Since so many people have inquired about Leaf Casting

[VintageComics]

Great work by the way!

 

 

[etanick]

simply awesome...hypothetically if this book was to be submitted to CGC, what would the note on the label contains?

 

pieces added? and/or something else? for the leaf casting.

[Dick Pontoon]

[Ze-man]

 

Damnit, who leaked you this photo?

 

We were waiting to see how long it lived before going public with it.

 

[Ze-man]

simply awesome...hypothetically if this book was to be submitted to CGC, what would the note on the label contains?

 

pieces added? and/or something else? for the leaf casting.

 

Same ol "pieces added" so far.

 

Extensive to be sure!

[comicdonna]

Very nice work Kenny! I also found it to be very informative. Thanks for sharing!

[Ze-man]

Thanks Mike, I take that as high praise knowing how you view most resto, at least in regards to what you would want to buy/own.

 

[chromium]

Very impressive

 

I look at this and feel that this is the next step in restoration/conservation of comic books...almost like a perfect synthesis of old-school graft and modern technology.

 

Congrats to you and Matt in utilizing this innovative process, I'm sure this is the beginning of a great adventure.

[faster friends]

Thanks Mike, I take that as high praise knowing how you view most resto, at least in regards to what you would want to buy/own.

 

 

Kenny, If you decide to take the restoration further, how do you replace the missing artwork?? All by freehand???

[Silver Surfer]

Awesome work. (thumbs u

[VintageComics]

Thanks Mike, I take that as high praise knowing how you view most resto, at least in regards to what you would want to buy/own.

 

 

Kenny, If you decide to the the restoration further, how do you replace the missing artwork?? All by freehand???

 

Probably a combination of using copy technology and freehand.

 

 

[bluechip]

Thanks Mike, I take that as high praise knowing how you view most resto, at least in regards to what you would want to buy/own.

 

 

Kenny, If you decide to the the restoration further, how do you replace the missing artwork?? All by freehand???

 

Probably a combination of using copy technology and freehand.

 

 

 

That is good work and the whole process is very intersting. I think there's a good argument to be made for NOT filling in the art for the time being. Esp when not little art is missing.

 

If you know the art is filled in, the tendency is to presume the art is mostly unoriginal (look at how people judge books with a spec of color touch as equivalent to books with an entire logo recreated).

 

If the art is NOT filled in then you can clearly see how much of the original is still there and how it's not about making it look original but about preservinvg the art that remains.

 

If the art is filled in, I would recommend keeping scans of exactly how it looked before. It might not make any difference in attitudes today as people tend not to differentiate between small and big changes, but I think it will make a difference at some point in the future.

[Ze-man]

Thanks Mike, I take that as high praise knowing how you view most resto, at least in regards to what you would want to buy/own.

 

 

Kenny, If you decide to the the restoration further, how do you replace the missing artwork?? All by freehand???

 

Probably a combination of using copy technology and freehand.

 

 

Exactly.

 

For the most part you would CT the FC cover of this book by hand. Only the missing areas like the coupon, or other detailed artwork/lettering on the BC would you graft a digital copy, or donor material.

 

You do raise a very good point though.

 

While Leaf casting allows one to fully conserve comics that might otherwise not be good restoration candidates(from a monetary standpoint). It is not worth the time, effort or money to CT all the newly added material on all but the big, key books.

 

Since our hobby has almost always been driven by the apparent grade, whereas conservation circles outside our hobby typically consider it taboo to CT, or try and recreate lost art. They prefer to leave it as is, conserved for future generations. So I wonder as people get used to what Leaf casting brings to the table, if collectors will be ok with just having a lost comic "conserved" Or once Leaf Casted....will they always look at it and wish it looked... "prettier".

 

My personal preference? I love the idea of reclaiming what I would consider lost, or trashed books to be handled and read as they were intended. There is almost an intrinsic quality to a conserved book that goes past how it looks.

 

 

 

 

[Mac Man]

The more I look at what Kenny did here, the more appropriate I think it is to leave all of the fill as is. Now GRANTED, this book is not a key in anyway and therefore wouldn't be worth the price to have it all filled in with the lost artwork; however, I think this book is a much truer example of a CONSERVED book as it currently is than a RESTORED book. Think about it:

 

A restored book's grade is now improved and the parts of that book are now raised from a lower condition to a higher one. The part of this book have not changed in any way; in fact, what Kenny has done is more of a sophisticated way of simply "keeping it together." And I'd be really curious to see how CGC would come down (grade-wise) on it.

 

In any event, this sort of work really cements the notion that conservation of books through methods such as this is really something more collectors should consider.

[faster friends]

I think if the piece fill is small enough it would be worth it to CT

[TC33]

 

Wow, all this stuff is new to me, I had never heard of leaf casting before. Those results are amazing. What will technology and new techniques deliver next?

[Spiderphill]

Leaf casting has been around for manyyyyyy years tc33, first time ive seen it introduced to comic books through.

[Ze-man]

What a blast from the past. Looking at that FC now, part of me is leaning towards CT not being such a bad idea. The BC though is a different matter.

 

How's the book holding up Forrest?

[etanick]

I save brittle chips in a little flask....talk about nostalgia in a bottle...daily whiff turn back the clock

[PovertyRow]

Leaf casting has been around for manyyyyyy years tc33, first time ive seen it introduced to comic books through.

 

The first example I saw was around 1990ish (maybe a year or two earlier) at Million Year Picnic in Cambridge, MA. It was an EC horror comic where the interior pages had some leaf casted areas that were not retouched. The texture was a little coarser than the original pages and there was an odd gray tint to them. But I was impressed with how seamless the fills were.