A question for anyone who’s framed a cel…

[iceman57]

Under Iceman57’s prompting I recently examined the frame job for the first time without completely assuming that light was the only cause of damage and I noticed that: 1) everything is very tightly screwed together, and 2) the backing is foam core. So theoretically the fading problem could have been caused by the cel not being able to breathe in the frame, possible fumes from the cel itself being trapped and /or fumes emitted by the material of the foam core. UV damage is still a possibility although it could also be a combination problem with fumes, etc. So maybe my issue is simply that I framed it but maybe it is in fact the way it was framed. I’m not sure anymore.

Got fresh info from my today 2 hours appointment with a conservation professor !!! This is hot and spicy.

1. UV are a chimera, visible light spectrum damages art.
(Fuck yes ! Finally a professor confirming this feeling theory I wrote for years and that so many badass tried to damage, even some with crappy UVB argument, UVA rules for testing as I done in the past for thesis tests). Note that light only damage in years (scale is decades) and is not consider as the damage source due to internal home exposure.

2. Acid is the root cause, damages accelerate over 30 years switching from linear damage to exponantial damage in just some years.

3. Framing requires "microchamber" brand backboard to absorb the acetic acid produced by the cel itself.

4. Color pigment may react differently.

I'm really happy today !!
Will write later a long description of today's meeting.

[Sky Rat]

Oh sorry Sky Rat. You said in your post that you requested UV protection so I did not mean to say that you were being cheap. It was more of a referral to the cases where I had bought poorly framed cels. That was very bad wording on my part.

The issue is rather fresh in my mind because one of the cels in my last update (just a couple of weeks ago) came poorly framed. It looked great from the front, but the interior was a mess. The cel layers were taped together and positioned directly on the background without any spacers. I am surprised that the cel had not re-stuck to the background. There were also a few sketches taped to the other side of the background and then the combination was pressed against cardboard backing.

Again, sorry about that implication. I am not very good at expressing myself in a written format; too many things running through my mind at the same time.

Oh, sorry, I actually didn’t assume you thought I had! I just wanted to make sure I was clear enough describing everything. I actually do sometimes frame things cheaply, I’ve taken just regular artwork to places like Micheals’s Crafts or whatever for cheap frame jobs. For the cel I thought I was being as careful and professional as possible…but apparently that wasn’t enough.

When in doubt I always say too much instead of less…if that hasn’t become painfully obvious ^__^;;;;;;

Eep, the description of your recently framed cel makes me cringe. Lucky you acquired it and could rescue it before damage occurred.

[iceman57]

Will write later a long description of today's meeting.

SUMMARY.
- DISCLAIMER
- INTRODUCTION
- THE CHIMERA
- THE DAMAGE ROOT CAUSE
- RECOMMANDATIONS
- BOTTOM LINE

DISCLAIMER :

The following paper lines are a resume from and interview with a professionnal framer and an appoinment with a conservation professor. Thanks to Jeanie and Rebecca for their time and assistance to built this paper. Be kind to not reuse totally or partially the following content without quoting sources.

INTRODUCTION :

Framing and conservation of anime cel are recurrent questions, I had the opportunity during thesis work and during recent works to met and exchange with major scientists releasing books on polymers conservation and received their latest published book about photography conservation.
Conservation is a list of technics depending on knowlegde and existing science to avoid by preemtive measures to reduce the damage of time. Conservation is linking to restauration. Depending of the country of application, restauration in a conservation way can be returned to previous status or not. Once the art had been restored it is no more original but semi-original due to inclusive content depending on the used technics. The restauration remains part of the collector's choice to preserve art itself with minor corrections or to recreate the art has it had been displayed at it owns origin.
In order to conserve an artwork you have to identify the causes of damages on art. Most of collectors would have to accuse UV and light rays to be the root cause of animation art damage, especially anime cels. Fact is that identified causes have various timelines to affect an art and react to different components.

