Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2009 19:23:13 GMT -6
I've read on the Acaeum that regular zip-lock bags can cause yellowing in archived materials; mylar should be used.
Has anyone found a mylar product or other preservative container that is of reasonable cost and holds the White Box OD&D set? I went to the local comic shop today and all they had was comic book sized sleeves.
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Post by dwayanu on Jan 19, 2009 19:38:26 GMT -6
If you find no other source, you could use a couple of comicbook sleeves as raw material to make a custom cover. Scissors cut the stuff, and heat (carefully selected!) bonds it by melting.
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Post by stonetoflesh on Jan 19, 2009 22:34:30 GMT -6
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Post by snorri on Jan 20, 2009 4:24:47 GMT -6
Museum or library workers?
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sham
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 385
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Post by sham on Jan 20, 2009 7:54:25 GMT -6
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Post by amityvillemike on Jan 20, 2009 10:35:24 GMT -6
I'm an archivist by day, so preservation is pretty much my bread & butter. Your three biggest concerns are going to be sunlight, temperature & humidity. Sunlight is the easiest to control for obvious reasons. Whatever method you end up using, make sure the booklets are in an opaque container and stored away from direct sunlight. Temperature & humidity are somewhat more of a greater concern in regards to the long-term survival of the booklets, but there are steps you can take to minimize the damage that can be caused by these two elements. A dehumidifer was mentioned, but that's a bit of a hassle for general storage of things around the home. I'd NOT keep the booklets stored in an attic or basement; you're looking for a place around the home where both temperature and humidity remain constant. In the regular home in a temperate climate, you'll find the best place to keep the booklets is a closet, preferable near the center of the house and away from heating and AC vents. Your average linen closet is perfect for this. As for protecting the booklets, mylar has been mentioned. While it's a valid solution, I'd either avoid mylar envelopes completely as the size of the pamphlets really prohibit much in the way of the benefits that mylar provides (other than waterproffing in case something spills on them), or if I had to use mylar, I'd use an envelope that's only sealed on two of the edges (forming more of a two-sided pouch than an envelope) because it will allow some aire flow that will keep some of your nastier molds from growing. Personally, I'd go with this: www.gaylordmart.com/adblock.asp?abid=957&sid=097D696BB5FE466B97CEEA7497D8B0" an acid free enclosure. Buy an acid free storage box from the same site and place the three enclosures in the box. Stick it in the hall closet and you're set. The biggest problem with the LBBs (as well as other gaming products) is going to be the staples rusting, which most likely has already started depending on how they were kept up until now. The rust is going to damage the paper that it comes in contact will, meaning that you'll be likely to lose pages from the middle of the booklets. You can't turn back the clock on rust so you can either remove the staples completely and take the book to a print shop and see if they can restaple them with stainless steel staples or just keep the books away from humidity as much as possible. Hope this helps. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2009 11:03:50 GMT -6
Wow, AmityvilleMike! Thanks for the detailed and very helpful response. Have an exalt.
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Post by amityvillemike on Jan 20, 2009 11:20:53 GMT -6
My pleasure. Like I said, it's pretty much what I do every day.  |
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Post by chgowiz on Jan 20, 2009 11:42:17 GMT -6
Are those desiccant pouches that you find in various shipped items a bad thing to throw in the acid free box/enclosure?
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Post by amityvillemike on Jan 20, 2009 11:59:48 GMT -6
Are those desiccant pouches that you find in various shipped items a bad thing to throw in the acid free box/enclosure? Not a bad thing, especially for storage in the common household rather than a controlled environmental room. They can help keep the humidity problem in check. I'd make sure that they were placed in a way so as they didn't come into direct contact with whatever it is you're trying to preserve just to be safe and remember that they're only generally good for about a year or two before you should either replace them or, at the very least, expose them to sunlight to let the acculumated moisture in them cook out a little bit. |
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Post by chgowiz on Jan 21, 2009 9:01:08 GMT -6
amityvillemike - thank you! That's good advice. I have a Conan RPG that isn't in good shape boxwise, but the books are fantastic. I'd like to preserve it as well as I can.
