#7307 - 04/04/0303:46 AMRe: How to spot restoration....?
[Re: Povertyrow]
fantastic_fourfantastic_four Just far far too long without a custom title. Really. Seriously now. 2002?
TOTAL NEWBIE
Registered: 03/29/02
Posts: 19644
Loc: the Baxter Building, Virginia
What does the two different lighting levels (substage and top) on your scope do for you?
Also, which zoom level have you found to be most useful for comics so far--20x, 40x, or both? I'm wondering what the maximum useful magnification for comics is.
Registered: 09/14/02
Posts: 23372
Loc: Perv Toy Row, San Francisco, C...
The substage is useful for translucent/transparant objects. Just enjoy looking at various things. Dead insects, etc.
The top lighting illuminates opague (aka comic books) onjects from above. Am also gonna get a gooseneck spotlight as an addition so I can cast light at varying angles.
I've found 20x is best for general comic work but want a touch lower as well - but the 40x - once you identify a suspicious area - can be VERY handy for - dare I say it - microscopic examination. I would like to get down to 10x and up to about 60x. Can do that with some eyepieces along the way but right now the 20/40 really is wroking nicely.
Now how's THIS for ironic! This is the very same seller that always offers those cheesy $14.00 (can be bought for $5.00 in novelty stores/catalogs) hand held black light, "fool-proof" restoration detectors (for identifying color touch). How do you suppose he "missed" the entire black area of the spine (painted with acrylics) with cases of those "fool-proof" gadgets in his home?
Registered: 09/14/02
Posts: 23372
Loc: Perv Toy Row, San Francisco, C...
::What IS Gloss?:: The glossiness of paper comes from a couple of things: the amount of "calendering" paper has gone through (basically a process that can smooth out the surface and bring out a sheen) and the "hardness" of the paper - in paper manufacture, clay minerals (mainly kaolinite) are in the mix and make for a paper that can take a very smooth glossy finish. One way to think of it is stones. A soft stone like Calcite (Mohs 3) will never take a brilliant polish the way the much harder star ruby (Mohs 9) will.
Now some paper come through with a gloss added in manufacture, and some of the real slick modern books may be of such ilk. But overall, calendering and clay minerals are what is responsible for that glossy coating. It is inherent to the paper itself and cannot be recreated with a spray.
::Advisability Of Re-Glossing:: Anything that completly coats the surface of a cover may well be considered irreversible, unless it is dissolvable by certain 100% evaporating no-residue solvents like Naptha. However, that requires that the substance that created the fake gloss did no damage to the paper. And it can take some time (sometimes a few years) for the damage to appear. I understand restoration, firmly believe it is an important and necessary aspect of maintaing the longevity of the comics that really need it (a color touch is NOT what I am talking about! ) but I consdier reglossing a more drastic restoration step than a piece (or even several pieces) replacement. A more benign gloss is a methyl cellulose solution, but it really doesn't recreate that gloss we are used to in the 50's and later books. And while it does no real harm to ther paper it would require a water wash to remove it, which brings the cover into a whole new realm of restoration.
POV---Ive got a glossy question for ya---ever notice how some of the older books only have gloss on the characters and not th ebackground areas? Im not sure if Im talking about white covers only---but how does this happen?
Registered: 09/14/02
Posts: 23372
Loc: Perv Toy Row, San Francisco, C...
ever notice how some of the older books only have gloss on the characters and not th ebackground areas?
I've noticed similar on my pre-code horror. One thing I HAVE noticed - but not really studied until you brought it up - is that those four color combinations that have a high percentage of 100% (pure) 4/c color (yellow, magenta, cyan or black) have higher reflectivity as the ink is more heavily distributed than a color that has, say, a maximum of 50% of any on those 4 colors, as that lesser intensity would be broken up by a considerable dot pattern.
If this is too "printer-geeky" let me know and can try to elaborate.
this is an awesome thread, what about spotting married covers and pages? Is there a reference source for page counts? And what are the Howard Keltner indexes?
Registered: 06/23/03
Posts: 6969
Loc: not yet processed
A couple of things: 1) Here are some more references. J.S. Mills, R.White. The Organic Chemistry of Museum Objects 2nd ed. Butterworth-Heinemann, London 1994.
H. Kühn. Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art and Antiquities. Butterworths, London 1986.
J.M. Cronyn The Elements of Archaeological Conservation Routledge, London 1990.
2) A good way to spot (some) cleaning is to look on the inside of the covers. If the red ink from the outside cover has bled through to the inside, it has likely been cleaned or had tape removal. The solvent that the paper is immersed in solublizes the inks and allows for migration. Red is the most common ink, but green and blue do it as well.
3) Great discussion on trimming, but one addition is that the right edge and bottom edge should form a "V" pointing out of the book, while the top edge should form a "V" pointing into the book.
_________________________ Wanted: Nothing at the moment!
