Products for Slide Cropping and Print Matting

By Jim Macaulay, St. Mary’s County Camera Club

April 2003

Crop Your Slides With “Erie” Heat-Sealing Mounts:

Cropping can turn a busy, distracting slide into a worthy competition slide. Don’t buy pressure-sensitive mounts (if they even exist anymore). Erie is the only known company making cropping mounts - I’ve searched the web to no avail. Gepe (http://www.gepe.com) makes superb (expensive) glass mounts which aren’t very good at cropping because they don’t allow centering.

Buy Erie Mounts from Erie Color Slide Club Inc, P.O. Box 672, Erie, Pennsylvania 16512, 814-456-7578. There are 8 different sizes (See diagram below. #1 is the standard 35mm opening). I suggest buying 10 or 20 of each size, plus a mask selector to help you decide how to crop your slides, and the tape. The heat sealer is a must if you crop a lot of slides.

Their website, http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ErieColorSlideClub/index.html, is sparse, no online ordering, no toll-free number. As of this writing, I can’t access their order form, so just call them. The following is from their website on 31 Mar 03:

Instructions For Using Erie Heat Seal Mounts

1. Before using, examine both openings in a viewer. If fuzz appears on any of the surfaces or in corners, remove it by running your fingers around openings. You may have to use your fingernail in the corners.

2. Position transparency as desired, emulsion side down on inside of printed half of the mount.

3. Fasten transparency in position with a small piece of no. 850 Polyester Film Tape.

4. Close mount and seal. While the preferred method of sealing ERIE heat seal mounts is with an electrically heated hand mounting press, satisfactory results can be achieved with a laundry iron if proper care is exercised. The mount should be prepared as described above. Have available a clean flat piece of board on which to place the mount with the transparency in position. Heat the iron to the "wool" setting. Iron around the mount on both sides. It is important that you do not iron any closer to the center of the mount than 3/16" from the edge in order to provide room for the transparency to expand when it is heated by the projector light beam.

5. The transparency can be removed from the sealed mount by soaking it in ethyl alcohol for a few minutes.

Prices of Supplies (checked17 Sep 04, still valid) (ü are the products I use) ·      Erie masks: $.13 each ü   Round corner heat seal mounts: $.16 each ü   Type "s" (square corner) heat seal mounts: $.16 ü   Mask selecters (round or square openings): $2.00 each ·      Erieflex acrylic slide covers .03": $14.50 for 50 ·      Sheets-thumbs marks (50 sets nos. 1 through 4) $3.50 ·      Cushioned mailing envelopes: $.35 each ü   Hand press for heat seal mounts (electrically heated): $65.00 ·      Polyester film tape ü   1/4" wide- 70 foot roll: $3.50 each ·      3/8" wide- 70 foot roll: $4.25 each ·      Std 35mm slide labels (500): $8.25 ·      Wt 35mm slide labels (500): $8.25 ·      Red dot labels: $8.75 ·      Slide storage boxes- 40 slides (2 boxes): $1.99 ·      Standard 3-ring binder slide pages: $.65 each ·      Cotton wipes (20): $4.25 each

#1 35 x 23 mm 1 3/8 x 29/32”   #2 34 x 22.5 mm 1 5/16 x 7/8”   #3 32 x 17 mm 1 ¼ x 21/32”   #4 31 x 22.5 mm 1 7/32 x 7/8”

#5 29 x 19 mm 1 1/8 x ¾”   #6 27 x 23 mm 1 1/16 x 29/32”   #7 33 x 20 mm 1 9/32 x 25/32”   #8 23 x 20 mm 29/32 x 25/32”

Do It Yourself Print Matting: No details here, follow instructions with cutter!

It’s not hard, but it’s easy to make measuring mistakes. One suggested mat cutter: Logan model 450 “Intermediate” has intro price of $135 (31 Mar 03) at www.framing4yourself.com. I suggest storing cutter flat to avoid warping. Smaller cutters are harder to use.

Matboard: $15 - $42 (everything from plain colors to velvet) per 32x40 sheet at Michael’s. Take your print and use their “corners” to choose color. Lower prices on the web, but then you can’t tell what color to buy.