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sham
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 385
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Post by sham on Jan 21, 2009 14:32:52 GMT -6
Are those desiccant pouches that you find in various shipped items a bad thing to throw in the acid free box/enclosure? Not a bad thing, especially for storage in the common household rather than a controlled environmental room. They can help keep the humidity problem in check. I'd make sure that they were placed in a way so as they didn't come into direct contact with whatever it is you're trying to preserve just to be safe and remember that they're only generally good for about a year or two before you should either replace them or, at the very least, expose them to sunlight to let the acculumated moisture in them cook out a little bit. Mike is the man when it comes to these questions so I'm glad he chimed in here with his expert advice. I was going to add that you should plan on changing those silica packs periodically, and I'd never considered "refreshing" them by allowing the moisture to cook out. Great tip! I also use acid-free comic book bags and backing boards, cut down to size, for individual booklets within the bagged box. The silica packet doesnt touch anything other than plastic. I bagged a lot of my older modules and books after recently seeing some of the "going rates" on eBay. Just a word of warning, be careful if you are using scotch tape to close the bags. When I was replacing one of my older JG books, the tape grabbed ahold of the cover and removed some of the ink. Tape is probably a bad idea, so there must some other solution to "closing" bagged goods like this. |
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yesmar
Level 4 Theurgist
Fool, my spell book is written in Erlang!
Posts: 197
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Post by yesmar on Jan 21, 2009 20:37:11 GMT -6
I've totally had this problem... and with an old JG title, no less. So, what are some better alternatives to using scotch tape to seal protective bags?
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Post by amityvillemike on Jan 23, 2009 10:46:17 GMT -6
I've totally had this problem... and with an old JG title, no less. So, what are some better alternatives to using scotch tape to seal protective bags? This is one of the reason that I prefer not to use mylar bags. There's an old saying in the archival trade that goes "No scissors, no tape, no glue; nothing that you can't undo." In general, mylar works great for protecting comic books because they are printed on a lesser quality of paper than what you'd find in the LBBs, and comics also have issues of color fading when they're exposed to air and light over time. The purpose of the mylar is to keep out as much of the air as possible, and the scotch tape serves to form a tighter seal to better protect it. With the LBBs and most other gaming books, you don't have issues with the paper and color inks fading, so having them exposed to air is not going to cause long-term problems as long as you have the issues of temperature and humidity somewhat under control. That's why I recommended using the acid-free enclosures over mylar bags. If you have to use mylar, you don't need to worry about sealing the bags as much as you would with comic books, so you can avoid the issues of Scotch tape completely if you wish. If you really, really have the desire to seal them, Scotch tape is really your only option, so just be careful. |
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Post by waysoftheearth on Mar 13, 2009 7:50:11 GMT -6
Wow, great information! Does anyone have any special advice or experience of how to best preserve shrink wrapped articles? I image that the silica dehumidifiers would be less effective (or completely ineffective?) when it comes to stuff hidden behind shrink wrapping. And Amityvillemike's comment about some airflow preventing nastier kinds of molds has got me wondering whether my shrink wrapped treasure would actually better off unwrapped?? Any advice most welcome |
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Post by amityvillemike on Mar 15, 2009 21:51:49 GMT -6
Does anyone have any special advice or experience of how to best preserve shrink wrapped articles? I image that the silica dehumidifiers would be less effective (or completely ineffective?) when it comes to stuff hidden behind shrink wrapping. If you mean by "articles" things like boxed sets or modules you don't have to worry about the silica dehumdifiers at all since you've basically have an airtight envelope around the object that will repel any moisture completely. I'd still keep it out of direct sunlight because the shrinkwrap won't protect against UV rays. If the item is completely shrinkwrapped you also don't have to worry about mold and removing the item from the shrinkwrap would actually be worse when it comes to long term protection. When it comes to keeping mold out your best bets are either to protect it completely to exposure from air, which the shrinkwrap does, or to allow air to flow easily around the item provided that air isn't too humid. Shrinkwrap is an ideal solution if you want to preserve an object but have no plans to actually use or otherwise interact with it. |
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Post by harami2000 on Mar 24, 2009 1:26:34 GMT -6
Shrinkwrap is an ideal solution if you want to preserve an object but have no plans to actually use or otherwise interact with it. Much old shrinkwrap is a bit of a nightmare, I'd've thought - ask around orange B3 owners to find out how many have warped copies. *jk* And, if a SW'd box, the chance of staple rusting is probably higher from general feedback noted elsewhere. |
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