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dirty pictures

26 years ago

Hi! I knew I would get your attention. I have several photos from the 1920's that were in old albums but the seem to have brown (acid?) stains on them and I don't know how to clean them. Some of the pictures are in such disrepair I can only use the face to frame in some of them. I would appreciate any suggestions you can give me. thanks, Marg

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Comments (6)

pam
26 years ago
Yes! You got me! Now to answer your question. Pictures that old and precious need care by a Pro. I believe places like Meijer and Wal-Mart do restoration work for a reasonable $$$.
Sarah
26 years ago
My initial thought was "not clean, having dirt on them" when I saw "dirty pictures" but then I remembered the posting about the bubble bath in the jacuzzi and the accidental pictures of her nakedness in the mirrors- so you got me, too!

Anyway, I agree about getting professional help to clean them up. Old pictures need special care. They are too precious to risk doing something questionable at home.
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Vodka. It not only helps you forget the greasy, dusty mess, but is an excellent cleaner for old grease! I learned this because of my basically lazy nature and my bad knees. I was standing on a stepladder trying to clean off the greasy mess left behind by the previous owner of my new-to-me house. The grease was in the cabinet above the stove and was made by placing a drippy cooking oil bottle back after using it at the stove. Year after year. I don't know about the rest of you, but around here, cooks of my mother's generation did not refrigerate cooking oil. Some (mother included) were messy pigs in the kitchen (Mom never washed the bottoms of her cookware. Every few years Dad took them out to the barn and used a wire brush on his grinding wheel on them to find the copper again.) So, there I was, on the stool, facing a cruddy mess. Besides having bad knees, I have bad lungs. They do not like any ammonia or other hard-core cleaning products. So even if I had decided to climb down off my ladder to find something to clean with, I was not going to find anything that could do the job, not in my house! LOL! But, wait! There, around the corner of the face frame, I found a little bottle. A little airline-sized bottle of vodka. Now, my ex-NotSoDearH was a chemical engineer and I had quite a few science classes in my time, too. I knew that alcohol was an excellent solvent for grease. So I dripped that vodka on my scrubbie and went to work. Dried-on, baked-on, oxidized grease mess was gone in no time.
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Penny
26 years ago
Marg, You made me laugh. Now to help with your question. I had some old photos of my brother as a child that had stains on them. I scanned them onto the computer and then used the computer's photo touch up section, to help reduce or crop off the bad parts. Although it didn't get rid of every thing it did even out a lot of it. I then scanned off the computer enhanced photos and used them in my book and kept the orginals to be cleaned by a pro later. Penny
Kayleen
Original Author
26 years ago
thank you, ladies. I am glad I could make you chuckle. I will get my son to try and scan the pictures. I am computer illiterate(?) thanks a lot, Marg
Ladybug
26 years ago
I just have a question about scanning the photos and using them. I thought I heard that pictures printed off your home computer were not archive quality and should not be used in scrapbooking. Is this true?
Prissy LA
26 years ago
I really can't answer what should/should not be used, because I use whatever I want, and have several scanned pics in my books. I also print out captions, at times, to use in the books, and I don't use acid-free paper...just regular colored copy paper. Am I comitting a big faux pas?

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