Removal of Dimples

[Janet L]

One of my favorite customers brought in a LE print that had been stored for years. Problem, other items had been stacked on top of it and now it has dimples in several places. Mrs. Customer does not want the piece drymounted but would like for me to find out if the dimples can be removed prior to spending the $$ to frame the print. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. graemlins/shrug.gif

[Framerguy]

Janet,

I have had limited luck with burnishing from the back side of the print with a burnishing bone but it seems to only work on very minor dimples. I'll bet that, if whatever it was was sitting on the print for very long, the dimples will be set and will be very hard if not impossible to remove completely.

It seems that the paper fibers become repositioned when pressure is exerted on them for a long time. They take a "set" and do not flatten out very easily.

Maybe Hugh Phibbs will have some insight on this problem.

FGII

[GUMBY, GCF]

High humidity (damp paper towel to a fine mist) to the back side and then off to the drymount press works wonders. It is trial and errror and all paper are different.
Jim
Ohio

[drframe]

Have had good luck putting print into press face down on release board or mounting board covered with release paper, cover back of print with brown kraft paper then mist kraft paper with water -- close press and run vacumn only for about five minutes Check if kraft is not dry replace with dry kraft paper and rerun.Works well for demples creases and other boo boos where the ink is not broken

[DB]

I have also had a lot of success with water. Check that the art can withstand heat first. Set the press at a fairly low temp- I usually work at 125-140 degrees. Some prints can withstand a higher temp so use your best judgment. Place art face down on release board. Dampen a cloth with distilled water and then dampen the back of the art with the cloth. Place a piece of kraft paper over the art, set another piece of release board over the kraft and place the 'sandwich' in the press and close. Open the press after 1 minute and lift release board to release some humidity. Repeat 2 or 3 times till art and kraft paper are dry. If dimples or ripples are stubborn, repeat dampening process. If the art cannot be exposed to heat, I've used the same method but put under weights overnight. At times I've had to repeat the process for several days but in most cases I get good results. Good luck and as always use caution with the heat press...it can be your best friend or your worst enemy!

[Orton]

Hi Janet

This is one of those problems where it is very difficult to be specific because the artifact cannot be examined, and can be a frustrating problem to solve because one runs the risk of exacerbating the problem if action is too aggressive. There are many variables which need to be considered.

If the prints are deemed to be too valuable to risk having to replace them if things go awry, then without hesitation, I recommend that you trot off to your friendly paper conservator for a consultation.

Among the variables is the present pH of the paper, its age, and its current condition, considering that it has been "in storage," the manner of storage, the environment in which it was stored, the ink, and the degree of damage existing. There is the possibility that some of the paper fibres have already been broken or otherwise damaged beyond what a framer can safely address.

The notion of adding humidy and then gently pressing is usually a good one, but I question the use of kraft paper. Kraft is usually a very low pH paper, and the addition of water and heat may generate some acid-induced results that may end up ruining your day. Why not use rag mat instead? It is certainly safer and not as apt to wrinkle, which could further damage the print.

[Marc Lizer]

I understand Botox can remove a dimple or even a wrinkle graemlins/icon9.gif

[Jim Miller]

Paper is made by boiling fibers into a mix called "slurry". When finished paper is exposed to heat and water at the same time, it tends to go back to slurry...in other words, it wants to disintegrate to some degree. The amount of heat and the amount of water determine the degree of disintegration.

I suggest using carefully controlled moisture -- in a humidity chamber, not direct application -- at a temperature nowhere near the boiling point. Paper of average thickness should absorb enough moisture in 8-12 hours.

A humidity chamber can be made with a large trash bag tented over a pan of warm water. The art paper should be placed on a non-metallic screen well above the water. Make sure the art is well supported, as it will be more fragile when humidified. Also, make sure condensation that might form inside the top of the tent is channeled away from the art paper -- or protect the art with a pitched "roof" inside the chamber.

Sheets of 100% rag/alphacellulose (or at least acid free) blotter paper are widely available, which can be reused. Dry them by placing them in a drymount press for a few hours to "desiccate" them, as Hugh Phibbs suggests. Yes, this may be destructive to the paper, but after all, they're only disposable blotters. Keep them in a sealed container to avoid reintroduction of humidity from the air until you put them to work.

I would place the humidified print between two blotter sheets and change them every few hours for the first day, then a couple of times a day for a few more days.

Caveat:
As Orton said -- if the paper has high value, let a specialist conservator take the risk.

[preservator]

Never let your impulse to be kind to your clients
put you at significant risk. Everything that has
been mentioned can work, but each entails dangers
for which you are not likely to be compensated.
As Jim mentioned, humidification should not be
local, since local addition of moisture can produce tidelines that may not be visible for
some time. If the entire sheet is humidified,
the soluability of all the media on it must be
known, so bleeding or transfer during the blotting
phase can be avoided. Pressure from the reverse side may lead to flaking of the printed medium
or to burnishing of the front. The potential problems are too numerous to fully explain, here,
and Jim and Orton are right in suggesting help
from a paper conservator. If the value of the
items is too slight to justify that expense,
the problem of the modest value damaged work
comes up, again, since one is not likely to a charge significant fee for work on such an item;
nothing less than that would justify the
risk you are assuming. Is it possible that the
prints can be matted with a heavily textured
board and lit so that their surface problems
are minimized?

Hugh

[Marc Lizer]

I still say Botox!

[Mel]

I'll bite. What's Botox? :rolleyes:

[CharlesL]

Good one, Marc.

Botox is BOtulism TOXin. It is injected into the muscle, primarily, to cause the electrical impulses to relax the muscle. It is used in 'plastic surgery' to remove wrinkles, and in Neurology, in the neck muscles, to prevent headaches.

Now, back to the subject at hand....

[Ron Eggers]

Why exactly does Janet want to remove her dimples?

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/mathscience/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/images/dimples.GIF

Zippy graemlins/shrug.gif

[Janet L]

Thank you all for your suggestions and the final chuckles at the end of the thread.

I sorta figured this was a hopeless situation other than turning it over to a conservator. What I really wanted to hear was something like, "We have successfully removed dimples from a print by misting some brown kraft paper and placing it on the back of the print and ironing the print on a low setting, working totally from the backside."

Ron, if I ever had dimples, they were removed befored my memory began.

This whole problem is creating the desire for me to want me to take the botox suggestion (for my own headache--this project has induced).