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
