Rekka Alexiel wrote:I'm still having a difficult time finding this paper in Japan. If anybody has a clue where I can find it, please let me know. The art supply store I went to didn't have a clue what I was talking about.
As noted above:
The company's website does not list a direct supply source in Japan. However, you can order it directly from them in quantity, or perhaps get one of the Japanside arts suppliers to do so. Here's the info:
Conservation Resources International, LLC
5532 Port Royal Road
Springfield, Virginia 22151 USA
Office Hours are 9:00 to 5:00 EST
I have my itoya books storred in locking Rubbermaid storage containers. ugh, I probably need to go through my cels and see if they smell funky. I do separate my sketches and backgrounds from my cels when I get them in.
Institutional archive solution: special file cabinet with hanging folders, one per cel, with a fan gently blowing air through it 24/7. Cooling the room to 55 degrees also helps.
Possible solution for private collectors: hang Itoyas in a closet on sturdy hangers, spine up, pages down. Leave the cel bags slit open on one or two sides, toward the open side of the Profolio pages. Open the closet on a regular basis to ensure ventilation. Use climate control to avoid fluctuations in heat/humidity.
What I do: sort out cels on arrival, change bags, add microchamber paper (to the front of the cel, not the back) to any that have a chemical smell. Isolate any that smell of vinegar and layer them with MC paper. Slit new cel bags on one side and store in Itoyas with slit side to the opening of the page. Store upright on a bookshelf and flip through each book at least once a month to stir up any accumulating fumes and vent them. Keep heat/humidity stable. Change bags on a regular basis (3 years seems adequate).
That's a minimal solution, and so far it seems to have been adequate. Scanning some of my oldest CCS cels after 10-12 years of original scans showed only slight trace-line fading against the most chemically active paints (brown/orange). But I wish I had room enough to move to the previous solution, which I agree is better in the long run.
Probably storing books in a sealed container is not dangerous if you open it and inspect the cels on a regular basis. It is risky, for if one cel starts to deteriorate, the byproducts of this process can cause neighboring cels to go bad as well. Perhaps you could stack them on end, open side to the top, and store them without the lid on?
I only have one itoya with cels in it. the rest of my itoyas contain sketches.
so I may take that one itoya books out and put it in my closet to help ventilate it. sadly, it might not be until the end of October till I can think of re-bagging my cels.
I would say that it is enough to remove the suspected cel from the immediate vicinity of others (i.e., from the cel book or storage container). I have a number of such cels in my closet and in dark corners of my office, and I cannot smell any fumes in the room unless I inspect the cels and sniff inside their bags. But a deteriorating cel inside a cel book could potentially damage others stored next to it, especially as paper seems to absorb and retain the smell.