THE CHIMERA :

Firstly, crossing with a conservation professor appointment, let's try to suppress the chimera/lure on UV question that is draining collectors energy. Answer is formal, any glass composing a window already reflect a portion of the light spectrum. Light is crucial to display cels in a frame, without visible light, no visible image. UVA are the main component of UV light, UVB a smaller component that occurs physical damages to human skin. UVB tests are useless, destructive test machinery use UVA and Xenon light to recreate an artificial sunlight. UV does not affect the art itself but visible light spectrum may affect differently color pigments depending on their composition explaning why collectors observe variety of changes.

THE DAMAGE ROOT CAUSE :

Now that the UV aspect had been wrote down, let's see the real root cause. What professionnals and professors consider as the animation art main damage cause is vinaigar symdrom, a destruction of the cel acetate emitting acidic fumes (specific odour). The more the art is enclosed in a frame, the less it can ventilate/breathe, confining acidic fumes and increasing their effects on art. British Animation Award cel framer recommands that the assembled frame is not using acidic glues and that the wood itself is naturally made without additives, mounted and not touching backboard, protected by an alcalyn barrier paper (commonly called museum grade paper).
Professor offered a complementary vision with a recent backboard developped for museums and brandnamed "microchamber". Those backboards foam are mixed with activated carbon, the carbon drains the acidity of the inner frame, procedure can be completed by a PH paper stuck in the frame to see acidic variations.
When I exposed the "yellow / orange color" appearing on japanese art, the professor was tremendeously interested, he thinks that this coloration of lines can be an announce of vinaigar hydrolise symptom start. There's no turn back (nothing immortal on earth) but there are known ways to reduce damage speed coming from film industry and photography industry.

RECOMMANDATIONS :

The curve of vinaigar syndrom is linear for the very first 30 years of art (approx. average actual cel age) then switches to an exponential curve. I personnaly saw damaged cels where paint bubbled and self-removed from the cel (like being a separate layer), or cels that turned to fragments of cel, they where 50 years old. By fighting today acid effects on recent japanese animation art, costs are drastically lower than working on an expensive restauration after 20 years. Note that contamined arts contamined others, so sketchbook and other way of close storage entertain a vinaigar syndrom propagation.
Fortunnaly there are keys rules on art environment to reduce damage speed, first temperature : reduce of 10°C (18°F) double lifetime (some studio store rolls at -18°C/0°F), second humidity : reach 35% double lifetime (not under this level or elasticity will suffer). Wrapping cels in polyester (not sealed because polyester is airproof) and/or museum grade paper offers to preserve arts. Note that polyester transperancy allows to display art.

BOTTOM LINE :

- Firstly focus on acidic preservation of your arts.
- Isolate contamined (smelly) cels from other cels
- Frame your displayed arts with compliant materials.

Benoit Spacher.
Paris, June 18th 2010.

_________

POST SCRIPTUM :

I just went to Jon Bon Jovi concert in Paris (those guys are 50 y. old and still a stunning band), one song in particular reminded me this conservation study : "It's my life". If you wan't to preserve your arts on a long term, act now.
It's cels life, It's now or never, Cels ain't gonna live forever...

[cutiebunny]

When I exposed the "yellow / orange color" appearing on japanese art, the professor was tremendeously interested, he thinks that this coloration of lines can be an announce of vinaigar hydrolise symptom start.

I don't know about that. Toei cels are infamous for their 'orange-brown' lines. Even the animators were aware of it - I have a few cels which solely consist of trace lines because the original ones faded prior to filming.

I've never noticed a vinegar smell to any of these cels where the trace lines have become orangish brown.


On the other hand, at least with Toei cels, I think its damage really depends on who the owners are. There are a few sellers that do their best to preserve cels. When, 14 years after production ceased, you can still buy a cel where there is little, if any, line fading, you know that the original owner(s) did their best to preserve it. When I examine some of the cels that I purchased in 2003 for new 'in my possession' damage, I can't find any. Maybe that's because I store mine in acid free bags and do not expose them to the light.

When I first began collecting and did not understand the fragile condition of these cels, I did allow a library to display a few of my cels for an exhibit. Although the cels were never directly in sunlight, the line fading on these cels rapidly increased.

