Provide structure to printed images by using mounting materials! Boards of different materials combined with a variety of adhesives provide a backbone for an image and prepares it to be displayed.
Why use mounting?
Prints can last longer and be displayed in a three dimensional space once mounted to a board, window, wall, floor, etc. Mounting is often helpful with in-store signage, point of purchase displays, and more.
How does mounting work?
Imagine that you’re creating a printed “pizza:”
- A mounting board acts as your “crust” and provides the necessary backbone to support all the other elements.
- Mounting adhesive is your “sauce” that binds the top and bottom pieces together.
- Your printed image acts your “cheese” topping.
- A layer of laminate is an additional “topping” that adds more flavor, or in our case, protection.
While almost all pizzas are made hot, a mounting process can be performed either with heat or with cold pressure-sensitive materials. Select hot or cold materials based on which equipment you may already have.
What kinds of materials are available?
In addition to hot or cold, you’ll decide which board (or substrate) material you wish to use:
- Foam Board: A simple sheet of Styrofoam with a paper coating on both sides, frequently available in a 3/16 in. thickness.
- Ryno Board: Denser foam board with a paperboard surface, often available in 1/4 in. thickness, which provides more stiffness.
- Gator Board: Durable, rigid, strong and extremely flat; these boards are the standard for trade show graphics or applications in which the material is frequently handled.
- Corrugated Plastic: Built similarly to standard corrugated cardboard boxes; these boards are often used for outdoor signage and are most recognizable in political campaigns.
- Sintra: A sheet of solid PVC plastic that measures anywhere from 3mm to 6mm.
- Paper Stock Boards: Simple, thin paperboard, very similar to matting used by frame shops and artists.
Your mounting board material choice will be affected by the conditions in which your image or sign will be displayed – indoor vs. outdoor, stationary vs. handled, etc.