Newbie Preservation Questions

[Reddkryen]

Hello,

I'm new to these forums and I have recently gotten into poster collecting.

I'm quite proud of my small collection, I want to keep it looking wonderful and enjoying it, so I have been looking into poster preservation.

The trouble I am having is, most of what has been written is either out of date or focuses exclusively on reselling posters, not personal use.

For example, one article was talking about how bad light boxes are and advising not to use them, however it only covered fluorescent light boxes, not LED ones like I use. Another article talked about how posters shouldn't be laminated because it reduces the resale value (which I am not worried about) but forgot to say if this degrades or preserves the image itself (which I am).

So I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on what I should be doing to keep my posters looking good for years to come. I know to keep them out of sunlight, but apart from that, will my LED light boxes be an issue? Is laminating them a good or bad idea or is there anything I could spray them with to colour fasten them?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[eatbrie]

Hi Reddkryen and welcome to APF.

Sun and humidity are posters only 2 real enemies.  Heat and water, basically.

So a good question to ask is where do you live and how far back in time does your collection go.

And please do not laminate your posters.  Ever.  You can linenback them for preservation, but I would only suggest it for pre-1970 posters, thus my question of how old your collection is.

T

[erik1925]

First,   to the board, Reddkryen! And have fun. Lots of good and helpful folks are here, milling around and about, too.

The article you read about laminating any poster is spot on, with regard to the effect it would have on any future resale value. To any poster collector, that value would be close to $0.00. Once laminated, a poster would have little more use than an overgrown place mat. There are protective sleeves you can buy, that will keep your posters looking fresh and alive, but without the deadly, lamination seal.

And no poster should ever need to be sprayed with a fixative spray to help hold or "set" the original inks and color. Unlike a pastel drawing, for example, which runs the risk of being smeared if touched (and are sometimes a fixed with this method), the inks on posters are permanent; it cannot rub off. As you mentioned, sunlight will be death, too, as UV light will cause the colors to fade and bleach out, over time.

I'm sure others will chime in, too, and give other info-- especially those here that also use or have light boxes.

[CSM]

Welcome!

I believe if you have a look around this forum there have been many discussions on preservation for the sake of preservation (vs. any thoughts of reselling, monetary gain etc.)

As an aside, based on your LED lightbox comment, I assume you're mainly collecting more modern posters?  These will no doubt last longer, with less conservation intervention needed than vintage posters.  But as Thierry said - sunlight and humidity are still the main enemies of paper.

[Reddkryen]

Hello, thanks for all the help and responses.

Sun and humidity are posters only 2 real enemies.  Heat and water, basically.

Excellent. They are kept in a dim hallway. Some sunlight gets in but not directly on the posters. Occasionally a CFL light is switched on, but rarely. I'm also in the UK.

My collection is fairly recent, the oldest being from 1992.

You can linenback them for preservation, but I would only suggest it for pre-1970 posters

Out of curiosity, why only for pre-1970s posters? Was there something different about the way posters were made back then, or just a question of age? In twenty years will I need to linenback my posters?

Once laminated, a poster would have little more use than an overgrown place mat

Out of curiosity, what is so bad about laminating? Once resale is taken out of the equation? Does the plastic cause the paper to degrade or anything like that?

The posters are framed, is that enough to protect them from humidity, or should they be in protective sleeves inside the frame?

I believe if you have a look around this forum there have been many discussions on preservation for the sake of preservation (vs. any thoughts of reselling, monetary gain etc.)

Excellent, I'm having a look through the forum now, thank you.  Out of curiosity, how did you guess that I had modern posters based on the LEDs and not older posters in a modern box?

Thanks for all the help.

[CSM]

Excellent, I'm having a look through the forum now, thank you.  Out of curiosity, how did you guess that I had modern posters based on the LEDs and not older posters in a modern box?

Thanks for all the help.

Maybe I am misunderstanding what frames/boxes you are using but 'vintage' posters are not doublesided and thus not the best for lightboxes

[Ari]

even if you think laminating is OK now, Ill wager if you continue collecting you would regret having it done.
Unless you buy a couple of the same item, laminate one and keep one as it should be (assuming these are cheap posters).
I have some posters that someone has laminated.
I can never sell them, I do stick them on my wall and its OK, but they have no value, but a couple of them I could sell easily for $100 or more (easily) if they weren't laminated.
as toi linen backing new posters, there is no point, it would be cheaper to just buy a nice example than have a damaged one backed. And especially fopr modern posters you will never gewt your money back on a linen backed example. (I know you don't ever want to sell, but who knows in the future, and no sense throwing money away).
Probably for everyone a laminated poster would be the same as a commercial reproduction, and even that would probably cost you less than the price of laminating.

a collection post 1992, I wouldn't back any of them, I would only laminate if you want to stick it to your wall, no frame, and your worried the cat might piss on it or something or you want to use as a table cloth or something (I have seen lobby cards laminated as place mats, its kinda cool).

regardless I wouldn't stress about sun and humidity too much, just buy a spare, if the first fades replace it.

[erik1925]

So, Reddkryan...

Did you ever make any decisions on how you wnted to store or "keep" your posters?

Or did (gulp) lamination make its mark on any of your collection? 

 

[Simes]

Not sure the guy is still 'around' bearing in mind his batting average.

[erik1925]

True... he's been MIA since last October. 

[gargoyle67]

Laminate and run

[erik1925]

Laminate and run

A slick surface can make it easier, that's for sure (tho he might be running in place). 

[brude]

I was wondering if one could get their shaved head laminated?
Seems like it would give it an even shine and possibly end the need to shave it repeatedly?

Your thoughts?

[50s]

I was wondering if one could get their shaved head laminated?
Seems like it would give it an even shine and possibly end the need to shave it repeatedly?

Your thoughts?

[erik1925]

 

[brude]

Well, I've tried lemon pledge.



Then I got this new stuff.



But the results?  Not so good.



So...I figured... being we were talking about lamination...

[50s]