Need some guidance

Hi everyone,

I have a sort of sticky situation with one of my anime cels and I was wondering if you could give me some advice. My Eternal Salior Moon cel's [its under the Sailor Stars collection in my gallery] still in its original bag with timing sheet, matching douga, background, and Sealed with Sticker still.^^ That's good...but.....

SME gave me a new cel bag to put her in a while back; however, during my last attempt to break the seal and place it in the new bag--paint rubbed off on her collar. >_< However, her paint is starting to chip off just a smiggin on one of the stripes on her collar and its getting a lil more prominent. I just noticed it the other day when I put her in my first cel book 0_0 very gently [havent handled her at all and if I did it was when I first got her].

I was wondering if I should just leave it as it is??? Should I try another attempt to place her in a new bag??? If I do, do you have any suggestions on going about this delicate matter??? *gets ready to pull out her gloves*

Hmmm, you could leave it as it is and avoid any further damage or take it out and risk more damage.

If it's staying in a bag and will be stored away, I'd keep it as it is. There's no need to agitate it even more when it's delicate enough.

If you want to display it, go for it and remove it VERY carefully. Even if a little more paint comes away, there's not much you can do about it, it can only be minimised by how you handle it.

If the damage is too eye catching for eye and professional restoration is too expensive, you could make your own fresh cel layer and place this over the damaged part to cover it up.
Just make sure you do some colour tests before applying it to the acetate and when complete, it should enhance your cel.

DON'T try to paint on the underside of your original cel yourself, this kind of DIY restoration rarely works and you can't reverse that course of action.
By making your own layer, even if you don't like the look of it, just take it away and you've lost nothing.

thanks very much for your advice. I will follow your advice and go ahead and just leave it alone. you're absolutely right, i dont want to agitate it any further...its my most expensive cel.

i really appreciate you and your advice. im new and still learnin^^

thanks again--- jen


*scratches head and wonders why i have negative zen now* Im really a nice person--just ask blacklotanimation, sme, jaug, kata, welcomeconsumer^^

A professional might be able to move the cel over to the new bag however, I have no idea where you would find this person (a museum maybe?).

The best idea would be to leave it in it's original bag unless it absolutely has to be moved.
Also, apparently cels will emit gasses (from the paint I assume) over time..so it might be best to make a hole in the bag somewhere. Maybe snip off a corner of it (not the cel itself! :P).
I don't know if this is true or not, but it doesn't really hurt to be careful.

Oh yes, if you absolutely must move this cel, I would find somebody who knows what they are doing. Also I agree with Krafty, if the chipping does get worse and you can't afford to have it professionally restored, make a new layer.

Just buy a sheet of acetate and a high quality paint (I'm pretty sure good quality acrylic paint will do the trick, but try to avoid cheap "craft" acrylic paint, that will definitely chip pretty quickly). Then try to match what is getting chipped as best as possible, wait for it to dry and stick it ontop of the original.

I assume you're referring to the delightful seals that Toei Animation put on its work to authenticate it.

Unless there is something absolutely wrong with keeping it in the original bag(ie. the cel background is bleeding onto the acetate), I wouldn't suggest moving out of the original bag. Not only could you damage the cel, but you're also losing retail value on the cel(because you're taking the authentication away) by opening it. Also, the oils in your skin can damage these items too, so the less you manhandle the item, the more likely it will last longer.

I have a few cels that have come in their original Toei bags and are still sealed. While I'd love to scan some of the douga/genga/timesheets that came with these cels, I've opted to just keep them in their bags just for the mere preservation factor.

But, if you really want to retouch the cel, add another of acetate like the others have suggested.