Your New Cel Ritual

[GoalieZero]

Humor me on this, but as a goalie, before every game or skate, there's a certain routine we follow to get ready. These routines can seem almost weird and superstitious, but it helps me get in the right mindset for the game ahead.

I find that I have the same kind of routine ritual everytime I get a new cel package in the mail. It's almost therapeutic going through it. Now this may seem obsessively OCD, but here's my new cel ritual I go through everytime I get a new delivery. Mind you, I act like I'm holding the friggin' Constitution in my hands with each cel, so if I'm a bit overboard, it's okay to say so

1) Special short blade pocket knife to remove package tape.
2) Inspection of contents, number of cels/sketches/etc.
3) Inspection of cel and protective bags.
4) Queue up corresponding episode to enjoy seeing the cel on screen in your hands. (Most enjoyable part of the routine )
5) Check if douga drawing is stuck to the cel.*

* If the douga is stuck, I literally stop everything and perform a very delicate procedure to remove it. I only use my hands and a small fan to keep them from getting too sweaty. This process can take as little as 5 minutes to as much as an hour depending on the amount of paint (red & black paints stick more). The key is to not be impatient and slowly knead the paper off with the tips of your fingers. If anyone's done this, you know that it almost feels like you're performing open heart surgery. Very nerve racking. After that's been completed, I move on to the next step.

6) Scan douga first.
7) Scan cel second.
If original protective bag is still useful, reinsert cel only. If original bag is damaged, has ripples, or is discolored, place the cel in a new trimmed polyethylene archival bag.
9) Rearrange previously owned cels/sketches in Itoya books.**

** I do this for several reasons. I use Itoya ZigZag Frost 11" x 14" horizontal albums, mainly because of their size and the frosted plastic matte in each sheet. Opening the album from left to right, I place the cel in front of the matte and it's corresponding sketches behind the matte, that way when you flip the sheet you can view the sketch to that particular cel on the back side. The cel placement in the book is not arbitrary, in fact a lot of thought goes into where I place the cel in it's album as I like to keep them grouped and in order by series, subject (characters, mechs, etc.), and episode number. The rearranging also allows for the built up gases and molecules to escape and let the cels and sketches have some fresh air every so often.

10) Place cel & sketches in it's appropriate sheet in the Itoya.
11) Photoshop Scanned Images (My scanner is tiny and requires two scans of each sketch and cel to complete the entire image, and up to 4 scans for oversized cels)
12) Post edited Images to RS with descriptions. (If I get a large haul, I'll break it up and post 3 or 4 at a time every other day).

Like I said, this whole process may seem a bit daft, but actually it's pretty enjoyable and is also meant to preserve & present the cels as best as possible.

Does anyone have a similar ritual or routine they go through when they receive a new cel that they'd like to share?

[sensei]

1. Check USPS Tracking site repeatedly and obsessively.
2. Check neighborhood mailbox repeatedly and obsessively.
3. Finally get package! Try to act nonchalant.
4. Open slits carefully with X-Acto knife.
5. Dump styrofoam peanuts carefully into a trash bag (I use them as the bottom layer for big pots that I use to grow tomatoes in). Save any bubble wrap or puffy envelopes.
6. Compare contents to list on SMJ website shipping list, checking off the ones received. (And setting aside any oddballs for return, such as the three hentai calendars that I once got bundled in with some oversized Tree of Palme cels.)
7. Carefully slit open the individual packages.
8. Cels get sniffed. If they pass the sniff test (healthy cels smell like busy photocopy machines), they go into new bags, slit all the way down one side; their dougas go in the old bags (if they fit).
9. A strong chemical smell means the cel gets aired out on a shelf first, face down for half a day, face up for half a day. Then into a new bag with a Microchamber sheet on the front. A vinegar smell means serious trouble: these go into the isolation ward in my closet in a bag slit down two sides with Microchamber sheets on both sides. If that doesn't kill the smell, I've been known to throw the cel away, as this condition can spread to healthy cels.
10. Sketches get sorted out: layouts, roughs, gengas, shuusei, dougas. Then into a new bag, with sketches on colored paper separated from those on white paper, a cardstock stiffener in the middle and Microchamber paper layered in with them. Label it on the outside of the bag with series, episode, and cut number.
11. Any with celotape get set aside for treatment. When I have time I get my toolkit and solvent out and remove it, whether it is yellowing the paper or not.
12. Scanning as I have time. Often I like to write the description first, then scan, then upload.

Douga removal is a separate topic: most of us have developed strategies that work for us. The old photo probed between the two (emulsion side to the cel) is often effective, if the two haven't been stuck for long and the cel is not expensive or important. But for significant items or totally plastered-together cases, you may want to investigate a professional conservator rather than risk permanent damage.

[Jadeduo]

*delurks*

I don't feel like I have much of a routine... However I do most of those things you said...

