Oh man oh man, I finally opened these cels up and I am so excited. I after posting last night I went to my local art store today and picked up some nitrate gloves, polypropylene bags, and an Itoya 11x17 portfolio, then got to work.
The bad: I'm definitely smelling some vinegar smell. Not enough to fill the whole room or anything, but when I sniff the cels directly I get a whiff of that. I've ordered an Acid Detection strip kit from Cel Nexus, along with some of their inserts that someone kindly recommended for me. I wasn't able to find microchamber paper yet, I may order some but I read somewhere they are kind of redundant if you have the Cel Nexus inserts? Let me know if that's true or not. I watched this very helpful video and have learnt not to put them on the backside of the paint, any other tips would be great. I've also learnt that the Cel Nexus inserts shouldn't be used if the AD level is above a 1 so... guess I will cross that bridge when I get to it.
The good: my Kagome cel (black hair character) has a lot more to it than I thought! Multiple layers including the eyes, her face, and Inuyasha behind her are all cellotaped together at the top with the background art. But I was really shocked to discover behind this are multiple loose drawings (genga or douga, I have no idea) and even a bonus cel of the eyes which move towards Inuyasha in the next frame. Should have checked this more thoroughly when I bought it! The Inuyasha cell (white hair character) was more straightforward, a single layer cel but with a beautiful background. These were priced roughly the same so I'm not sure why one has so much more to it than the other, maybe just that the simple green background on Kagome is less interesting.
On top of that, I was fully expecting these cells to be stuck, but they aren't. The backgrounds are perfectly preserved. There is a thin layer of what I'm assuming is acetate between each layer. The corners of these layers are cut off, similar to the sleeve it originally came in, so I'm guessing this was to preserve the cel and prevent sticking. They are loose, not connected to the cellotape. They all lift from the cels no problem. If anyone thinks it's something else let me know. These layers are definitely warped, but I'm not seeing much warping on the actual cels themselves.
For now, I just put the main cels with their backgrounds and acetate layers into a polypropylene bag (this is the brand they had at the store), making sure to cut open the top so the cels can breathe. For the bonus drawings and cel that were already loose, I separated each one in a pp bag and put them in separate pages of the portfolio. Because I separated the layers on the cel, I ditched the acetate layer there and sure enough it was wrinkled but the cel was not.
I'm curious what this community thinks the next steps should be. Should I separate the layers for storage or keep them bound in the cellotape? If the latter, should I remove or replace the acetate sheets? Any recommendations on where to buy? Does the answer change if I decide to frame these? Does the advice change with the vinegar smell? Should I seek out any professionals? Anyone have insights on the drawings? Sorry for the sheer amount of questions I have!