Perhaps, decades in the future, when anime becomes a highly recognized and widly accepted media, museums will be interested in spending money to conserve some of the better examples of our genre. Maybe then, there will be better, if not less expensive, improvements in the preservation of art.

[Mackettric]

I've had a few cels framed, including several GI Joe cels animated by Toei with very fine xerox lines and after 15+ years, no evidence what so ever of line fading. Lines are excellent. Cels were framed by an animation art gallery w/ UV protected plexi and displayed away from direct sunlight.

Now I do have plenty of Toei and other cels w/ line fading, the majority haven't been framed.

I wouldn't frame any important cels without having the framing done by someone who really knows animation art. Don't just go to some framing place, go to an animation art gallery or SR Labs, etc.

With line fading, I'm convinced a lot of it has to do with how the cel was made, if the lines are going to fade, they'll fade, exposure to heat and light might make it worse, but it won't fade the lines of every cel. I tested this theory out with an couple of cheap GI Joe cels (Toei animation). I left them in the sun, I left them in the trunk of my car in the summer, no line fading. Kinda stinks 'cos those were just cels of secondary characters I didn't care about and the lines were perfect and I have a few cels were there's quite a bit of line fading that I'm going to have to get restored.

Dunno about everyone else, but the restoration costs are starting to get pretty extentive for me. I've stopped getting cels I know are just going to have to go over to SR labs for restoration that's gonna double the price of the cel.

[iceman57]

ABOUT DAMAGES

Perhaps, decades in the future, when anime becomes a highly recognized and widly accepted media, museums will be interested in spending money to conserve some of the better examples of our genre. Maybe then, there will be better, if not less expensive, improvements in the preservation of art.

They already do, but the way of financing changed as several galleries work with mecenates arts coming from private collections. Affected cels may require a conservation procedure/framing.
By preserving today you reduce considerably the costs of preservation of arts, waiting decades for museum high interests will occur extremely bigger costs.

Regarding smell, once the smell there, this is basically too late... Basically due to Japan temperature and humidity climate, badly studio stored cels are already activated by vinaigar syndrom. As wrote previously the curve is slowly linear during the first 3 decades, but once overpassed turn to exponential damages.
Consequently complementary tests on lines being a possible announce of vinaigar syndrom as Japanese anime art haven't been studyed yet (only american and european animation art). I'm trying to budget those line tests that will require a cels fund in order to compare studios acetate chimical composition through the 4 decades of traditionnal anime

Dunno about everyone else, but the restoration costs are starting to get pretty extentive for me. I've stopped getting cels I know are just going to have to go over to SR labs for restoration that's gonna double the price of the cel.

Today the double, but tomorrow 10 times the price...

... With line fading, I'm convinced a lot of it has to do with how the cel was made, if the lines are going to fade, they'll fade, exposure to heat and light might make it worse, but it won't fade the lines of every cel. I tested this theory out with an couple of cheap GI Joe cels (Toei animation).

Nice works, well from the cel I saw and the discussion I had, this is even worse. As you wrote temperature and humidity accelerate the processus.
But unfortunaly thinking that buying a non line faded art will preserve buyer that this cel will not fade is wrong, some may fade even faster once overpassing the 30 years point, this is due to acetate chimical composition that fluctuates from suppliers and production years... Requiring several tests to identify chimical components of cels and of course chimical components of lines.


ABOUT FRAMING

I wouldn't frame any important cels without having the framing done by someone who really knows animation art. Don't just go to some framing place, go to an animation art gallery or SR Labs, etc.

Exactly.

[Mackettric]

ABOUT DAMAGES

Dunno about everyone else, but the restoration costs are starting to get pretty extentive for me. I've stopped getting cels I know are just going to have to go over to SR labs for restoration that's gonna double the price of the cel.

Today the double, but tomorrow 10 times the price....

To a point. SR Labs can paint you a new cel, but it's no longer a production cel. Restoration is one thing, cleaning a cel, restoring lines, fixing chipped paint, is one thing, but there comes a point when the cel is too far gone to fix. And the price for restoration exceeds the value of most animation art besides the high end Disney or Warner stuff. You start spending a thousand dollars a cel on restoration, makes you kinda makes you think.

