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How to window-bag your books for SS (with photos!)
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139 posts in this topic

I want to post a complaint. I followed the steps in this guide. None of my facilitators have worshipped the ground I walk on.

 

They also require lots of low hugs.

 

 

Fixed!

 

:gossip: For when you work with Cretella. :eek:

Be nice to my pastey SS gofer.
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I want to post a complaint. I followed the steps in this guide. None of my facilitators have worshipped the ground I walk on.

 

They also require lots of low hugs.

 

 

Fixed!

 

:gossip: For when you work with Cretella. :eek:

Be nice to my pastey SS gofer.

 

 

He's like one of those fish where you can see their heart beating through their skin:

 

clear20female20zebrafish.jpg

 

Not sure how I feel about that.

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I am just starting to venture out with my first blanks so sorry for the noob question...

 

This is a fantastic "How to" thread but how does the prep for a blank differ from that of a standard SS? I see that many blanks are drawn on right to the edge of the book and sometimes the back. This seems to suggest that the same type of prep would not work.

 

Any insight on this would be helpful, thanks in advance.

 

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For a blank cover, you've got two options:

 

1) Make the window-bagged area larger, so it's basically just a strip around the very edge of the book - that way the artist gets a bigger area to work on, but the book is still protected.

 

2) Give the loose book directly to the artist.

 

If the artist is doing a wraparound or a full-bleed image, you really don't have much choice - you'll need to hand them the book loose.

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Michael,

 

Thank you for a wonderful post. I think you have hit a home run with this post. If everyone would take the time to properly prep their own books it would go along way to helping the facilitators do a better job and make the process easier and smoother. The painters tape with a cover flap is the very best option. Being that we handle so many books for people I would like to add a few minor details that we come across alot.

 

1. Use the same size bag and board as the book. (i.e. use a current/modern bag and board for a modern age book.) The problem with using a silver age bag and board with a modern book is the book has room to move around in the bag and could potentially get damaged in the corners. The exception to the rule is when you have a book such as Amazing Spider-Man #700 which is 100 pages it will not properly fit in a current/modern bag so you have no choice but to use a silver age bag. When a facilitator has to carry hundreds of books on a plane and travel to and from the convention hall you want to minimize the amount of free movement the book has inside of the bag. And absolutely do NOT use self sealing bags.

 

2. In step 5 you have the book going into the bag from the bottom. That leaves too much of a chance that the book could accidentally slide out of the bag in the process of handing the book to the creator. If you are using the cover flap then pulling the book from an outer bag is no longer a problem. Also being that DWC is a no tape operation. With the exception of the painters tape used to make the windows, we remove all tape from bags to minimize the chance for any accidents. You can not imagine how many times we have seen a customer walk up to our booth at a show after getting their prized book signed by Stan Lee and while in the process of putting the book back into the bag they "TAPE" their own book. Tape is NOT your book's friend. So by placing the book into the bag from the top there is no need for tape to be used to close the flap. The flap can simply be tucked into the bag and it works just fine to stay closed.

 

3. You have on step 7 to mark a note on the back. Another thought would be to actually write that same information on the back of the board itself. The reason is the board should NEVER be separated from the book until CGC actually grades the book. If you put any kind of note on the bag or stick the note to the board there is a chance the note can get separated when the book and board to transferred to a "finish bag" before sending to CGC. For those that do not know, CGC requires that books are handed or shipped into to them in whole bags. They do not want bags with holes cut out in them arriving to them with a book inside. That makes an extra step for them to do when they receive the book. With that being said when DWC has a book in a customer supplied window bag and it has been signed, we must carefully remove the book from the window bag and place the book into a "finish" bag (whole bag) before we turn the book into CGC. It is too easy for a note to be lost in the process. Also there are times when the creator insists on removing the book from the signing bag (i.e. they want to sign the book along the edge of the book which is covered by the bag). Ultimately it is the creators choice where they want to sign a book. So again it is possible for the note to get lost in the process.

 

As a facilitator we, as well as the other CGC facilitators, do our very best to give you, the customer, what you want and the better preparation you can provide your book when it arrives in our facility, the better the chances are you will get what you asked for. Never allow a book to arrive to a facilitator without it being properly prepped and documented (filled out paperwork). Don't use shortcuts unless you don't care about your book because we facilitators know who cares and who does not. Again Michael, an excellent post and we thank you for the sharing of your experience and information.

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This may be a dumb question, but if I want to submit already graded books to be signed (SS and regular graded), how would I prepare those?

 

If it's a blue label you can crack it out yourself and prep it.

 

If it's a yellow label (that needs to be cracked by by CAW) or a blue you don't want to crack, I just place a bag over the slab and trace the area I want the creator to sign then prep normally. I include the prepped bag (with boards) with the slab and label it accordingly.

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Ok, so oversized bag covering the slabbed book. Prepare a "final" bag(as if sending an ungraded book) with boards and info. Got it.

 

Do I need to make any special notations like "already signed by..." on the board or is that just redundant since it's got a yellow label already?

 

Thanks.

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Noobie question here.

 

Is the window in the outer bag as well or just the inner bag? It looks like it isn't but then I was confused as to why you would need the flap?

 

I would have thought the facilitator would just slide the inner bag out of the outer bag, get it signed and back in the outer bag for submission to CGC but is that not the case?

 

Sorry, first time submitting and I want to do this right. Thanks.

 

 

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Step 8 (optional)

 

ssprep-8-m.jpg

ssprep-9-m.jpg

 

For an extra layer of protection - which comes in very handy with mail-away signings - cut a backing board slightly smaller than the book itself, and use a strip of tape to anchor it to either the top or bottom of the book, creating a flap. If you put the name of the book and the creator on the flap, the facilitator will worship the ground you walk on.

 

First I want to say THANK YOU for posting this as I used this last year when I was just starting to get into this new found hobby.

 

I just wanted to provide an update to this particular step.

I prepared my books again this year for PHXCC and followed all of these steps again. However, the CGC rep informed me at the show that if you were to follow Step 8 above and submit your comics with that flap covering the cut out Mylar where the signature was placed, your books will be significantly delayed on getting graded. He told me that when they get these books, they just place them to the side as it stops their existing workflow process of bar coding all books when they process them because they have to remove the comic and insert it into another Mylar that has no cutout. He suggested that you ship to your facilitator another Mylar bag where they then can remove the comic from the cut one and place into a good bag. He told me the reason they don't process your books with a cut window in the bag because in the past they have accidentally placed their bar code sticker on the actual book over the signature! So don't do this if you want your comics graded promptly.

 

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I have acid-free, polybags that I would like to use this method with the sharpie marker instead of the tape. What causes the sarpie marker to bleed through bags? Is there any way to prevent it? Seems much easier and less time consuming than having to use all that tape. Thanks!

 

Whether you listen to the folks here, or learn the hard way, you'll find that it is definitely worth the time and effort to tape off your windows.

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I have. It was my first experience before coming here to learn. Mitch Breiteiser was doing an amazing job on a sketch and I guess his hand may or may not have been a little sweaty, but now my Captain America: The Chosen he signed has a part of his hand smudge on it as well. Since then. Painters tape or the funny green tape.

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