What is Mounting

Mounting is the process of fixing an object i.e. art work, photograph, sign or poster to a backing substrate for stability,  protection or to facilitate framing.

In the context of a heat press this would be achieved using mounting tissue or film. The tissue consists of a carrier impregnated or coated with a hot-melt adhesive and the film of adhesive only. The adhesives are also available in different grades such as PH neutral adhesive for archival purposes.

When the sandwich consisting of substrate, tissue and artwork or whatever are set-out in the press and subjected to heat and pressure the adhesive melts and binds the layers together, usually at about 90 deg c.

The substrate can consist of almost anything. Commonly used are particle board, card, laminated foam sheet and MDF.

What is Laminating

Laminating is applying a protective film over the mounted article as above. This is achieved in much the same way and both mounting and laminating can often be achieved in one operation by adding to the sandwich. The difference here is that the laminating film is already pre-coated with the adhesive. Laminating films come in many types for different applications.

For an in depth look at the subject the book on the right ( The Mounting and Laminating Handbook ) comes highly recommended.

Laminating can also be the joining of any two objects i.e wood sheets using adhesive and if necessary heat and pressure.