

BTY, some formulas of oil pastels contain wax. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pastel

@Fran When you say that it is supported on grey board, can it safely be removed from that board? That would be a good start imo. If she insists on dry mounting then I would 100% have her sign a disclaimer.