LED Light page lightening and Restoration 3 3

[Phill the Governor]

Aside from my own skepticism about the UV light bleaching... what are board thoughts on this?

 

 

I've seen countless people on Instagram claiming to have used this and received only blue labels afterwards.

My initial thoughts are that it's a wet-cleaning which should result in Conserved labels.. but don't? Any insight?

 

 

[Upgrayedd2]

On 9/29/2022 at 3:30 PM, Phill the Governor said:

Aside from my own skepticism about the UV light bleaching... what are board thoughts on this?

 

 

I've seen countless people on Instagram claiming to have used this and received only blue labels afterwards.

My initial thoughts are that it's a wet-cleaning which should result in Conserved labels.. but don't? Any insight?

 

 

Great question but I believe it requires 2 separate questions: (1) lights only and (2) lights + chemical whitening  

The trend for answers will be based on whether you’re a collector or someone whose primary goal is to generate income.

Furthermore, there’s members who consider C&P restoration.  Until there’s statistical proof using light or lights + whitening and encapsulation leads to page degradation, I say, “go for it.” The only way anyone will know is to crack out a comic which was exposed to lights or lights + whitening. A rather lengthy experiment requiring cracking comics at 1, 5, 10 or more year intervals and the same experiment for comics not being encapsulated. 

So much to consider. 

[Phill the Governor]

On 9/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, Upgrayedd2 said:

Great question but I believe it requires 2 separate questions: (1) lights only and (2) lights + chemical whitening  

The trend for answers will be based on whether you’re a collector or someone whose primary goal is to generate income.

Furthermore, there’s members who consider C&P restoration.  Until there’s statistical proof using light or lights + whitening and encapsulation leads to page degradation, I say, “go for it.” The only way anyone will know is to crack out a comic which was exposed to lights or lights + whitening. A rather lengthy experiment requiring cracking comics at 1, 5, 10 or more year intervals and the same experiment for comics not being encapsulated.

I was referring only to the "immacuclean" solution/kit I pictured. The overlap to the thread title is that the seller of the solution also sells UV cleaning boxes among a few other items; so it seemed relevant.

Dry cleaning and pressing are not restoration because they are non-invasive processes. That doesn't mean people have preferences, but the point is that dry cleaning and pressing never result in purple labels no matter how much purists dislike it. And it's because it's not restoration.

The Immacuclean solution is a mix that's water-based to my knowledge. Any time a cover is cleaned with water, the effect on the paper's sizing is apparent and it will be deemed cleaned and result in a conserved or possibly restored label if other chemicals are included in the wash. So my question is: how is a water based wet cleaning of a cover not considered conserved or restored? My gut tells me it's because of the age of the book's that it's advertised to be use on.. but I may be incorrect.

In my opinion, the "go for it" attitude should be reserved for things that have been around with a clear consensus, despite preference.

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Phill the Governor
clarifying information

[PovertyRow]

On 9/28/2022 at 6:42 AM, Kevin76 said:

Get yourself a densitometer  

I need one for my brain!

[ammar_ammar]

This is the result of 12 hours of blue light on a Kazar comic. I saw zero change from 9 am to 4pm then this subtle change from 4pm to 9pm. And then you have to spend 12 hours on each set of 2 pages. Was fun as a test but not scalable. Also since I had to lay it fully open I feel I had a chance to intro some issues into the spine. This was light only (no chemicals).

Edited October 6, 2022 by ammar_ammar

[toro]

 

[toro]

On 10/5/2022 at 10:14 PM, ammar_ammar said:

This is the result of 12 hours of blue light on a Kazar comic. I saw zero change from 9 am to 4pm then this subtle change from 4pm to 9pm. And then you have to spend 12 hours on each set of 2 pages. Was fun as a test but not scalable. Also since I had to lay it fully open I feel I had a chance to intro some issues into the spine. This was light only (no chemicals).

I've seen insane results on Facebook where the books come out whiter than the same book I purchased in the 1960s.

[ammar_ammar]

I think in those cases they are using peroxide. This is more “natural” since it’s just the blue spectrum of light. If you actually leave slabs for years under normal LED lights at home or at a store  the cover colors all fade over time.

Edited October 6, 2022 by ammar_ammar

[Upgrayedd2]

On 10/5/2022 at 5:01 PM, toro said:

I've seen insane results on Facebook where the books come out whiter than the same book I purchased in the 1960s.

I've seen the same results with lights-only. 

[Vixom]

On 9/29/2022 at 2:30 PM, Phill the Governor said:

Aside from my own skepticism about the UV light bleaching... what are board thoughts on this?

 

 

I've seen countless people on Instagram claiming to have used this and received only blue labels afterwards.

My initial thoughts are that it's a wet-cleaning which should result in Conserved labels.. but don't? Any insight?

 

 

I won't be buying any of these books so doesn't matter to me. I don't put much value into cgc page quality either. But if cgc can't detect it most people will never know unless they crack slabs and know how to detect this themselves. If they can detect it then i would want it noted on the label. I would like any unseen defect or appearance benefiting procedure mentioned. 

[Phill the Governor]

On 10/5/2022 at 10:14 PM, ammar_ammar said:

This is the result of 12 hours of blue light on a Kazar comic. I saw zero change from 9 am to 4pm then this subtle change from 4pm to 9pm. And then you have to spend 12 hours on each set of 2 pages. Was fun as a test but not scalable. Also since I had to lay it fully open I feel I had a chance to intro some issues into the spine. This was light only (no chemicals).

This is interesting. I am genuinely on board for a process like this if (like non-invasive baths) the light is only "removing" build up of dirt dust and grime, not altering the state of the paper.

But the main concern (regardless of light-only) is that while there's no perceivable negative change in the after photo, that doesn't mean that there's no short/long term damage happening to the paper fibers.