Enlarging & Printing

Easel

Adjustable masking blades that hold the paper flat and set the print borders.

5Printing & Finishing RC and fibre papersAll enlargersAll paper sizes up to its maximum

Wear PPE & Ventilate Nitrile gloves Eye protection Cross-flow air Label every bottle Dispose of fixer properly

Finish stage

Easel — line drawing with key specifications

Key specifications
Types	Two-blade · four-blade · single-size
Common sizes	8 × 10 · 11 × 14 · 16 × 20 in
Base	Flat, rigid, often with a felt underside
Blades	Adjustable, with locking screws
Border width	Typically 5–10 mm when blades are set
Alignment	Blade edges must be square to the baseboard
Paper hold	Weighted blades or spring clips
Use with	Fibre paper benefits most from a rigid easel

Overview

The easel does three jobs at once. It holds the paper perfectly flat under the lens, it masks the edges so you get clean white borders, and it lets you position the image on the sheet without moving the paper.

The two-blade easel adjusts width and height independently and is the standard choice. The four-blade easel lets you set all four edges independently, which makes it possible to position an off-centre crop precisely — worth the extra cost if you crop regularly.

Flatness is the part people underestimate. A sheet of fibre paper that curls up at one corner will be out of focus in that corner no matter how carefully you aligned the enlarger. A good easel holds the whole sheet down.

What it does well

Holds the paper flat so the whole print stays in focus
Sets clean, even white borders
Two-blade easels are simple and quick to set
Four-blade easels allow off-centre cropping
Keeps the paper in one place while you dodge and burn

Safety notes

Read before you use itNo hazard. Keep the underside clean; grit under the easel will tilt it and soften one side of the print.

Working notes

Set the blades with the enlarger off, then check the projected image fits inside them.
Leave a border of at least 5 mm — a print with no border is impossible to handle wet without touching the image.
Check the easel is square to the baseboard with a square, not by eye.
For fibre paper, warm the easel slightly in winter — cold metal makes the paper curl more.

Compatible with

RC and fibre papersAll enlargersAll paper sizes up to its maximum

Educational reference. Specifications and working figures on this page are drawn from published manufacturer documentation and are stated for a small inversion tank at 20 °C unless noted otherwise. They are starting points, not guarantees. Always confirm against the data sheet supplied with your own film, developer, paper and equipment, and follow the manufacturer's safety instructions.