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Part of 4 points worth checking on home printmaking projects
Organizing home printmaking projects
Organize home printmaking projects by keeping the matrix, negatives, proofs, records, and marked archive copy together, then label and review the box.
What to take away
- For home printmaking projects, store each project as one unit: matrix, negatives, proofs, records and the archive copy together.
- Choose one archive copy deliberately and mark it. Do not leave it to whichever print is left over.
- If a project includes film-based material, consult cold-storage guidance before choosing where to keep it.
- Records are part of the project. A box of prints without notes is a box of orphans.
Keep the project together
At the end of a project, gather the block or plate, any negatives or positives, the proofs, the record sheet and one finished print into a single labeled box or folder. Store it as a unit.
The reason is retrieval. Two years later you will want to reprint, and hunting for the negative in one drawer and the notes in another is how projects quietly become unrepeatable. A complete project record also makes it easier to document a home printmaking project from first cut to finish.
Label the outside with the project name, dates, process, and edition size. Put a copy of the record sheet inside and a second copy in your digital files.
Number the boxes in the order they were finished, keep a one-line index of contents, because a shelf of identical labeled boxes is searchable only if something says which to open.
Choosing the archive copy
Decide which print is the reference copy while you can still compare them. Mark “archive copy” in pencil on the back, note why it was chosen, and do not sell it.
Choosing a studio archive copy is a recordkeeping decision, not a copyright-deposit instruction. Copyright deposit requirements are a separate matter and do not determine which print you keep as your own reference copy.
The Copyright Office's Circular 7B, Best Edition of Published Copyrighted Works for the Collections of the Library of Congress, describes a deposit standard; it is not a required marking convention for your home archive.
Your studio version of that judgment is simpler: which copy best represents what the edition was meant to be. Whether you used home printmaking kits and courses or assembled your own materials, make the archive-copy choice while you can still compare the prints.
Film-based material and cold storage
Photographic negatives and film-based positives deteriorate over time. Cold storage can slow that decay, but it requires a suitable handling procedure.
The National Archives' Cold Storage for Photograph Collections guidance describes cold storage as a way to slow photograph deterioration, especially for film-based materials. It also warns that care is needed to prevent condensation on items taken out of the cold.
For a home practice, follow that guidance on allowing material to acclimate before opening it; do not guess at a routine. And never use a fridge or freezer that also holds food.
The rest of the project box
- Blocks and plates, flat and protected from rubbing, in a dry part of the room.
- Paper proofs, flat in acid-free, lignin-free folders or archival-quality boxes, with the fault notes attached. Choose enclosures that let prints lie flat.
- Negatives and positives, in sleeves made for photographic film from polyester, polypropylene, or polyethylene; avoid PVC sleeves.
- Digital files, with the checksum record.
- One record sheet, printed.
- The archive copy, marked and stored flat.
Our guide to storing materials in a house covers the room conditions for your project boxes. Keep the project inventory and those storage conditions in mind together when choosing where the box lives.
Open one old project box a year at random. It is the cheapest way to find out whether the storage is working, and anything it reveals is far cheaper to fix at that stage than later.
