Clear Background Or Black Background

@ Philazilla - here is my difficulty placing mounts (especially black ones) 'square'. Cutting them square is not an issue. But when mounting them they are difficult to align, I'm never sure what I should use as a guide (i.e. the bottom, side, top). And they are hard to adjust, they are so sticky you only get a couple of seconds to adjust them before they are permanently affixed.

Clear mounts are actually even harder to align because it is very hard to see the edge of the mount. BUT, they are far more forgiving to the eye if they are not aligned right.

I'm new to using mounts (only 1 year), if anybody has any techniques to share about aligning them I'd definitely be interested in hearing them.

I align the top of the mount (I KNOW that's straight) with the top line of the printed frame on the album page.

Lacking a pre-printed frame, I draw a light pencil line at 90°across the page and align the top of the mount with that. Then I erase the pencil line.

You could also use a ruler or other straightedge as a "hard stop." The bottom (or whatever) edge of the mount is aligned when it bumps against the ruler.

I line them up with a printed line for where the stamp goes. I can line it up with any of the 4 sides that are convenient. A tiny bit of the guideline might show up, but usually it doesn't. I usually line up on the bottom or top and then move it the width of the line to just cover the line. I hold the mount with my left hand and grip it with tongs in with my right and that gives me lots of control and visibility.

... and there in the jungle sat Tarzan painting white stripes on black zebras, or was he painting black stripes on white zebras, or was he painting black and white stripes on clear zebras?

I have been intrigued by this thread, since it is wholly a matter of preference to each collector. As a postal history collector, I am not as fond of mounting lots of individual stamps on a page - and especially remounting when I want to make a text change. For me, clear mounts didn't define the perforations or centering very well, and black mounts made it look like a mourning exhibit. (What color of mounts do you use for mourning stamps?) Re-mounting also wasted a lot of mounts and time.

I selected something in between and took a lesson from exhibiting to matte an item. Here is a quick sample page I made up a few minutes ago for a 1-frame exhibit I am working on with the dry-print postage dues of the late 1950s. The blocks are in mounts on a fairly neutral colored card stock, which can then be applied to the page of text with your choice of adhesive. The neutral color shows the perforations and centering better than white, but not as starkly as black would. When I change the text, I move the entire matte over and re-stick it to the new page.



Yes, I could achieve the same contrast with only a neutral colored page, but the additional point of the matte concept means little remounting.

If you attach mounts by moistening the top, I would recommend aligning with the bottom of the mount to the printed box bottom. You have a better chance to adjust slightly before pressing fully.