... With line fading, I'm convinced a lot of it has to do with how the cel was made, if the lines are going to fade, they'll fade, exposure to heat and light might make it worse, but it won't fade the lines of every cel. I tested this theory out with an couple of cheap GI Joe cels (Toei animation).

Nice works, well from the cel I saw and the discussion I had, this is even worse. As you wrote temperature and humidity accelerate the processus.
But unfortunaly thinking that buying a non line faded art will preserve buyer that this cel will not fade is wrong, some may fade even faster once overpassing the 30 years point, this is due to acetate chimical composition that fluctuates from suppliers and production years... Requiring several tests to identify chimical components of cels and of course chimical components of lines.

All cels have chemical processes going on, and part of conservation is understanding that and trying to slow those processes down. However, part of line fading of xerox lines isn't just a conservation issue, it has to do with the type of ink used, how the ink was applied to the cel, the type of painted used around the lines, all affects if the lines will fade. These are things that you can't change with conservation.

Much of the issues the line fading, especially with the old Toei cels goes back to the fact they (and many other studios in the early to mid 80's) used xerox ink the same as the old fax ink, and you know how that stuff browned immediately. You can see evidence of line fading on the cels in the actual show, imagine what the lines look like 25 years later. There are certain series where there was so much line fading almost immediately that they cels were destroyed for that very reason, there was no point in selling them even if the studio wanted to. This wasn't just Toei, but many studios around the early to mid 80's had this issue with their cels.

Once line fading becomes severe enough, you have to restore the lines while they're there or else risk the possibility the line fading will be so severe the lines will be gone before you can get the cel restored. That's the issue. I have Gummi Bears cels were the lines simply aren't there anymore. They just faded away into nothing. Most of the Gummi Bears cels were destroyed because the line fading was so bad, there was no point in trying to sell them. Cels were never meant to be preserved long term. Once the art was filmed it had served it's purpose, especially when taking about cels from quickly produced syndicated shows in the 80's when studios were rushing to get 65 episodes done. It was all about speed. The issues with line fading of xerox you have with a cel from a show like Transformers is far different from something you'd see in a Disney or Warner feature cel because the animators weren't under such a time crunch. That's why you kinda appreciate the hand inked lines, no fading. Not saying all old Toei cels have tons of line fading. I marvel had how great the lines are on some of my cels, when others are very faded. And same with Akom cels. The few Akom GI Joe cels I have all have some line fading as well. With that, I'm guessing it has more to do with the speed in which the cels were produced, they weren't careful to make sure the lines were on the cel well before they painted it.

[star-phoenix]

This is my earliest framed cel from 2001/2000.
http://starphoenix.rubberslug.com/galle ... mID=110381
The picture you see scanned in was when I first got it. The picture below was taken last year (about 9 years after framing):
(Please note,this was taken with a digital camera that had a glare on it)
http://www.rubberslug.com/user/5f1a2de2 ... Framed.jpg
The lines may have faded slightly, but they really didn't. I used 99% UV Protected Glass and specifically requested that glass on all my cels. In addition, I positioned them on my wall where there is 0 UV light exposure at all times of the day. And to top it off, I keep the regular room light off as much as possible.
I think, if done properly, the framing will preserve the cel.
However, you have to take into consideration, that regardless of what you do, you will have line fading. The types of lines they used on many cels in the past 10 years are powder based and they will fade regardless of lgiht exposure. It will happen. If it doesn't, then chances are your cel is not real or the studio used different type ink.

[iceman57]

To a point. SR Labs can paint you a new cel, but it's no longer a production cel. Restoration is one thing, cleaning a cel, restoring lines, fixing chipped paint, is one thing, but there comes a point when the cel is too far gone to fix. And the price for restoration exceeds the value of most animation art besides the high end Disney or Warner stuff. You start spending a thousand dollars a cel on restoration, makes you kinda makes you think.

