Budget Wet cleaning comics for the Beginner! Don't be scared!
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2023
- In this video, and it's designed for a beginner if you've been thinking about doing a wet cleaning on a comic book yet you've been afraid of the outcomes, I'm going to walk you through some simple cleanings steps of a comic book wrap. We start with a 1964 X-Men 3. The book has already been disassembled and the cover cleaned and treated. We will start with a wrap. I will walk you through the wet cleaning and de-acidification of the paper, Then the drying process, blue light process, humidification and final reassembly of the book.
Product Links:
450 nanometer Blue LED panels
www.yescomusa.com/products/13...
Hollytex non-woven fiber
museumservicescorporation.com...
Calcium Hydroxide
www.amazon.com/dp/B01BXZOSLM?...
Triton X-100
www.amazon.com/dp/B07SGY8LRC?...
Calcium Hydroxide bath recipe:
I follow Dr. Paul's procedures at Liberty Hill Comics with the addition of 1oz of 12% Hydrogen Peroxide per gallon of mixture.
Mix up the following super concentrate formula in one container then dilute that in a 1:4 ratio with warm water for the bath. I heat the water to 140F to ensure the powered calcium hydroxide is fully melted into the mixture.
2 grams of Calcium Hydroxide (about a 1/4 tsp)
1 liter of water
.5% by volume Triton-X (about 6-10 drops)
1oz of 12% Hydrogen Peroxide per gallon of bath (This may form some micro-bubbles during the bath. This is normal.
Bath should first be tested for 5 min to ensure that there is no color loss or to strong of a mixture. Never more than a 30 min bath.
Why I put Hydrogen Peroxide in the bath and not mist it?
The sprayer you use, no matter how fine of a mist it produces, will cause micro-specking of the paper that is visible under an ultraviolet light. Yes, CGC uses a UV lamp. Putting HP in the aqueous bath, allows for a uniform absorption into the paper, Cover or wrap. Then once the paper is exposed to 460nm Blue LED, the absorbed HP whitens/lightens the paper.
BLED exposure
I have tried multiple wavelengths of blue LEDs and I have found that 450nm-460nm works best at a 3hr exposure time followed by a 3hr dwell (rest) and a 2nd 3hr exposure. I no longer use a box with a blue LED. I built a multi-tier mirror chamber that can handle an entire comic (cover & wraps both sides) at a time. (Visit the Instagram for Flying L Comics to see it).
/ flyinglcomics
The Blue LED exposure will cause the paper to contract and dry out. Re-humidify it and put the cover or wrap into the heat press at 160F for 10min. Re-assemble the book. Re-humidify the assembled book once more. Re-roll/fold it then press as usual.
Cheers!
Larry
@DrPaulKosnik Liberty Hill Comics
@A1ComicsINC
@ImmaculateComics
Looks amazing 👏 . Your giving me more confidence to try this out. Thank you. Nice setup, btw.
Awesome video!
Thanks for the visit
Nice job!
Thank you 🤗
You do a really great job on old and worn out comic books as the finishing result is brilliant so well done 😃👍🏻⭐
Thank you very much!
Good stuff
Appreciate it
Hi Larry, I recently subscribed then I realized that you are the same guy from Facebook that showed us the LED chamber in detail. I like your mentality/methods of cutting time. Happy new year.
Hey Joey, yes it’s me 🤣 happy new year to you too!
Thanks for the very informative video. That book looks sensational!!
Glad you liked it!
Nice results! And really nice light chamber! I would like to recommend to others who are not high-production comic pressers to try a humidity chamber WITHOUT heat. I started with a heating pad, but did not like fighting water droplets which form on the lid. Now I use room temperature water and a lid and this is enough to make a book damp in 1.5 hours (possibly less, but I haven't tested thoroughly). I can tell that the book is humidified not only by touch but by weighing it on sensitive scale. I believe a 40 g comic goes up by 2-5 g. I also mix a bit of dishsoap into the water to keep bacteria from forming and it can last for months. Yes, a cool chamber takes longer, but it is so nice that I don't have to lay anything on top of the comic or worry about water drops when touching the cover. The wonders of diffusion!
All our excellent points. The water droplets that form are an issue, but I have found I just take a microfiber cloth and gently lay it down across the top of the book to catch anything, but you are correct, chasing the droplets away is a real pain.
I love that your BLED chamber can photo bleach both sides at once.
