Has anyone ever soaked a Baseball Magazine Premium

[JamesGallo]

I have a Scalk on a horrible piece of paper, but it is glued down pretty well. Has anyone ever tried to soak one of these? Results?

James G

[FrankWakefield]

Yes. And it can be done...

Drying it is the challenge. The last few times I soaked one I softly blotted it with a dishcloth to absorb as much water as I could. Have some paper changes ready so you can dry it and avoid wrinkles. Be patient and careful when moving it from water, so as not to tear it.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

Yes. And it can be done...

Drying it is the challenge. The last few times I soaked one I softly blotted it with a dishcloth to absorb as much water as I could. Have some paper changes ready so you can dry it and avoid wrinkles. Be patient and careful when moving it from water, so as not to tear it.

Frank, this is interesting. Since these are photogravures, I'm not surprised that water will not damage the actual image, but it is surprising that the paper can recover. I collect Curtis (and other) photogravures, so this information is nice to know, although I can't imagine getting water on them.

[Runscott]

Frank - what do you think of soaking this one? Any advice is appreciated, as I really need to remove the newspaper addition:

[FrankWakefield]

Scott...

First, let me mention something to refrain from doing. Something will either soak, or it won't. Sometimes folks dab a little water on a card to loosen something or wash something away, their thinking is that a little water might not hurt as much as a dousing. The result is a watermark, a wavy line, or several, showing where the damp met dry... so I don't think a partial soaking is much good.

Now for what to do. The piece with the newsprint on it has a torn corner. Where that tear meets the right edge there is a small amount of paper that juts up above the tear. If it were me, and I had no idea if that would soak or not, I'd tear off that little tiny piece and soak in in water for half a day or so. Then I'd attempt to blot it and dry it. If it soak ok, then I'd put that big piece in a big piece of Tupperware, a CLEAN baking sheet with raised edges, or something similar. I'd soak the entire piece for half an hour or so, then see how the newsprint is doing. I'd think it would loosen and separate from the bigger piece. It would soak to pieces eventually, so carefully fish it out if you're wanting to save the newsprint. That piece of newsprint is likely to have left an acidic mark on the big piece, unless it is really old newsprint. So it needs to come off of there. I'd change water a time or two, and rinse the thing off well. If much of a mark remains then that newsprint was acidic, might consider a pinch of baking soda in one of the water changes to buffer the acidity briefly, then another clean soak.

One way of thinking about that big piece is that the longer the newsprint stays attached, the more damage it will cause.

Hopefully it's on there with flour paste, so it will soak right off. It could be on there with some meaner material, that could be a problem.

Hope that helps. FW

[Runscott]

Thanks Frank - very helpful. When you originally responded to the initial post, I never thought I would end up dealing with something similar.

I won't have this piece for a week or two, but look forward to posting pics of the process.