Recreate a cel from the scratch brings us the question of restauration reversibility, here in France I can't restaure an art without offering to the next generations to return art to its original form. While in the same time in Germany they restaured the Beethoven partitions by using a splitting machine to insert a new layer directly in the paper.
There is a similar technic than can be used for anime cels by removing the thin layer of paint and lines from an acetate cel to place it on a polyester transparent sheet, but as you perfectly wrote it this is no more a production cel, becoming a half production cel.

As I reported previously I saw cels that were turning to a hundred of 1/2" size pieces puzzle. The paint reacted to the cel and was propelled out of the cel, that was freaking and the whole room stinked once polyester opened. I planned restauration costs for my exhibition project, most of the restaurations were minor and preventive with an average cost of $300 per damaged or stucked art.
Preemtive conservation before framing is actually done each art individually by wrapping cels in polyester sheets, doubled with museum grade papers for the most expensive items. Those items aren't expensive at all and for only $100 any collector can set a conservation place viable for over 100 artworks with a monitored temperature and humidity. At my side I consider such preemtive place as priority and prefer forget to buy one art and set this place. This will of course not reach the 0°F use in some studios but is a matter of respect for those artworks and people that sold them to me in order to plan exhibition.
_____

All cels have chemical processes going on, and part of conservation is understanding that and trying to slow those processes down. However, part of line fading of xerox lines isn't just a conservation issue, it has to do with the type of ink used, how the ink was applied to the cel, the type of painted used around the lines, all affects if the lines will fade. These are things that you can't change with conservation.

Much of the issues the line fading, especially with the old Toei cels goes back to the fact they (and many other studios in the early to mid 80's) used xerox ink the same as the old fax ink, and you know how that stuff browned immediately. You can see evidence of line fading on the cels in the actual show, imagine what the lines look like 25 years later. There are certain series where there was so much line fading almost immediately that they cels were destroyed for that very reason, there was no point in selling them even if the studio wanted to. This wasn't just Toei, but many studios around the early to mid 80's had this issue with their cels.
Once line fading becomes severe enough, you have to restore the lines while they're there or else risk the possibility the line fading will be so severe the lines will be gone before you can get the cel restored. That's the issue. I have Gummi Bears cels were the lines simply aren't there anymore. They just faded away into nothing. Most of the Gummi Bears cels were destroyed because the line fading was so bad, there was no point in trying to sell them. Cels were never meant to be preserved long term. Once the art was filmed it had served it's purpose, especially when taking about cels from quickly produced syndicated shows in the 80's when studios were rushing to get 65 episodes done. It was all about speed. The issues with line fading of xerox you have with a cel from a show like Transformers is far different from something you'd see in a Disney or Warner feature cel because the animators weren't under such a time crunch. That's why you kinda appreciate the hand inked lines, no fading. Not saying all old Toei cels have tons of line fading. I marvel had how great the lines are on some of my cels, when others are very faded. And same with Akom cels. The few Akom GI Joe cels I have all have some line fading as well. With that, I'm guessing it has more to do with the speed in which the cels were produced, they weren't careful to make sure the lines were on the cel well before they painted it.

However, you have to take into consideration, that regardless of what you do, you will have line fading. The types of lines they used on many cels in the past 10 years are powder based and they will fade regardless of lgiht exposure. It will happen. If it doesn't, then chances are your cel is not real or the studio used different type ink.

Both totally right. Several people tried during mankind history to stop the timeline or to find Eldorado without success. See how the cosmetic business is going well for women, same with vinaigar syndrom, there's no turn back for immortality but ways to locally change aspect or reduce damages.
I come from a decade of industrial background and crossed the two main japanese industry of automotive and animation, willing to understand why in those two major business units the inventory management was totally different and not following Toyota Motor company standards. The note you wrote about fax composition is interesting, especially if the ink is a mix of the 3 colors, that maybe one color pigment is more affected and create this marron/orange/yellow effet. From an industrial point of view, cels are production machines and I throwed away part of old machines in my life.
Animation raw material art were not supposed to be collectible in a universe and culture were the final product being the result of a collective work : the anime. Decades later from the production lines, we, collectors or contemporary culture lovers, have to analyse and report the known damages to try to share/save what can be saved as this lines color effect is not yet noticed by conservators and scientists working in national archives. Sounds to be a more specific issue on Japanese anime art.

