• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Fun with Tape...sort of.

Started by Ze-man,

41 posts in this topic

Ze-man

Ze-man

Posted
Posted

Awhile back Szelim asked if I wanted to operate on his MMC 3 book to practice on before working full time for Classics. After seeing it I of course screamed NO!!!!.. and ran away as fast as I could!!

 

But I thought it over and told him to send it to me so I could work on my tape removal skills and tinker with what was new to us at the time, leaf casting comic covers.

 

While there are several things that did not go as I hoped for, I was glad for minimal ink loss during tape removal given its condition, and to get the cover back together so the book could be handled safely. But it is still pretty fugly afterwards.

 

Enough people have asked me about it recently I thought I would just post it up for foks to see since we are such a visual bunch. And because it really is a great example of what I would consider to be true conservation.

 

Question I have that has always bugged me. Would most of you prefer a sharper cover corner, or a corner made to mimic the rounded interiors corners?

 

 

coverextbefore.jpg

coverextafter.jpg

 

coverintbefore-3.jpg

coverintafter.jpg

 

 

 

bcangleb4-1.jpg

BCangleafter.jpg

 

 

bottombcbefore.jpg

bottombcafter.jpg

 

 

coveranglebefore.jpg

coverangleafter.jpg

 

 

bottonmspinebefore.jpg

bottomspineafter.jpg

 

 

 

coverintleftb4.jpg

coverintleftafter.jpg

 

 

coverintrightb4.jpg

coverinteriorrightafter.jpg

 

topspinebefore.jpg

topspineafter.jpg

 

topspinecloseb4.jpg

topspinecloseafter-1.jpg

 

interioropenb4.jpg

intopenafter.jpg

 

interioropentopcloseb4.jpg

intopencloseafter.jpg

 

flextest.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
buttock

buttock

Posted
Posted

Quite a change Kenny. Maybe you need to use Spray 'N Wash before you clean it. lol

 

To answer your question, I would think the free corners would look better if they matched the pages, but could go either way on those.

 

But I never like it when the spine corners are razor sharp. That doesn't ever seem to mimic the original appearance of a book, no matter how minty-fresh it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
szelim

szelim

Posted
Posted

It took you long enough to fix this - I was wondering if I would ever see my book again. :baiting:

 

Seriously, it seems pretty obvious that it took a long time to scrape the tape, clean the stains, and perform the leaf casting. The cover for this book was in really sad shape, such that I wondered whether anything could be done to prevent it from getting worse. That it can actually now be handled is nothing short of miraculous!

(worship)

 

I'm glad that you were able to use this book to test how well your techniques would perform in a real repair situation, which helped you and Matt in perfecting your practice.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PovertyRow

PovertyRow

Posted
Posted

Well, Kenster, with a book like this where the reinforcement goes beyond the existing edges of the cover, I like those 90 degree corners. If the corners were rounded it would, to me, look like you are trying to mimic the corners roudning on what is left of the book. But why try to mimic anything since it is just blank paper around the cover?

 

Now if you were to do color/art fill, I would definitely like to see a more natural rounded look to the corners. But on a book like this - no need for simulating.

 

Really fine work there. (thumbs u

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mr. Zipper

Mr. Zipper

Posted
Posted

Great stuff, Kenny! (thumbs u

 

I would prefer that the corners are consistent with the overall condition of the book. If the resto job makes the book highgrade, make the corners sharp. If the resto brings it to midgrade, round them out a bit.

 

Matt once did a corner replacement for me on a midgrade book and the corner is slightly round. I thought it was a good touch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ze-man

Ze-man

Posted
  • Author
Posted
How much more work would it be to fill in the Art and color on the cover??

 

That is a good question, the obvious answer is quite a bit. The main problem on a book like this is the BC whites are so degraded you would be CT'ing the book to look "fugly"..and well that seems counter productive. So I would not reccommend it personally. I should mention, the cover you see in most of these photos was not trimmed to fit the interior yet. There is not nearly as much "new material" that you see in the photos especially on the top/bottom edge.

 

I cut the cover to an approximate size after casting(what you see in the photos), and only until the cover was wrapped around the interior did I trim it to size. And don't worry...no original cover was trimmed off, just the added material through leaf casting.

 

Back to the CT question though, it brings up the point of what leaf casting brings to the table in our hobby. Mainly re claiming otherwise "lost books" that would not have been feasible economically to work on before. Because in our hobby we want everything to be restored as close to an original aesthetic state (i.e. CT'ing the book to make it look better and raise the apparent grade)

 

In other words, there are many books(key or otherwise) that could benefit from what leaf casting does from a conservation standpoint. But because so much area can be filled in through the leaf casting process you are left with what many collectors feels is equally unsightly. New white paper. And that would take a TON of extra time , work and money.

 

And THAT I guess is the question, will people gradually accept a conserved book over a fully restored one? Not just from the pricepoint of having the work done, but actually being more tolerant of the work and appreciating it for what it is.

 

Or do we as comic collectors just want things to look pretty and conservation mind folks can collect documents.

 

(:

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ze-man

Ze-man

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Great stuff, Kenny! (thumbs u

 

I would prefer that the corners are consistent with the overall condition of the book. If the resto job makes the book highgrade, make the corners sharp. If the resto brings it to midgrade, round them out a bit.

 

Matt once did a corner replacement for me on a midgrade book and the corner is slightly round. I thought it was a good touch.

 

I agree with you,and as a rule Matt and I round corners to fit. I actually did round this covers corners more then what is shown once I trimmed the book down to the interior.

 

I actually hate to use the "T" word :eek:, but it fits what has to be done to a casted cover edge. Or japan paper reinforced edge for that matter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing