Its been almost two years since my former co-worker retired and the time has come to take down all of his old decorations and replace them. Most of what I have are old posters from various events I’ve worked on. These are printed on varying thicknesses of paper or sometimes card stock. I have stash of generic frames from places like IKEA, which are of course not the same size as the posters. So I want to mount the posters to posterboard cut to fit inside the frames. I don’t want to mat them because that is just not the way they are displayed in nature. What is a good adhesive to use on these things? Rubber cement? Glue stick? Tape? I imagine the thicker cardstock-based posters don’t care, but some of them are older and more fragile and I would hate to damage them by applying the wrong substance.
When I worked for Prints Plus framing posters, we used spray adhesive - cans are easily found in any craft or superstore.
If you’re doing it yourself, I recommend going to an actual art supply store and getting self adhesive foamcore board.
Alternately, you could have a frame shop do nothing more than mount the poster, then do the rest yourself. Shouldn’t take more than an hour, if that.
Before you do anything-- are the posters collectibles or something that may have value in the future? (Or even something you just want to keep for years and years?) If so, don’t use any adhesives. Over time, they break down and can either eat the paper, or cause it to discolor or shatter.
(If you’d like me to tell you about archival materials, I’d be happy to share what I know, but I won’t bore you otherwise.)
Very good call! Acid-free everything and museum mounts!
If you bond posters to foam core and don’t use frames, the posters will shrink just enough to cause the foam core to bow. My dad used to make a shallow box (maybe 1 inch thick) of foam core and adhere that to the back of the foam core to prevent bowing. It also makes a convenient way to hang the poster.
I disagree. If properly mounted, the bowing will be slight and intentional. Foamcore comes bowed.
How big are these posters? and are they printed off an ink-jet printer?
The newest of them is from 1994, so I’m sure it was printed at a commercial shop and not at home. I don’t know with what technology. Most are 11" x 17" or so, although I have one from the late 1960’s that’s in the 24" x 24" range. (its a pic from the '68 democratic convention: 3 cops leaning against a cruiser, one giving the cameraman the finger. Underneath is the legend “we serve and protect” which is the Chicago police motto.) Many of them are already printed on heavy-duty cardstock, which I assume is more durable and less prone to shrinking.