Photo preservation is one of the benefits of scrapbooking that often gets overlooked. When you scrapbook, you’re not only preserving your memories, but you’re also preserving your photographs. Have you ever looked at an old photo album and seen crumbling, brittle or yellow pictures? There are various factors that caused this deterioration, among these are acid, heat, humidity, light and poor handling.
Scrapbooking requires the use of acid-free and lignin-free albums, papers and other materials. Be sure to look for these descriptions on scrapbooking products before you purchase them.
- Acid free – the removal of acid from paper during the manufacturing process; acid causes paper and photos to disentegrate, therefore all papers and materials used in scrapbooking must be acid-free
- Archival quality – materials that have gone through a manufacturing process to make its acidic and buffered content within safe levels; it is chemically-stable and can therefore be used for preservation purposes
- Lignin – an element in wood that holds its fibers together; lignin is removed from scrapbooking paper to make it safe, durable and archival quality
Here are a few things you can do to preserve your photos:
- Place your photos in archivally-safe scrapbook albums
- Keep photos away from bright lights
- Store photos and albums in an area of your home with a cool temperature and low humidity
- Use acid-free, lignin-free materials
- Use polyethylene, polyprepylene or Mylar plastic materials; avoid polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
Many scrapbooking products on the market already meet these standards, but there are some that do not. By becoming familiar with basic archival terminology, you will know best how to protect your memories for future generations to enjoy.
Toss Your Magnetic Albums
Many of us have placed our pictures in magnetic albums. These are the books where you pull back a plastic sheet to expose a sticky page that you adhere your photos to. But these albums will ruin your photos because of the material they’re made out of. After 10 years, you will see that the quality of your pictures has diminished because they’ve faded and gotten stuck to the pages. By placing your photos into acid-free and lignin-free albums, you can be assured that they’ll be preserved for years to come. So take those photos out of your magnetic albums and scrapbook them!
Tips for Removing Photos from Magnetic Albums
When you’re trying to remove your pictures from magnetic albums, you may find that they are stuck to the page. Forcing removal of the photos could ruin them. Instead, use Un-Du Adhesive Remover. Un-Du is called “the Scrapper’s Solution” because you can also use it to remove and reuse stickers, tape, photo squares, and remove sticky residue from scissors and other tools. I highly recommend it!
- Pour a few drops of Un-Du into the scoop attached to the bottle.
- At an angle and starting from a corner of the photo, carefully slide the tool under the photo while allowing some solution to dispense from the scoop.
- Continue to shimmy the scoop and dispsense solution until the photo is released from the album page.
- If the picture is curled, place it under a heavy book to flatten it.
Questions? Please leave them in the comment box below. If you’ve been scrapping for a while, share your photo preservation tips!
