AFTERCARE
Matting

Polaroid films can be difficult to mat, as they are heavy and unbalanced in weight. The following can be either a pre-mat that you can use to adhere the image to the final mat or the final mat itself. Although it may be tempting to dry mount these photographs, dry mounting will cause damage to the polyester casing and the transparency. Dry mounting is simply not an option with integral photographs.

If this mounting is meant to be temporary (for use with other techniques mentioned in the previous chapter) you can replace the heavy archival art paper with archival scrapbook or watercolor paper and archival glue should not be used at all as it is very difficult, if not impossible, to remove.

What you will need:

• Latex or polyurethane gloves
• Surgical mask (if the image has been opened)
• Heavy archival art paper
• Utility knife
• Ruler/straight edge
• Archival glue pen*, framing tape and double-sided archival tape
• Pencil
• Cutting board or mat cutter (optional)

Before you begin, put the gloves on.

1. Cut the paper down to the necessary size for your mat. At least a half-inch on all sides is recommended for easy adhesion to the mat board.
2. The picture needs to be centered on the back of the paper according to the edges of the picture, not the white border. To do this, quarter the paper by gently marking it with lines on the back.
3. Center the photo by centering the image (not the film) with the intersection of the lines.
4. Make two marks (A and B) with a pencil on either side of the wide side, equally distanced from the rest of the white border. This is where the opening will start and end.
5. Set the picture aside. With a straight edge or ruler, cut a slit from mark A to mark B with the utility knife.
6. Flip the paper over, right side up, keeping the slit on the same side. Insert the wide end of the Polaroid into the slit until enough of a border remaining matches the rest of the picture's border.
7. Place the double-sided archival tape on the mat and press the image into place or dab a small amount of archival glue under the corners of the picture and gently tap into place. Tape the back with a small piece of framing tape.

* Archival glue is recommended for transparency-only images when absolutely nothing else can be used.

Contents © 1995-2009 J. Norris unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.