CHAPTER XIII.
MOUNTING AND FRAMING.
[Sidenote: Mounting and framing.]
Having our print, the next question is how shall it be mounted and framed. There can, of course, be no laws for this, but we feel justified in making a few remarks on this head.
[Sidenote: Mountants.]
The best mountant we know of is a weak solution of fine French glue. It acts better than any other mountant we have used, and we have tried several of the formulæ made with starch, arrowroot, and other compounds. Fine French glue holds firmly and there is no cockling after mounting. After mounting the prints are improved by being passed through a press, but this is by no means necessary. We shall now make a few remarks upon framing. [Sidenote: Framing.] In the first place it is our opinion that all cut mounts are inartistic. Mr. Whistler, not long since, made some remarks on this head, which are well worthy of attention. His objections to cut mounts were that the different tints of the picture, the gold border, and the cut mount, weakened the edges of the picture and detracted from its directness and strength, and this is no doubt true. For this reason we do not think platinotypes look well mounted on India paper, the edges are decidedly weakened, and as for mounting silver prints on India the result is most inharmonious. In our opinion then the print should be mounted upon white paper, preferably Whatman’s rough drawing-paper, and for all pictures less than whole plate size, we should recommend a margin from three to four inches. A suitable moulding for these would be a bevelled moulding enamelled white. [Sidenote: Moulding.] In all cases where the mount shows, it must be remembered that the colour should harmonize with the print. [Sidenote: Mounts.] We saw some prints of Whistler’s “Sarasate” mounted on plain black cabinet mounts, and they looked charming. As in that case, the picture came out nearly all black, the whole made a harmony in black. When the prints are mounted on cards as in the case of cartes and cabinets, there should be absolutely nothing on the face of the card. The hideousness of the photographer’s name in shining golden letters is far too common. Nothing could look better for these small pictures than plain black mounts, with no word or letter or coloured line or any other embellishment. If the photographer is such a tradesman at heart that he must air his medals, let him put all that part of him on the back of the card. The method of stamping each photograph with the photographer’s name is not less to be deprecated. For the industrial photographer some simple but artistic lettering should be chosen, and it should be printed small in one corner in Indian ink, which harmonizes with the grey of platinotypes. Any good die-cutter could supply an artistic stamp, and the charge, even if a little greater than usual, could not be very great. Or the photographer might cut out his name artistically in the gelatine film, but we recommend the former plan. The mounts for cartes and cabinets should have a margin of at least half a