Curled, cracked photo

[ChrisVas]

Hello,
This is my first posting. This site is wonderful!

I have a photo that was taken in the 1960s. It is black and white and has a big crack more than halfway across and it is curled. I was wondering first how to uncurl it safely without cracking it further or otherwise destroying it. From there I planned on scanning it and starting the restoration. Should the crack also be dealt with somehow before the scanning?

Thanks so much for any advice!

Chris

[Mike]

If it is from the 6o's, it may very well be on a fiber base. If it is, and the print has a glossy finish, then it most likely is curled because it was either not dried correctly or was rolled up then exposed to high humidity for a long period of time. The cure is to soak it in regular water till it un-curls then pat dry the surfaces and dry between blotters, or if you can find one, dry on a print dryer. Being careful that you do not enlarge the crack is of course a must.

There is a chance that the base is not fiber but is a plastic like substance that was becoming popular at that time. My experiance with that is that it does not curl up as tight and sometimes can be flattened by getting it to lay flat under something like a piece of heavy plywood with weights (I use bricks) on top and just leaving it for a week or so. Again take care not to further damage the orginal.

Sometimes you can sandwich them between the plywood and a piece of glass long enough to make a copy. But that means that you will most likely have to copy with a camera. Getting it to lay flat on a scanner can be done if the lid of the scanner is heavy enough to keep it there. I do not like to put bricks on the scanner lid!

And if you would really like to own a print dryer, I just happen to have one that I would sell you

Mike

[ChrisVas]

Hi Mike,
Thanks so much for your advice. I believe that it is a fiber base and it definitely is glossy. The photo is fairly brittle so I'm quite certain that trying to uncurl it dry would not be the way to go anyways.


Chris

[Doug Nelson]

Prints curl because the gelatin contracts more than the paper when it dries out. Uncurling it with no preparation would probably crack the gelatin in a million different places. Even if this wasn't a valuable original, that would just make restoring too hard.

The only way to keep it from cracking is to let it uncurl on its own. It won't volunteer to do this, but if you put it in an extremely humid environment (not wet, humid) it might relax considerably over a few days.

[Ed_L]

This sounds like a fiber based print to me. I think soaking it in water might possibly cause part of the emulsion to lift where the crack is. A better option might be to use a vaporizer or humidifier in a small room to raise the humidity. Best of luck. If you succeed, let us know what worked for you.

Ed

[roger_ele]

I have heard of applying to the back of the print with a dilute solution of glyceryn and water to even out the differences in humidity between the front and back of the print. Test a corner first because this is just a memory of a comment from a conservator.

Roger

[ChrisVas]

Thank you for your suggestions. I will try the humidity trick. I will let you know if it is successful.

Take care,
Chris

[atomicbombshell]

hello,

I had a problem with vintage prints stuck together. I soaked them in photo flo; they softened enough to come apart (on their own!) and they also flattened out. at that point, I placed a sheet of glass under each print and let the water run off. after evaporation, but still damp, I placed another glass on top, inverted onto a scanner and copied it... then retouched the digital file. It was Good as new!

This technique might be adaptable for you.

good luck,
Robin

[ChrisVas]

Thanks for your suggestion, Robin. It sounds great. I still haven't gotten to that photo so it will be very useful.

Take care,
Chris

[Juliana Ross]

I agree with Ed about the soaking, the paper fibers may swell where the emulsion is cracked, as well as possibly causing discolouration along the cracked edges.
I'd personally go with the humid room trick.
The thing that makes me cringe about the soaking is that you never really know how the material will react to impurities in the water.
As a word of advice, use distilled water whichever method you choose.

[Jim Conway]

Roger is the one that got it right. Use an Atomizer with a bit of glyceryn or photo-flo. Spray the back not the emulsion side. Put the prints under weights for a week and repeat the process.

If this is something that keeps coming up for you as it does for us, go to your nearest commercial glass installer and have them cut up some scraps into 8x10, 11x14 etc. They always have extra pieces of heavy plate glass from commercial installations and will cut it to size for you. Glass makes great weights --just use it in conjunction with a blotter pack. We have them in all sizes up to a 1 foot wide by 8 ft long. The long panoramas from the turn of the century always show up here rolled and brittle after being in a attic for a century and it often takes six months or more to flatten them doing it the way suggested.

Other suggestions to plasticize the originals by soaking will work if you are in a hurry and willing to pay the consequences of potential damage from loss of the emulsion near any cracks. It's doable, in fact you can even float the emulsion off of the backing and put it on a new substrate but this is not something to try on a client order until you've successfully done it with some of your own.

Jim Conway
Timemark Photo Conservators