Question on pressing

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I have always had a mixed view on removal of hairline creases. If the crease does not affect the ink and is removed using proper conservation techniques, I really don't see it as a problem. After all, the crease itself was something "added" to the card after manufacture (if the crease is a pre-manufacturing flaw in the paper, removing it will create a white line); all I am doing is removing the addition to the original state. I will give you an example from the art world: Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling was degrimed of 500 years of soot. That was removal. No one bitched about it. If museums accept removals from the great works of culture without reservation, why don't we? Now, contrast this with restoration, which involves rebuilding or replacing something that was deleted from the original product over time. It CANNOT be done without leaving a mark that was not part of the original, even if it is done most skillfully. To me, that makes it something unacceptable unless divulged. Returning to the example, if I took a brush to the Sistine Chapel and expertly re-blacked some lines, it would be an act of great controversy, and rightly so.

As far as the line between "expert" and not, it does not matter whether the person involved is an "expert" or "professional". The real issue is what is being done and how well it is being done. I've read the same books as the "experts" and have experimented on the cards until I got the technique down. Does that make me any less "expert" at removals than someone with a store or a degree?

As far as gloss, etc. goes, the cards are unaffected by removals performed WITH PROPER TECHNIQUE. Nothing in a card is vulnerable to DISTILLED H2O and proper handling. Cards are wood--they were "born" moist. Paper is made by pulverizing, pressing, drying and chemically (sometimes) altering raw wood or other plant fibers (I know, I've made it by hand, in my wild days when I was planning on being a starving artist). Water stains occur because of impurities (primarily minerals) in the water, which adhere to the wood and color it, and because of incomplete wetting and poor drying techniques. Spill a Starbucks on a card and it will be ruined instantly because of the chemicals in the liquid. Rainwater stains the hell out of cards because it is not pure, especially when it filters through building materials before dripping on your collection.

The second aspect of working with wet wood is handling. Wood warps when wet unless it is properly tended. If properly tended, it can be made to go where it needs to. How do you think curved shapes are made in furniture? Pine trees don't grow in oval strips. Cabinet makers work wood into curves by moistening it (with water and/or chemicals) and gradually bending it with great skill into the desired shapes, which are maintained mechanically until the wood dries into place. Wetting down a card and flattening it gradually is no different, if you do it right.

The other components of cards are ink and (in many sets) varnish or coatings. The inks on nearly all cards are petroleum or oil based, as are the varnishes. They are not affected by water.

Cards are very vulnerable to surface damage when wet. Think of how much easier it is to scratch a living tree's wood than an aged piece of oak. That's why I use clean white paper and extreme care in handling wet cards. Again, if you are going to do this, be VERY careful.

As far as reasons go, I've only done a handful cards that I've wanted for myself, and nothing so far worth more than a hundred bucks (too chicken). It just ticks me off to have a card that is really nice but for a hairline crease, especially when (c'mon, admit it, you've done it too) I made the crease.