Complete Restoration Experiments

[Hero Restoration]

I love these threads. Very glad you guys with all the knowledge come forward with it.

 

MasterCPU - this is definitely one of your better jobs. Your results on this are markedly better than the first attempts you posted. It's evident that you have taken the advice/criticism here and applied it. You really are improving.

 

I think you did a great job on this Spidey. Is it "professional" level yet? No. But it's way better than 90% of the collecting pop. could do. Keep working at it. I think you're on the right track. And, as I said before, the improvement is impossible to ignore.

 

Nice job! Keep it up. (thumbs u

 

[That Ron Dude]

I'm very impressed. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise.

 

Ron

[User 01001010]

i don't have any before pics (i can't find them)

[Hero Restoration]

It doesn't look like I have any. A before of DD 43 should be in your sales thread somewhere.

[Hero Restoration]

I found one of the front.

 

[Hero Restoration]

Book #2

Fantastic four #64

 

Ink removal

Dry cleaning

Pressing

 

 

Before Ink removal and Dry cleaning.

 

After:

 

The ink removal didn't go as good as I had hoped but every comic I try it on brings me closer to getting good.

 

 

Back before Dry cleaning:

 

 

 

 

 

and after:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pressing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is after shot. I forgot to take a before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for checking out my work and your comments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FFB]

It would be helpful if you explained exactly what you did at each stage. That would make it a lot easier to give you feedback and to make suggestions for other stuff you might try. I see one thing in particular that you could probably do to the upper right corner of the book to minimize or even get rid of the hard crease that is there. It's a white cover, so certain things are possible that aren't possible with inked covers.

[Hero Restoration]

It would be helpful if you explained exactly what you did at each stage. That would make it a lot easier to give you feedback and to make suggestions for other stuff you might try. I see one thing in particular that you could probably do to the upper right corner of the book to minimize or even get rid of the hard crease that is there. It's a white cover, so certain things are possible that aren't possible with inked covers.

 

I have been giving what you said some thought and talked to some others as well and here is what I have come up with.

Unlike someone such as Zeman who is an accomplished paper conservator, I need the help of others to improve my work. Collectors help me by letting me know what they like about my work and what they don’t like. Restoration enthusiast’s like you Scott help me by making suggestions on how to do the work right and those are the ones who need the details how I did it. I know it would be more of a pain then if it was to just list it here but it would be best if I describe what I used in private with PM”S which I hope I will get more of. Some people want to tell me in private their tips and some want to do it here which is fine with me.

 

I do appreciate all the help I get and I do pass it forward to the next person looking for help. I feel that I should be careful what I reveal to the general public as I feel a responsibility to the craft and others safety. Allot of what I do is hazardous to your health and others around you without the right equipment and setting. I think others who make a living doing this would prefer I do it this way as well.

 

Now that I said that there are things I still could have listed. For example I did not take the book apart to remove the ink. When I dry cleaned it I did the white area’s only and avoided the text area’s. Pressing was done with heat and humidity.

I hope my feelings about this matter gel well with all.

 

 

[That Ron Dude]

Again, I'm impressed. The books look much better.

[Hero Restoration]

Again, I'm impressed. The books look much better.

 

Yea, a new comment and its a compliment. I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy to hear that. Thanks Ron.

[towards2112]

Mike,

Documentation, documentation,documentation,documentation,documentation,

and then documentation again.

I collect stamps, and have been cleaning stamps for 30+ years. Before the

digital camera and scanners, I was "remembering" what I had done on

certain stamps, or hunting thru notebooks for notes that were sometimes

there, and usually not.

Like comics, one type of paper and ink does not react like a similar type

of paper and ink from a similar issue 2 years later. Stamps from the 1880's

do not react like similar issues from the 1890's. And when soaking and

pressing, they react differently. Cleaning and pressing are accepted in

philately, but is still being rebuked in comics. Detail your work articulately

with exceptional notes, and your work will become accepted when more

and more people begin to understand your endeavour.

Phil

[Hero Restoration]

Mike,

Documentation, documentation,documentation,documentation,documentation,

and then documentation again.