1. Open up package and make sure everything is there!
2. Go through cels one at a time remove them from bags individually, ie check to see if they are stuck to background/douga/layout. Remove tape and or any icky residue with Q-tips and distiller water. Rebag in polyethylene bags with a square of microchamber paper.
3. Then put them in the corresponding book, I use Itoya binders with refillable pages that way it is easy to keep things in order by season/show. Also I do not have to shuffle the whole book just insert a new page.

This is the most important part to me the rest which I have a problem with is keeping my online gallery up to date... I am crazy behind maybe instituting a cel a day onto the gallery would help clear some of the backlog... However when adding to my gallery I have a system...

1. Close Gallery - I usually go on a spree adding several cels at a time, it is a multi-step process I don't like anyone peeking till I'm done
2. Scan cel/douga/layout/background
3. Take screenshot/also watch scene to be able to write down description in gallery
4. Start creating new file in RS, making note of cel#, condition of cel, scene description, why I love it, price etc.(I keep price hidden for me only)
5. Re-order gallery I order most sections by episode number/then when they happen in the episode.
6. Repeat 2-5 till I have decided I am done for the day.
7. Do a quick Rubberslug search for sequence mates, add to descriptions as necessary.
8. Reopen gallery
9. Post to AB...

I know I haven't done this in a while I'm hoping to get to it sometime this month as I am finally in my new house and am mostly unpacked...

Thanks!
Jadeduo

[teggacat]

You guys are awesome, thanks for making me feel at least a little normal with the stated New Cel Routine
I must emphasize the sniffing part, very important to the rest of the collection, I've been quick to just immediately
get rid of vinegar cels to protect my precious............... even after all these years I never seem to get over The Thrill of coming home from a hard days work to find the anticipated parcel waiting, I think we're all a bit hopeless here

[GoalieZero]

@Teggacat lol, we're all odd space ducks with our cels and routines, but at least our quacks sound alike (dumb analogy, I know... *quack*)

I'll need to add mandatory smell testing to the routine now and search up the "old photo probe" technique you mentioned, sensei. So far I haven't had any cels worth over $50 bucks that are stuck to a douga (thankfully) so the manual technique has sufficed so far.

I've come to the realization that people love ordering things online just because the excitement of waiting for a package to arrive and the act of opening it. It's like a mini-Christmas with every cel.

On average, my routine can drag on for a few hours depending on how many cels & sketches I process, but even the Photoshopping portion is fun. It's just another little thing that I enjoy about the hobby.

[sensei]

I'll need to add mandatory smell testing to the routine now and search up the "old photo probe" technique you mentioned, sensei.

I don't know if it's written up anywhere (except in an old Beta thread where I mentioned it before). It's just using an old photograph that you have kicking around to probe between the sketch and cel. Generally the paint sticks in spots rather than all over, so if you can get the point of the photo (emulsion side to the cel, as that is the softer, gentler side) into the sticky spot, then it will often prise the two apart in a gentler way than bending the cel or the paper back. With practice you can develop a rhythm of probing that will gradually separate the two. Sadly, older cels tend to "marry" their dougas for life, and divorcing them takes more drastic methods. (I've read scary descriptions of using hair dryers and even contractors' paint stripping heat guns to coax the two apart, but I'm not about to experiment with these methods!)

[cutiebunny]

Totally depends on whether or not it's my regualr, old timey time mailman, or the hot, strapping young buck that occasionally replaces him.

I bring my package upstairs, take off the tape, the three layers of cardboard wrapped around it, and take out the cel bags. I do the sniff test, but I find that a lot of the cels coming from Japan smell chemically because they were stored in closed bags. Or worse, they come from a home where someone smoked, and they need to be aired. A lot. If there are any staples or tape, I try to remove it immediately. I always replace the cel/sketch bag every time I get a new item as 1) I'm not sure how long they've been in that bag and 2) I don't know what the bag is made of. If the cel has multiple, unstuck layers, I usually repackage them each in their own bag, and then put those bags all together in a larger bag. Then I file them away in their folders/Itoyas for later, usually Fall and Winter, where I do the bulk of my scanning. My scanner is on the top floor, so when it's like, 100 outside, I won't turn on the computer to avoid generating extra heat. I do the same with shikishi and sketches too, and I replace whatever bag they came with immediately. I also put in a sheet of microchamber paper for them. Though, lately, most of my purchases are original sketches, and not cels.

I do like to separate sketches from cels, and cels from backgrounds (especially dark ones), if possible. If they're stuck on like plaster, then I make mental notes that I should probably get this done by a professional and still have yet to do so.

Once the cels are scanned, I send them off to a friend who makes the scan look nicer by getting rid of all the noise. Once I get the new and improved pics, I then upload them to my page, and then, maybe a couple years down the road, I'll show off that item in my gallery.