Put Down the Cellophane Tape / by Harold Brown

Capturing a family photo album to digital and I am beginning to hate the inventor of cellophane tape, but not just him, the masking tape guy too. It has dried up on the paper back page of the album, but it is still a gooey mess on the picture. That figures. I used a small amount of Goo Gone on a B&W picture, and it did remove the glue on the picture I tested it on. It did not seem to damage the picture, but I am not sure of any long term effects. Some of the pictures are glued to the album page and they are not coming off. I had to take the photo album apart to scan 40 pictures or so. I have a large scanning bed, but not quite wide enough so the work flow suffers. There are a lot of Polaroid pictures in the album that have stood up pretty well. My guess is late 50s or early 60's. The ones that you had to spread the chemical over them after you took a picture.  A lot of the pictures have the streaks from the chemical being applied unevenly. A lot of the non Polaroid pictures from the mid to late 30s are somewhat faded.  Tons of pictures that are wallet size and smaller. I think scanning them may be the first time anyone will actually be able to see them! Well, I have to go. I need to clean the glue off of my scanning bed (Goo Gone again). Aaarrrggghhhh!

Put Down the Cellophane Tape