Fun with Tape...sort of.

[Ze-man]

Sweet work, did you keep track of how many hours this took?

 

As I think back, a lions share was in tape removal. It sucked!

 

But probably

 

1/2 hour+ to dry clean

 

2+ hours tape removal

 

1 hour wash and stain removal

 

2+ hours to cast, blot and other things needed to leaf cast the cover.

 

1+ hour misc.(there is ALWAYS lost time doing countless things from set up clean up..deal with problems that crop up etc.)

 

Minor work to the interior to seal tears and remove spine roll 1+ hour

 

So around 8-10 hours all told.

 

Closer to 11+ probably

 

 

[Ze-man]

Fantastic!

Need any more books for testing?I have a doozie that's all yours!

 

No!!

 

Any testing I do now is on my own beater books, if I can find the time now that is.

 

Matt keeps me plenty busy.

 

 

 

 

[Sal]

not only would i love to see what CGC would grade this book - strictly from a curiosity point of view that is - i'd love to see what the notes on the label would be

[Hero Restoration]

Hey Kenny, do you think the leaf casting process could replace most piece fill by hand and would it be logical to do it for just about ever size missing piece. It looks like it would do a better job with typical chipping along the edge's than by hand.

[Hero Restoration]

not only would i love to see what CGC would grade this book - strictly from a curiosity point of view that is - i'd love to see what the notes on the label would be

 

My guess is they would have given it a .5 before and maybe an apparent 2.0-3.0 now? I would guess notes would probably say piece's added to cover ?

[szelim]

not only would i love to see what CGC would grade this book - strictly from a curiosity point of view that is - i'd love to see what the notes on the label would be

 

 

[Comicdey]

this is just plain fantastic saving a book for future reading......excellent work.

[buttock]

Ken, it looks like the side of the book that is face up when you do the casting ends up looking a little better aesthetically due to (a) the way the new infills blend with the old and (b) there being some spots that aren't necessarily missing full thickness, but get the benefit of new paper. If you had to do this one over again, would you cast it the other way?

[VintageComics]

Kenny, that's just a gorgeous piece of work on one of my favorite books of the run. Just awesome.

 

So how much did it cost?

 

[divad]

it's freakin' magic! (thumbs u

[cheetah]

JMHO but the sharp corners really contrast with the overall condition of the book. Maybe too much for my taste. Still, it is incredible work that you were able to conserve the book to such a degree.

 

Maybe if you mailed it back to the owner in a plain manila envelope with just a single backing board, it'd be in a shape consistent with the rest of the book!

[FFB]

I vote for rounded corners to match the interior.

[Ze-man]

Ken, it looks like the side of the book that is face up when you do the casting ends up looking a little better aesthetically due to (a) the way the new infills blend with the old and (b) there being some spots that aren't necessarily missing full thickness, but get the benefit of new paper. If you had to do this one over again, would you cast it the other way?

 

Nope, would cast it pretty much the same. This cover was casted fairly well into our R&D with leaf casting so the process was pretty close to what it is now in principle.

 

While I have read about dual side leaf casting I think in regards to comic covers it is not ideal because the cover would have too much art covered up by newly casted paper bonding to, or overlapping cover art. Same as with traditional japan paper application, the interior cover is typically the casted(or worked on) side to give the exterior cover as smoth a look as possible.

 

Also, If there are splits, cracks or worn thin areas in the cover/page, pulp will always find its way into and through them if allowed. Same principle behind water finding its way into everything. Typically if pulp fills in an area it is better to leave it and let it seal the area.

 

I hope this is what you meant.

[buttock]

Ken, it looks like the side of the book that is face up when you do the casting ends up looking a little better aesthetically due to (a) the way the new infills blend with the old and (b) there being some spots that aren't necessarily missing full thickness, but get the benefit of new paper. If you had to do this one over again, would you cast it the other way?

 

Nope, would cast it pretty much the same. This cover was casted fairly well into our R&D with leaf casting so the process was pretty close to what it is now in principle.

 

While I have read about dual side leaf casting I think in regards to comic covers it is not ideal because the cover would have too much art covered up by newly casted paper bonding to, or overlapping cover art. Same as with traditional japan paper application, the interior cover is typically the casted(or worked on) side to give the exterior cover as smoth a look as possible.

