Removing tape from sketches...

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

So, I finally got the perfect day to try removing tape from my sketches. I chose a sketch that was fairly new, whose tape had not yet begun to visibly degrade. I followed Sensei's directions and am watching the sketch as it dries. The question is, I see a ghost image of the tape still visible on the paper. Running my finger over it, it feels perfectly smooth and NOT sticky in any way. These are not the dirt "tide marks" that were mentioned. (I'm going to try to take a picture and add to this...) Is this something that the tape did to the paper? Or have I not managed to remove all the adhesive, even though I can no longer feel any? ...or maybe I did it right and I just haven't waited for it to dry long enough? (I've waited maybe 15 min after finishing.)

Anyone else who has done this, if you can offer advice? Trying this that I've never done makes me more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs...

[sensei]

Some studios use a kind of tape that I call "the good stuff." It doesn't burn the paper, at least not within the 10-20 year period most of us are working with (though conservationists still say "get it off"). And when I loosen the adhesive, it often comes off, stickum and all, leaving no discernible residue. You may have found a sketch with "the good stuff" on it. (My new Tenshi ni Narumon roughs, to my surprise, all had "the good stuff" on them.)

But to be sure, run a fingernail over the place where the adhesive is/was. Sometimes the adhesive is like rubber cement and will come up in balls and threads of rubbery stuff.

If you absolutely cannot find a sticky or rubbery patch where the tape was, even after the solvent dissipates, you're probably confident in saying the adhesive is gone.

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

Well, despite there being no trace of sticky or rubbery residue, there are still "ghosts" of where the tape was on the one sketch. Waiting a little longer before putting it on the scanner to show.

However, I've done a few sets now (I chose ones with varying looks to the tape and of varying ages to be my test cases) and I think I just found the "good stuff". Just like you said, it practically lept off the paper as soon as the oil touched it. LOL It's interesting, because it was on the layout of a Saiyuki sketch, for which the tape on the main genga was SO melded to the paper, I was about to get a case of nerves and give up on it until I had more experience. (You'll be glad to know I stuck with it and won over the tape via patience and persistence. ^_^)

I'm making plans to try to get through at least my two largest Itoyas this summer. Since they're all pans, they'll almost all need tape removal. Then over the winter, when working on my sunporch isn't an option, I'll make a list of what non-pans need attention. I think I'll be at this a long time. @_@