I collect stamps, and have been cleaning stamps for 30+ years. Before the

digital camera and scanners, I was "remembering" what I had done on

certain stamps, or hunting thru notebooks for notes that were sometimes

there, and usually not.

Like comics, one type of paper and ink does not react like a similar type

of paper and ink from a similar issue 2 years later. Stamps from the 1880's

do not react like similar issues from the 1890's. And when soaking and

pressing, they react differently. Cleaning and pressing are accepted in

philately, but is still being rebuked in comics. Detail your work articulately

with exceptional notes, and your work will become accepted when more

and more people begin to understand your endeavour.

Phil

 

Articulating has always been my greatest weakness since I was a young pup so it is one of the many challenges I face in my endeavor. Very often I am misunderstood and so I am trying to give much more thought to how I communicate my thoughts.

Detailed notes is another, which I will be working on as you are right, every year and publisher reacts differently on many processes.

 

Thanks for your input Phil.

 

 

[Hero Restoration]

Less is more?

 

 

 

 

 

Although I enjoy a practice book where I can explore as much as possible, when it is a book I am serious about keeping in my collection I am employing the opposite. I am told that most conservators prefer less and most collectors prefer more and so far I haven't seen evidence to the contrary. To explore this theory further I again must subject you too my work and get some feedback on if the book deserved more or less work.

 

This book is one that I would like to find out from you all if I should have done more work on it, less or the amount I choose. I recognize that knowing what amount of work to do as is important as how its done.

 

For your consideration, Amazing Spiderman Annual #1. This book has allot of wear but the worst was the spine completely split and detached from the pages.

 

On Marvel annuals the cover is glued to the spine instead of stapled. Some of the cover at the spine is missing.

 

My goal is to re-attach the front and back cover and glue it back to the pages, dry clean, press and remove the ink. I regret the ink removal and won't be trying to remove ink from books I care about till I am happy with the process. I will not be covering that step here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok here she is,

I told you she was pretty beat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Dry cleaning

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see the difference after I dry cleaned the cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Repair cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I reattached the 2 piece of the cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

here are some close ups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the first thing I did was to use glue A at the seam to make sure its aligned right and create a seal. you can see glue A as it goes down the seam .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After I sealed as much as I could, I proceeded to use glue B to lay down thin mending tissue about 1/4 in wide strips over the seam of inside the cover where it was split for strength. When applied it becomes transparent and can only be seen in the photos where I left some excess at the end.

 

I decided I was not going to do any piece fill.

 

3. Reattach cover to pages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now I used glue C to glue to cover back to the spine of the pages and the book can be handled safely now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Press

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have found that the right combination of ingredients is key to a good pressing and I am getting close folks. I have talked to several pressers that claim they set their temp anywhere from 185 F to 220 F . When I first started pressing I did the same because I wasn't getting good results under 195 F.

I have discovered that I was doing it wrong and overcompensating with high heat.

 

Well, that's it all and I hope you enjoyed my little presentation.

 

[FFB]

I think you did exactly as much as you should have on the book: dry clean, support for the spine of the cover, reattach the cover, and press. If you wanted to fill in some of the areas of loss later on when you're comfortable with infilling, that would be fine too. But I think you made the right decision to stop where you did until you have more practice under your belt.

 

It is really good to see you exercising patience and restraint in your work these days when working on collectible books.

[Hero Restoration]

[FFB]

 

I don't know why you're expecting anyone else to chime in. I said it all in my post.

[FFB]

Seriously though, it is fun to watch your development.

 

Also, just because people don't chime in doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of people reading your posts, looking at your pictures, learning things, and enjoying the experience. Just take a look at the number of views your threads have. There is real value in you posting what you're doing and in putting up pictures of the before/after.

[Davenport]

I'll chime in to say I love reading these threads. They're some of the best the entire boards has to offer. Thank you for sharing.

 

Having said that, I think it's silly you got lured into the "secret society" approach to discussing comic book restoration. Using terms like "glue A" is much less interesting and really unnecessary.

