From an Interview with David Saffir- Dry Tac Lamination and Mounting:
Lessons from a Workshop
David is a professional, avid landscape/fine art photographer and technical consultant. He gives lectures, teaches workshops, publishes work, writes and continues to advance technically in his field. He then turns around to share this with others. What’s not to like about this photography enthusiast and technician?
In this blog post, we present some of what we learned while talking with David about print lamination from Dry Tac, a process used by many people in the graphics and photographic industry.
David historically is a photographer and fine art printer. He started working with photography, shooting film and printing in the darkroom. In the last ten years, he has expanded his skillset to become a pro in digital photography and digital printing. As part of his ongoing training, Digital2You asked him to attend a workshop put on by Dry Tac in Southern CA to broaden his understanding of commercial lamination and learn more about the range of techniques and products available to the photo community.
More about the process and his experience with the workshop
Lamination and mounting has been around a long time, appearing before the arrival of digital photography. It is used for the protection and display of images.
Dry Tac is not only the company name, but it describes a number of processes: for mounting, it describes the process of using pressure and heat sensitive materials to mount work to a board for display. Dry Tac as a company, also makes intricate lamination possible with the use of their laminating films, rollers and supplies.
This process is used by many different people in the visual industry from fine art photography to commercial applications. The majority of photographers that want total control over the process of creating a piece have adopted the skillset and purchased the equipment. They have the money to be able to afford to buy the proper finishing equipment. Many experts are print service providers. They have a shop and people bring their work to them to be mounted and laminated.
Some of these processes are archival but this is not as important in commercial application because often a mounted display is only needed for a short amount of time.
The workshop focused on the Jet Mounter, with an introduction to selected elements of the product line, including information about liquid UV coating. The majority of people who attended the workshop had experience in the print finishing business but not with this type of equipment.
What was surprising to David was how there is just as much art as technique involved. He was able to get a feel for the importance of the step-by-step process and how each step has to be done correctly and methodically, which takes practice.
It is necessary to work with a wide range of materials to truly master this process.
The individuals who came to the workshop with a fair amount of experience under their belt would normally be able to go back to their studios/production shops and be able to practice and apply a wide range of new techniques.
Common Mistakes
Setup is everything. It pays to be attentive and ensure that everything is in place, from a clean work area, to having the right materials and temperatures. A certain amount of flexibility is needed in order to set things correctly. An experienced print finishing operator is methodical and deliberate – they pre-plan their work, in that they have learned how to be efficient over time, which is most important. The worst thing that can happen is to damage the clients prints, on top of wasting materials or risking damage to equipment.
Conclusion
The range of things that you can do with the technology is very broad:
Images/promotional materials
Education Posters
Advertising, Point of Sale Displays and Indoor Signage
Trade Show Displays
Mounting & Lamination for Photography
While it takes time and effort to learn and master the process, it is has many applications and has the potential to be applied to multiple industries.
More information about Dry Tac can be found at www.drytac.com or visit our website; www.digital2you.cc & for assistance, please call us at ( 303 ) 934-2777
For a PDF download of products that Digital2you offers, please click here: Dry Tac Laminators PDF
More About David
David works with mostly with artists and other photographers. He is currently working on a project with Bonnie Lhotka, who lives in Boulder, CO on alternate printing processes- negatives on inkjet film and creating papers from organic materials.
Here are some links to blogposts of David’s that might be interesting to you:
Add Copyright Watermark to Your Images in Photoshop
Five Reasons to Calibrate and Profile Your Display for Photography
New Photo Review Series: Introduction for Line, Light, and Color Chats and Photo Critiques with David Saffir and Sally Wiener Grotta
