Framed & Matted OR Not Just a Pretty Border

Aloha All,

I’m finally back with a new addition to this blog.  (Busy busy busy.)  But today’s subject has been inspired by about 75-80% or my photo restoration work these days, as I will explain. 

There seems to be an epidemic of photos coming in to my Photo Hospital with growths permanently attached.  These growths are made up of nothing less than GLASS.  What has happened is a common scenario.  People have placed their much beloved photos in frames to hang on the wall for all to enjoy.  Who can blame them?  Who doesn’t have photos that are so special to us we want to view them ourselves on a regular basis and/or share them with others?  And what better place to do that than hanging on a wall we pass several times a day?  But here is where the problem lies (the subject line of this blog is a major hint)…Without a matte (or matboard – same thing) between the photo and the frame, the photo itself has nothing to prevent it from touching the glass in front of it.  Unfortunately by the time it is made apparent that the photo is stuck to the glass it has been there so long, and is so completely stuck that it simply is not possible to remove it without doing more damage, such as creating major tears.  The only thing to do with the existing photo in this case is to have someone like me scan it with the glass and then repair the damage digitally.  You see, it is moisture that sticks the image to the glass, and that moisture, combined with the glass contact changes the emulsion of the original image.  Example:  (with permission - Mahalo Ira)

Stuck to glass.

The example above is a detail of a much larger family portrait, and in this particular case the damage presented itself as blue watermarks.  It can present itself in numerous other forms as well, but the bottom line is it can take many hours to correct and repair this kind of damage, even for a professional like myself. 

The Good News is that this entire scenario is easily prevented.  If your photo is a standard size (5×7, 8×10, 11×14, etc.) simply go to your local frame shop or craft store and buy a ready made matte that compliments your image in color and texture and place the entire thing in a larger frame, usually just the next size up.  Even if your image is not a standard size, frame shops make quick work of custom cutting a matte for your image and can assist in selecting a new frame to suit just about every budget.  Not only will your photo look better (more “finished”), but it will prevent this kind of damage from happening in the future.

SO, if you currently have any photos behind glass that are not matted, please remove them.  As in RIGHT NOW.  Even if this is not a convenient time to have them re-framed and matted, if they are still in a state where they will come out of the frame easily that is your queue.  Do it now, before the problem presents itself.  The first thing to do is to place them someplace safe, stored flat and covered, even if with only a sheet to protect from dust.  You will save yourself a lot of time and money in the long run, as you can see now.  As with so many things associated with the human experience If you knew it, you’d do it!  Well, now you do know.  So take care of those precious memories today.  As soon as you can, take them shopping for that new outfit while that’s all it takes.  Otherwise you’ll be bringing them to be for cosmetic surgery somewhere down the line!  This is an easy step to take.

Before I close for today, I just wanted to share a little composite I put together of photos from my friends at Paradise Helicopters here on the Big Island.  You may have heard that Madame Pele (Goddess of our Kilauea Volcano) has stepped things up a bit in the past few days, so this should give you all a sense of what’s going on in the south-eastern portion of our island…

Kilauea Activity - July 6 & 7, 2008

FYI, the lava fountain, center right image, is 40 feet tall!  Pretty impressive.

As always, please let me know what you think of this article.  Add your own experiences and comments.  Let’s talk.

A hui ho!  (Until next time!)

Merrilee

www.lilikoiarts.com

Slightly OT (off topic)

Aloha All,

Just a brief note here to share with you a wonderful honor I received today.  As you may or may not know, I have been volunteering my services to a non-profit organization, Operation Photo Rescue, for over a year now.  There are about 700 photo restoration artists worldwide who volunteer for this organization which was created in the aftermath of Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita.  Please check them out at operationphotorescue.org if you get a chance.  I wanted to share with you the wonderful notice I got today, telling me of a “mini traveling show” that OPR is undertaking.  They will be exhibiting a limited selection of “before & afters” that best exemplify the kind of work we’ve done.  I’m thrilled to say they have chosen one of my pieces to be exhibited.  This isn’t the reason we do this volunteer work of course.  Restoring people’s precious images they once thought lost forever is the REAL reason.  So it is “gravy” as my son would say, to be recognized in this way.  Here is my “before and after” they will take on the road…………………………………………………….

Many thanks to all of your for your continued support.  It enables me to continue this kind of work.