 

Also, If there are splits, cracks or worn thin areas in the cover/page, pulp will always find its way into and through them. Same principle behind water finding its way into everything. Typically if pulp fills in an area it is better to leave it and let it seal the area.

 

I hope this is what you meant.

 

Sort of. The examples you have shown to date look like the interior has a seamless blend between the new paper and the old, while the exterior has a clear demarcation between the two. Seeing that, I'm then surprised to hear you say that the exterior looks smoother as I would have expected the site where the old & new meet to show a seam of some sort.

 

That being said, I can imagine that casting it face up would leave lots of new infills that would need touch-up - which would probably be undesirable.

 

After you've done the casting, do you feel like there's still a weakness along the site where the new meets old (i.e. the two could split easier at that point than elsewhere), or does it seem to merge in there pretty firmly?

[Ze-man]

 

After you've done the casting, do you feel like there's still a weakness along the site where the new meets old (i.e. the two could split easier at that point than elsewhere), or does it seem to merge in there pretty firmly?

 

You are a wise man and have hit upon one of the many roadblocks that we faced along the way. Short answer, yes if the coverstock(spine mostly) is a beat up, threadbare mess, then the newly casted area CAN be much stronger because it is..well new paper where all the holes used to be. And the area sitting right next to it is a threadbare, beat up mess(i.e. it is weak, but had no "missing area" to allow pulp to be pulled through and beef it up)

 

It's actually not much different then with old school japan paper application, you need to address what is weak and reinforce it.

 

It of course varies greatly from book to book and won't go into much more detail about how we do it.

 

Also, perhaps "seamless" was the wrong word. It has more to do with leaving the exterior cover(the more important viewable side) as uncovered as possible. Be it japan paper in fill, or leaf casting if you applied paper to mend to a hole or seal a tear on the exterior side and then applied CT over that you would simply be building up and covering up too many layers on the ext cover side, and it would be less seamless compared to interior cover applications.

 

Neither application is perfect, but of the two I have found interior side application to be more preferable if done well. And I think it has been that way for a long time for just that reason.

 

Here is an example of just what you brought up. A terribly thin water damaged cover next to newly casted material. I had to later manually add reinforcement to those thin areas. If I were to have done this on the Exterior it would be an unsightly mess.

[buttock]

You should just cut an inch off every side and then cast it...

 

 

[VintageComics]

I'd cut the adverts out and just tape them on to fresh paper.

 

Problem. Solved.

 

[Ze-man]

Buncha wise guys round here.

[*paull*]

Thanks for posting, Kenny. I always enjoy seeing your results. It's great to see these books brought back from the dead!

[Hero Restoration]

 

After you've done the casting, do you feel like there's still a weakness along the site where the new meets old (i.e. the two could split easier at that point than elsewhere), or does it seem to merge in there pretty firmly?

 

You are a wise man and have hit upon one of the many roadblocks that we faced along the way. Short answer, yes if the coverstock(spine mostly) is a beat up, threadbare mess, then the newly casted area CAN be much stronger because it is..well new paper where all the holes used to be. And the area sitting right next to it is a threadbare, beat up mess(i.e. it is weak, but had no "missing area" to allow pulp to be pulled through and beef it up)

 

It's actually not much different then with old school japan paper application, you need to address what is weak and reinforce it.

 

It of course varies greatly from book to book and won't go into much more detail about how we do it.

 

Also, perhaps "seamless" was the wrong word. It has more to do with leaving the exterior cover(the more important viewable side) as uncovered as possible. Be it japan paper in fill, or leaf casting if you applied paper to mend to a hole or seal a tear on the exterior side and then applied CT over that you would simply be building up and covering up too many layers on the ext cover side, and it would be less seamless compared to interior cover applications.

 

Neither application is perfect, but of the two I have found interior side application to be more preferable if done well. And I think it has been that way for a long time for just that reason.

 

Here is an example of just what you brought up. A terribly thin water damaged cover next to newly casted material. I had to later manually add reinforcement to those thin areas. If I were to have done this on the Exterior it would be an unsightly mess.

 

 

Color match on this one looks much better.