e strainer face down and
filling the back of it with warm water, allowing it to remain there
until you think that the paste has become thoroughly dissolved; then
turn the strainer over and carefully remove the paper. If it should not
come off readily, fill the strainer again with water, and soak it until
it will come off. After you have removed the paper, lay it on a wet
cloth, and with a case knife clean off the starch, using care not to
injure the surface of the paper, and also clean off the starch from the
strainer; then proceed to remount as before. When you once understand
that you cannot spoil an enlargement on account of defective mounting,
you will work more confidently. After you have tried three times to
remount, and the paper still insists in not sticking, you must take a
new strainer, as too many wettings will have spoilt the cloth and wood.
Sometimes there seems to be a difference in the stretching qualities of
the enlargement and cloth, which makes it impossible to produce a
perfect cohesion. When, therefore, it has been remounted three times
and does not come out perfect, your best course is to mount a piece of
crayon paper on a new strainer, and after it is thoroughly dry to then
mount the enlargement on that. This you do in the manner described for
mounting in the first instance, directly on the strainer, except that
you do not coat with paste the crayon paper already mounted.

It sometimes happens, that after the paper has been mounted and dried,
it is discovered that lumps in the paste have caused defects to appear
on the face of the paper in the shape of raised surfaces that unfit it
for the intended purpose. These can be entirely removed by wetting the
back of the strainer with some clean water immediately behind where the
lumps of paste are, and with a knife scraping the cloth a little at
these places; the surplus paste will work itself out through the cloth.

The starch paste used in mounting should not be made very thick; on the
contrary, it should be as thin as is consistent with still retaining
all its adhesive qualities. Should you fear that it is too thick or
lumpy, strain it through a piece of cheese cloth. In a former edition
of this book I advised adding to the paste a little white glue
dissolved in warm water, but I do not now consider this necessary for
crayon paper or photographic enlargements, and do not recommend its use
except for mounting paper of unusual thickness.

The foregoing