Much Aloha, Merrilee

First things First (or baaaad photo albums) Part2

Here are a few things you can do to try to get those stuck-on photos out of the baaaad magnetic photo albums. In order…
1. Gently see if any of the corners will lift. Sometimes once you get a corner up the rest will come with gentle encouragement.
2. Unwaxed dental floss has been known to separate the photo from the back board, but don’t force this or it will ruin your photo.
3. There’s a great product readily available at craft stores, scrapbooking stores and even the craft section of Walmart. It’s called “Un-do”. It’s a thick liquid in a squeeze bottle that desolves the glue that the photo is stuck to. It comes with a little tool to help lift the photo enough to put the Un-Do underneath it. Let it sit a bit and see if you can get any further, repeating the process. I have had pretty good success with Un-Do and not had any problems removing what little of the product might get on the photo itself with a fine cotton cloth. This would be the kind of cloth you use to clean glasses or camera lenses with. Again as always, be gentle with the cloth. You don’t want to be the cause of additional damage, first and foremost.
4. I have also had some luck with the microwave. Remove the page from the album and stick it in the micro for 5 seconds, wait 5 seconds, nuke another 5 seconds, then check to see if it has softened the adhesive at all. If you’re seeing any signs of this working you can repeat the 5 second nuke followed by waiting 5 seconds, etc. If you’re not having any luck with the adhesive softening or making enough progress without worrying about damage, then go on to the next solution…
5. If you have a scanner, scan the photos in at a minimum of 300dpi. I can’t tell you how much business I get where this is the only technique available. Many instances of framed photos stuck to the glass, but that’s a subject for another day. For photos smaller than 5×7 definitely scan at 600dpi. If you do not have a scanner, Kinko’s or similar office supply or copy places can do it for you. Or you can have a photo restoration artist like myself do it for , after which your photos can be saved “as is” on archival CDs, to be brought back to life via restoration either now or later. The great news is that once they have been scanned and saved to an archival disc (this is what digital archiving is if anyone was wondering), the sands of time will at least stop there.
I hope this helps. Happy photo saving!

I almost forgot…Let me know what kind of success you all have with these tips and/or any other tips you might be able to add!

Merrilee

Merrilee’s Weblog

Merrilee’s Weblog

First things first…

Well, here we go.  The first ever blog in my new wonderful weblog site!  I feel like celebrating this new step!!  Hopefully, you’ll all be happy to come along with me at least from time to time.  Today I want to start off with baby steps.  An easy way to begin to preserve your family photos.  So let’s go…

If you never do another thing with your photos, and we pretty much all have these, please remove your photos from those “magnetic” photo albums from the 80s.  They were touted as being convenient, which they were,  and a great way to protect your photos, which they were NOT.  There were really no archival quality standards available to the public in those days and I doubt if any of the manufacturers of photo albums or any other photo related products even considered long-term effects on the photos themselves.  It turns out that the sticky stuff on the back of the pages where you stuck your photos was made of a substance that, particularly when covered over by the clear mylar “protective” sheets, locked in gases that severly deteriorated the dyes, ink, emulsions, etc. that created the image on the photos surface.  Very bad stuff.  It interacted especially badly with the photos of the time, images often losing virtually all color except one – red.  (See below)  So if you still have any of those albums stashed away anywhere, get them out and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y remove the photos ASAP.  Remember, every day your precious photos remain in those nasty things, is another day of unnecessary deterioration.  Taking them out will at least stop that. 

The second problem is that after all this time, there will likely be photos that are well and truly stuck to the back page.  If you find yourself in this situation STOP.  Take out what you can and put them in archival quality photo boxes (like shoe boxes but for photos) which are now available very inexpensively through various resources.  I have some ideas and techniques that have worked for me sometimes but not always to remove those stuck-on photos, but this would be a good time and place for you all to chime in with techniques you’ve successfully used.  I’d also be interested in knowing some of the places you may have found some inexpensive “archival” storage materials for your photos.  So be careful, but DO remove your photos and let us know how it’s going.

A hui ho! (‘Til Next Time)

Merrilee

Aloha world!

Welcome to my brand new blog!  I’m excited about the prospect of having a place to share my particular knowledge with you all, let you know what’s new in photo restoration, preservation and organization.  I’m also excited to hear what you know, and what kind of things you’re doing, whether it’s preserving your own history or forging new and positive ways through life.  Woo hoo…Let’s talk!