ScrapMentor - Scrapbooking 101

Week 3 - Art Theory

Back to Scrapbooking 101 Curriculum

Media and Acidity

Scrapbooking layouts these days involve a lot more than paper and stickers made specifically for the art. Adventurous and creative scrappers everywhere are experimenting with a huge variety of "found" and co-opted embellishments - everything from washers to wire to plaster to acrylic paint. The variety of things that find their way into scrapbook albums is truly dizzying.

As a new scrapbooker, how can you know what is safe to use with your pictures? Sure, that clay charm looks beautiful, but is it acid-free? Will it harm your pictures in a year? In ten?

A layout with newspaper clippings scanned and reprinted on cardstock

When a paper product doesn't explicitly say whether it is acid-free or lignin-free, you will have to do a little forensic testing to find out for sure. The best way to do this is to use a pH testing pen, available at many scrapbooking stores. You will need to read the package's directions to know exactly how the particular brand you bought works, but basically you swipe the tip of the pen across the paper product and check for the tip to change colors.

Newsprint is not archivally safe, nor is it chemically stable. If you want to use original newspaper or magazine clippings in your layouts, you will need to first treat them with a de-acidification spray, or mount them on acid-free paper to avoid them coming into contact with your photos. As an alternative, consider scanning the clippings, then printing them on acid-free cardstock. The look of the clippings will be the same as if you had used the originals, and you will not have the archival risks you would with newsprint.

For other media about which you are unsure, our recommendation is to err on the side of caution. If you are scrapbooking irreplaceable pictures, either don't use the mystery products, or use them in such a way that they are buffered by acid-free cardstock or paper and never come into direct contact with your photos.

Homework

There is no homework for this section.

Supplemental Reading

• Creating Keepsakes - Jun 03 - p. 144 - "A Lesson in Paper Acidity and Lignin"
• Creating Keepsakes - Dec 03 - pp. 97-102 - "CK Safety Check"
• Memory Makers - Sep/Oct 03 - pp. 114-115 - "Dispelling Archival Myths"
• Scrapbooker's Survival Guide (Memory Makers) - Nov 04 - pp. 22-23 - "Preserve Paper Memorabilia"
• Scrapbooking Top 50 (Memory Makers) - Mar 04 - pp. 128-130 - "Transparency Safety"
• Scrapbooks Etc. Jul/Aug 05 - pp. 73-81 - "Made For Keeps"

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