Help with rice paper stuck on hanken trace lines... O_o

Angelic-Lair · Post by **Angelic-Lair** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 7:40 pm

Hi everyone,

We just got our big deputy shipment in, and it was with with excitement that we opened the envelope containing a really nice oversized hanken we had been waiting for.

Well...
The previous owner thought it was better to put rice paper on top of it, rather than bag it... and now there are small shreds of rice paper stuck to most of the hand-inked trace lines!
/wah

Part of the ink actually transferred to the rice paper, but luckily not enough to lose the trace lines. The rice paper sheet did come off easily, but the previous owner must have partially torn it to pull it off in order to scan it.

We are not sure what to do at this point. The small rice paper shreds are not taking away from the piece that much, but we would prefer trying to clean it... we're just a bit scared we'd wash away the trace lines, and that would definitely be worse.

Would water dissolve the ink used for this type of trace lines? We are not familiar with the type of ink used i.e. water-soluble or not.

The rice paper shreds are pretty much everywhere, so any attempt at cleaning would imply doing it on most of the cel.

Thoughts?

Post by **JWR** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:37 pm

Hopefully you might find something to help in this thread line

http://www.anime-beta.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=23285

You might also consider emailing Roy at Backlotanimation "at"netzero.com for he is one of the most knowlegeable people I know on cel care.

kamidake · Post by **kamidake** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:09 am

Usually any ink or paint used with cels are not water soluble, but better try it on a tiny corner before on the main part of the cel just to be safe. But with the little bits of rice paper, you can probably dab it with a damp q-tip and gently remove that way and not really rub on the ink lines.

Good luck!

Angelic-Lair · Post by **Angelic-Lair** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:04 pm

Thanks for the advice!

As you had thought, Kamidake, the trace lines were not water-soluble. Yay!
It appears, however, that the rice paper was placed on the cel before the trace lines had a chance to dry, which makes its complete removal almost impossible.

Regardless, we were able to remove most of the mess, and we thought you might like to see the result.

http://angelic.rubberslug.com/gallery/i ... mID=299712

kamidake · Post by **kamidake** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:33 pm

Wow, that is one nice looking hanken! It is so detailed! And the genga looks amazing too!

I'm glad you're able to at least remove most of the unsightly rice paper without doing too much damage.

Thanks for sharing the pic!

Killua · Post by **Killua** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:16 am

Very beautiful!

iceman57 · Post by **iceman57** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 7:47 am

Angelic-Lair wrote:http://angelic.rubberslug.com/gallery/i ... mID=299712

Yummy...

zerospace · Post by **zerospace** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:37 am

That's great that you guys got the rice paper cleaned off!

You know, when I first read this thread, I thought "oh man, that would really suck to have a cel arrive in that condition", but I completely forgot that I had the identical situation with a hanken I got on YJ a couple of years ago. I think I ended up trying the very same thing (using water), and was successful.

Anyways, just wanted to say congrats on your success

. It's always nice to see cels rescued from situations like these.

Angelic-Lair · Post by **Angelic-Lair** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 5:18 pm

We appreciate everyone taking the time to comment about our latest addition. She is nice, isn't she?

While the condition of this cel left a bit to be desired (even after the clean-up), the sketches were in pristine condition. The douga is just like an original comic page - ink on thick card stock - and the shadow reference is unlike anything we've seen before!

We're happy to have added her to our collection.