 

Like a renown chef who goes on tv to demonstrate exactly how he prepares his most requested dish, naming each and every ingredient in detail, it increases trust. Sure, a hand full of chef-wannabes may give it a go. But most viewers will be fascinated by details and gladly pay the chef for his skills and expertise. Patronage probably goes way up, not down (or they would go on tv).

 

That's my and . Still, some is better than none, so thank you. And I hope you'll revisit your choice of withholding details (most of which could be googled by determined wannabes anyway).

 

It would be helpful if you explained exactly what you did at each stage. That would make it a lot easier to give you feedback and to make suggestions for other stuff you might try. I see one thing in particular that you could probably do to the upper right corner of the book to minimize or even get rid of the hard crease that is there. It's a white cover, so certain things are possible that aren't possible with inked covers.

 

I have been giving what you said some thought and talked to some others as well and here is what I have come up with.

Unlike someone such as Zeman who is an accomplished paper conservator, I need the help of others to improve my work. Collectors help me by letting me know what they like about my work and what they don’t like. Restoration enthusiast’s like you Scott help me by making suggestions on how to do the work right and those are the ones who need the details how I did it. I know it would be more of a pain then if it was to just list it here but it would be best if I describe what I used in private with PM”S which I hope I will get more of. Some people want to tell me in private their tips and some want to do it here which is fine with me.

 

I do appreciate all the help I get and I do pass it forward to the next person looking for help. I feel that I should be careful what I reveal to the general public as I feel a responsibility to the craft and others safety. Allot of what I do is hazardous to your health and others around you without the right equipment and setting. I think others who make a living doing this would prefer I do it this way as well.

 

Now that I said that there are things I still could have listed. For example I did not take the book apart to remove the ink. When I dry cleaned it I did the white area’s only and avoided the text area’s. Pressing was done with heat and humidity.

I hope my feelings about this matter gel well with all.

 

[Ze-man]

 

Hey Mike, the resto forum can really be a ghost town at times. But as Scott said there are ualways a lot of onlookers.

 

I have a few observations /questions.

 

You made it sould like you used three kinds of glue, A, B, and C. One kind should suffice for all your structural work. Mainly some kind of archival quality starch based glue, wheat or rice.

 

In most cases you should limit the amount of glue you apply because it can build up and feel bumpy,and even seep through thin covers creating tidelines. So I would try and line up your cover and apply the mending tissue all in one process, not glue the cover, then apply the mending tissue.

 

It's also worth considering running the mending tissue all the way to the top/bottom of the spine( bridging the gap where paper is lost). It looks fugly but it can help limit possible future tearing. It's basically a judgement call...more mending tissue means more support..or trim away the excesss and make it look nicer.

 

And as we already talked about, lose that Raymond ink pen remover!!

 

But overall it looks like you are having fun and getting better results.

[Hero Restoration]

 

Hey Mike, the resto forum can really be a ghost town at times. But as Scott said there are ualways a lot of onlookers.

 

I have a few observations /questions.

 

You made it sould like you used three kinds of glue, A, B, and C. One kind should suffice for all your structural work. Mainly some kind of archival quality starch based glue, wheat or rice.

 

In most cases you should limit the amount of glue you apply because it can build up and feel bumpy,and even seep through thin covers creating tidelines. So I would try and line up your cover and apply the mending tissue all in one process, not glue the cover, then apply the mending tissue.

 

It's also worth considering running the mending tissue all the way to the top/bottom of the spine( bridging the gap where paper is lost). It looks fugly but it can help limit possible future tearing. It's basically a judgement call...more mending tissue means more support..or trim away the excesss and make it look nicer.

 

And as we already talked about, lose that Raymond ink pen remover!!

 

But overall it looks like you are having fun and getting better results.

 

Glue a = Methyl Cellulose Glue B= Wheat and water Glue C = wheat and glycerin

 

I read in one of your tear repair topics you used an overlap glue first to seal the tear which I assumed was Methyl Cellulose, then you used wheat paste to lay down the tissue. I have also talked to others who use Methyl Cellulose for sealing tears.

 

So I am wonering why you suggest to use only one glue.

 

Yes I will stop using the ink remover.

 

Thanks for your advise.