Yes, I wanted to be able to move an entire book quickly and more important, evenly through the process
Amazing work. I have done some pressing and blue led but really want to try this. Does CGC give you restored grade or qualified? Thanks
It is with CGC at the moment. It should come back as a blue label or a blue label conserved.
You covered a lot of ground in this video! Thanks for giving us a look at your multilevel BLED chamber; very nice. Would you please post a link for the BLED panels? Also, have you personally observed a need for the rest period between multiple dry BLED treatments? Finally, I wish you had filmed yourself refolding the book at the end.
Great points! I will include a link for panels later today. As for the re-folding/re-rolling, I blew the video so it was not included. I will make a separate video for 👍
Link for $27 450nm Blue LED panels has been added to the description:
www.yescomusa.com/products/135w-led-plant-grow-light-hydroponic-225-blue-panel
Thanks for this! I've been thinking about getting into cleaning and conservation, but was worried about cost.
Do you have a suggestion for what order to buy everything in? Like, are there parts of the process that can be done on their own while saving up for the next bit of equipment?
Hi Grant! Welcome aboard! The most expensive piece of equipment is the heat press itself and this is more thing more than a T-shirt press and you can buy them new for a little over $200 or you can find them used from a T-shirt shop, we run them at low temperatures. Never more than usually 160° so they last a long time. I picked up four of them from Amazon. The rest of it is very inexpensive by comparison but the first thing you teach yourself is how to dry clean and press that would basically be comic cleaning 101. Comic cleaning 102 would be moving onto the humidity tank and the blue LED once you have mastered the first part the rest of it will come easy. And advanced stuff is actually the wet cleaning and the biggest thing about that is patience. Please realize you’re going ruin some books so find yourself some practice books. Cadavers we call them. 😎
Please let us know if this comes back Blue Label or Conserved Label (cleaned comic).
Good, bad or otherwise I will show it to everybody when it comes back 👍
This is exactly the part that made me scared 😂 4:13
Great video. What was the grade that you got and did you get a Blue label?
Well, the book came back with some arguable issues and was given a purple label. However, the book has been taken out of its slab, and the pages are going to be treated as well, as there was such a start contrast between the cover and the pages that it flagged as being over cleaned. So now it’s sitting in my project pile to have the rest of the pages done and I may do some tear seals and just take it as a conserved grade, but it was definitely a lesson that I need to clean the whole book and not just cover.
@@FlyingLComics Mahalo.
Can this cleaning process be used on covers too or just on the interior wraps?
Yes, you can do it on the covers that’s what I do.
What do you use to re-roll and fold at the end?
My process for re-rolling the spine unfortunately, I didn’t record. Currently humidifying the book while it’s flat so it’s quite pliable and flexible then I fold it over to where the end touch. I then press the spine only between two pieces of SRL paper sandwiched between two backer boards in the heat press for five minutes. After that I inspect the alignment. The book may still be somewhat flexible at that point if everything is good, then I will go ahead and press it normally. However, I’m about ready to try a new method using a clear plastic film, the same thickness as a backer board and really the staple. This way I can clearly see the alignment before I press the book.
Which video has the grade return?
Hello, sorry I have not replied to you quickly. That video was pulled because of an error on my part and the book did come back as a 5.5 from CGC as a purple label. However, after consulting with other conservators, I decided to fix the page tears and resubmit it for a conserved grade. That project is now on the back burner for the time being, but I will get to probably in the next month.
Do you know if books that are cleaned this way still considerd 'blue lable' by CGC? I've read conflicting reports, with some people saying that they've gotten 'conservated' labels if the use of chemicals is detected (which doesn't make sense to me, but at least a few people have said this).
I clean a lot of my books in this method. I have only had two come back with purple labels and the conserved books that I have done, come back are exactly that, they are conserved. The two that came back with purple labels were heavily cleaned with hydrogen peroxide that left spotting detectable under an ultraviolet light, but in this particular case using this method, it should come back with a blue label. As for the rumors of CGC detecting chemicals, I find this highly dodgy. I think that’s a few people saying something just to say some thing. Hydrogen peroxide does not have any smell, BUT it is an oxidizer and can react with things in the paper, especially any fungi like mold, and then it will give off a vinegar smell.