Coming back to framing, I'm willing to budget study of cels acetate and lines (requiring an important sample of sources for destructive and non destructive tests). Fortunally, basing on actual photography market, the damaged 60s 70s art are more appreciated by collectors due to this vintage coloration. About the excellent example on Gummi Bears and Sesshoumaru (looks like this one balanced to cyan color, or is it due to camera lens), I wrote down a long parralax with the Raft of Medusa painting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa) this 19th century painting is now 200 years old and suffered from a black pigment that darker the painting year after year, so the paint is no more the colored original from 1819. Does this masterpiece consequently become less than a masterpiece ? I don't think so and same will be with non traced line cels. In the coming 150 years, once stored framed in museums, japanese animation art with yellow/marroon/orange line will be consider as vintages from the 20th century. Those questions overpass board member lifetime but I strongly think that people having a common vision need to unite and share technics with professionnal institution like restaurator, conservator and national archives.

[Mackettric]

To a point. SR Labs can paint you a new cel, but it's no longer a production cel. Restoration is one thing, cleaning a cel, restoring lines, fixing chipped paint, is one thing, but there comes a point when the cel is too far gone to fix. And the price for restoration exceeds the value of most animation art besides the high end Disney or Warner stuff. You start spending a thousand dollars a cel on restoration, makes you kinda makes you think.

Recreate a cel from the scratch brings us the question of restauration reversibility, here in France I can't restaure an art without offering to the next generations to return art to its original form. While in the same time in Germany they restaured the Beethoven partitions by using a splitting machine to insert a new layer directly in the paper.
There is a similar technic than can be used for anime cels by removing the thin layer of paint and lines from an acetate cel to place it on a polyester transparent sheet, but as you perfectly wrote it this is no more a production cel, becoming a half production cel.
.

With most restoration, you can't really restore a cel and still go back to the way it once was, not if the paint was chipped or the lines extremely faded. In fact, to restore cels, the restorer sometimes has to do more damage to get the layers apart.

These were two cels I had restored recently.
http://kett.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_ ... mID=303181
This D&D cel (toei) had major line fading (darker skin characters tend to have more line fading), and layer w/ the airbushed glow had gotten stuck askew. SR Labs separated the layers, fixed some of the lines, and touched up the airbrushing where some paint had come off the glow. Not cheap, but without it, the cel wasn't display worthy.

http://kett.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_ ... emID=68934
This Mighty Orbots cel (TMS) SR Labs removed the top layer with the extra paint and one character's eyes. Cleaned the remaining cels and re-painted Bort's eyes. Went from being kinda horrible with all this extra paint on the top layer, to a really nice piece.

I look at restoration as inevitable on most cels. It's a couple hundred bucks to have a cel cleaned. That's a good investment. Having lines restored, paint fixed, that's the kinda stuff that gets pricey, especially lines. But you kinda have to balance whether or not the lines are going to completely fade away. That's when it really bugs me. A little browning, especially on darker paint, no biggie, when it looks like the lines are going. It's off the SR Labs asap. I won't see the cel for a year and it'll cost a fortune, but oh well.

[iceman57]

With most restoration, you can't really restore a cel and still go back to the way it once was, not if the paint was chipped or the lines extremely faded. In fact, to restore cels, the restorer sometimes has to do more damage to get the layers apart.

I had a short interview with Ron Stark from S/R Labs for thesis work. S/R Labs is the reference in Northern America but occurs a major problem from a European point of view : distance. You require to ship your cel with a high insurance that may easily overpass cel value. So I tried to find a similar restauration knowledge in continental Europe without success. Fortunaly traditionnal and contemporary paintings are well known in Paris. An asian paintings restaurator and a professor working with cinema archives accepted to be referents for cels tests. Acrylic painting is extremely stable used to restore damage paintings, several restaurators have to create their own mixture with pigments. To be the more accurate with line tracing, we'd have to identify the Xerox/Ink composition to regenerate them before framing.

