Hello everyone. I have searched this topic on the forums and have the basic idea understood of using Film-Guard(FG) before unwinding a water damaged print, but I'm not sure it's applicable to my situation here.
I've rescued a collection of prints from a guy who had them stored in his barn for several years. They are mainly on cores in their original cardboard boxes. I know that all of it was subjected to high humidity and temperature swings. Some of it has been exposed to water either directly or by sweating and some seam to have only been exposed to just humidity. Some rolls have cardboard stuck to them, that's how badly the water damage is and some rolls have mold. Most of the boxes were damp when I picked them up this weekend. I immediately brought them into my dry (heated and air conditioned) basement and removed all of the cardboard boxes and paper bands from each roll and set them out on a table to acclimate.
From the forum topics I've seen, the general idea is to apply FG to each side of the roll and let it soak in before attempting to unwind. Some questions I have are:
Is this still the best thing to do for prints that have been subject to water and high humidity for several years?
If so, would spraying the FG directly on the roll be better since the damage is severe or is wiping with a cloth better?
Would keeping the roll in a metal lab can while the FG "dose it thing" help?
How long should I let it soak, hours, days, weeks or months?
Are there any other products that would help either before or after using FG?
If anyone has any experience with using FG on prints with this much damage, I'd like to know your results.
Thank You,
Chris Wehrman
I've rescued a collection of prints from a guy who had them stored in his barn for several years. They are mainly on cores in their original cardboard boxes. I know that all of it was subjected to high humidity and temperature swings. Some of it has been exposed to water either directly or by sweating and some seam to have only been exposed to just humidity. Some rolls have cardboard stuck to them, that's how badly the water damage is and some rolls have mold. Most of the boxes were damp when I picked them up this weekend. I immediately brought them into my dry (heated and air conditioned) basement and removed all of the cardboard boxes and paper bands from each roll and set them out on a table to acclimate.
From the forum topics I've seen, the general idea is to apply FG to each side of the roll and let it soak in before attempting to unwind. Some questions I have are:
Is this still the best thing to do for prints that have been subject to water and high humidity for several years?
If so, would spraying the FG directly on the roll be better since the damage is severe or is wiping with a cloth better?
Would keeping the roll in a metal lab can while the FG "dose it thing" help?
How long should I let it soak, hours, days, weeks or months?
Are there any other products that would help either before or after using FG?
If anyone has any experience with using FG on prints with this much damage, I'd like to know your results.
Thank You,
Chris Wehrman
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