@@FlyingLComics Thanks for the reply, it was very informative. I have my doubts about CGC detecting chemicals as well, but enough people have said it to make me wonder. It's certainly not impossible, but the added time and cost for them, it just doesn't seem practical (at this time anyway, at some point I'm sure quicker and cheaper methods will be developed).
I'm not obsessed with having super high-grade comics (I'm a reader first, collector second) but the one thing that I really don't like is seeing a silver age cover that is meant to be white looking tan. If I had my choice between a 6.5 that has been tanned and a 5.0 that is still white(ish), I'll take the 5.0 every time. I've got at least 10 silver age books with white covers that have tanned that I would love to whiten using your method. I don't really care if they get a grade bump - I just don't want to lose money if they get a purple lable.
I absolutely understand your concern. Nobody wants a purple label. That’s not getting an “F” on a report card. You need to work within your own comfort level. I know you don’t want to take the chance of ruining a book, that’s why I say work with some practice books first. Once you feel comfortable with it, that’s when you tackle some thing a little bit more. I’m right there with you with covers that are meant to be white and are very tan. I’m working on a captain America 111 right now with a video on exactly this and it addresses, hydrogen peroxide cleaning, “do’s and don’ts“. There’s a lot of people giving good advice out there, just remember that these are “techniques” based on individual preferences. Now, rightly so, if the 60 year old comic book comes out looking like it just came off the printing press yesterday, that’s probably going to raise red flags. I’m very upfront with my conservation work when I submit books for grading, and I will even add conservation notes, so there’s no question that I am not trying to sneak something through for a blue label. When dealing with blue label items, just keep the cardinal thing in mind and that is that you are removing from the paper not adding to it. But again, what I recommend is practice on something to where you feel comfortable. And then do one that you are happy with and submit it. In one of my videos where I remove a bad water stain from a Ghost Rider 2, are used this technique and it is now with CGC for grading. If you haven’t seen the video, please watch it and once the book comes back, I will be sharing it with everybody and no matter what the label color is.
@@FlyingLComics Captain America 111 is one of the books in my collection that I want to do this with ha! Nick Fury #4, Spider-Man #20 (it's light green but tanning has affected it like it does to white books) and a few others. It's all about eye-appeal to me, and I'd just love it if these issues were brighter/whiter to look at!
Where did you get the staple tool (The clear one)?
ImmaculateComics.com 👍
Does this come back as restored, a purple label?
It should come back with a blue label as it was not treated as conserved or restored. It is currently in CGC‘s hands at the moment when it comes back, I will publish it.
do u clean an press books ?
I do this for the channel for instructional purposes to teach collectors how to clean and press there own work, which is more rewarding and cheaper than sending to someone to do it for you. And I also show you where to shop for equipment on a budget! Feel free to ask any questions. Larry
If you got it graded it would be restored?
It should be returned as a blue label. The book was just cleaned and nothing was added to it. It is currently in the hands of CGC and when it comes back, I will share it with everyone.
In 11:08 you have to spray water+hydrogen peroxide or you go with dry pages for 3 hours?
Completely dry pages 😊
@@FlyingLComicsWe can say that thanks to the Calcium Hydroxide bath will have a good reaction to the light, right?
Hey Joey! Sorry for the slow reply. In my calcium hydroxide bath mixture, I put in at 1% by volume a 12% solution of hydrogen peroxide. This translates to 400 mL total solution with 4 mL of 12% HP. Conversely, you could also use 3% solution HP from the pharmacy. Just put in 12 mL.
Curious, how is this not restoration. Restoration of artwork as opposed to conservation, involves restoring a piece back to its original appearance or function. This means that restoration focuses primarily on aesthetics rather than its original form. Isn't that what this is?
I would have to answer this with a yes, and no. You are not incorrect. With comic books it’s subjective by the grading company unfortunately. Cleaning of a book can be construed as restoration, “Cover cleaned”. Conservation of a book, such as using calcium hydroxide as a de-acidifying agent that, as a side affect, causes the book to be cleaned could be construed as “conservation” by the grading company. I have seen books cleaned with the exact same process. And they have come with a standard blue label, a conserved label and a purple label. All subjective. One of my fellow conservators, Dr. Paul from Liberty Hill comics interviewed Matt Nelson, president of CGC. And during that interview, he agreed That the de-acidification and cleaning of covers should be placed under conservation. 🤷🏻♂️
Acidic adhesive in packaging tape..... yikes
Looks the same.