I look at restoration as inevitable on most cels. It's a couple hundred bucks to have a cel cleaned. That's a good investment. Having lines restored, paint fixed, that's the kinda stuff that gets pricey, especially lines. But you kinda have to balance whether or not the lines are going to completely fade away. That's when it really bugs me. A little browning, especially on darker paint, no biggie, when it looks like the lines are going. It's off the SR Labs asap. I won't see the cel for a year and it'll cost a fortune, but oh well.

I personnaly invest in restauration for framing in a vision of over 50 years conservation (in fact for family generationnal transmission). For cels offered to monthly contests winner or yearly company gift to customers kids, restauration/conservation are not included because of being too pricey. But I of course share the recommandations and my adress book depending of the requirement of the person receiving the document.

[MyBaby]

Hi, I have eight cels framed with the ninth frame as "Cel of the month". I do not have them professionally framed just in acid free frames and backing. Personally, I buy the artwork so I can enjoy it. If it fades it fades. I not interested in resale value because I'm not going to be selling. I also don't spend exorbidant amounts of money on the cels either. My two cents.

[iceman57]

Hi, I have eight cels framed with the ninth frame as "Cel of the month". I do not have them professionally framed just in acid free frames and backing. Personally, I buy the artwork so I can enjoy it. If it fades it fades. I not interested in resale value because I'm not going to be selling. I also don't spend exorbidant amounts of money on the cels either. My two cents.

From the existing statistics there are only 10% of collectors that are speculating ( note that this is pure speculation and not collectors selling/reselling in order to finance or rationalize their collection). Enjoy frames at home and have pleasure to watch the arts anytime is definitively more respectable than storing them in inventories. Conservation vision depends on personnal choices attached to a cost estimation of restauration/conservation/framing compared to the price of the art. If the price of all required steps overpass the art itself this is an hard choice in a collector's budget especially when those costs may not stop damages to appear on long term.
You know my vision with the so called "raft of the Medusa" example which is a good example of a two centuries old damaged art staying a masterpiece in Louvre museum. I consequently consider that damages are parts of the cel life and that if in the next centuries even taking the maximum of security there are colored lines, museum visitors will like it as they would be example of pre-80s art with drawed lines to explain the process differences in the animation industry production line (note that there are also several good aspects in line fading but I'd not detail them here). In order to reduce restauration/conservation/framing costs and collection cost in general, collecting sketches is certainly the best way for people willing to transmit arts over their lifetime. Sketches drawn with carbon pencil are mastered for long times in framing and are the actual unique anime processed art available in 21st century anime collection.

[Sky Rat]

Hi, I have eight cels framed with the ninth frame as "Cel of the month". I do not have them professionally framed just in acid free frames and backing. Personally, I buy the artwork so I can enjoy it. If it fades it fades. I not interested in resale value because I'm not going to be selling. I also don't spend exorbidant amounts of money on the cels either. My two cents.

I really really wouldn't recommend that. The cel I damamged was from Fushig Yugi, so it had the same make-up as your cels and the damage was severe and occured in a matter of months, not years. If you want to display them, I'd really recommend at least having someone who specializes in cels upgrade the framing.

[Sky Rat]

Also I'll add that the last time I had the urge to frame a cel, but didn't wat to risk actually doing so, I printed out a copy of a scan of it...I used glossy Strathmore computer art paper and I was really really impressed by how good the print came out. Once under the glass of the frame it really looks like the acutal cel was framed. So I can still have the enjoyment of looking at it all the time (because I agree that seeing and enjoying them is part of the point of collecting) but the real thing is stored safely and not at any risk. This way I could also use a much cheaper frame, etc and not spend as much on the framing as the actual cel cost (or more.)

Just one solution.

After reading eveyrone's feedback I'd no longer say I'm 100% against framing them period. I still am inclined to not do it again, but I'm feeling a lot of my own problem was the placement of where I put the frame, and not totally because the cel wass framed. I'm pretty content just displaying prints though.