Cleaning comic books is something everyone wants to do themselves instead of taking it to the experts. But if you are a comic lover, you know cleaning them isn’t easy.
Dry cleaning is the best practice to take dirt off of comic books. However, it isn’t straightforward and you need to focus and meticulously work. Step-by-step instructions in this article will help you do better.
- Remove dirt and residue on the surface.
- Use an absorene eraser and focused point eraser to remove stains.
- Use absorene putty and complete the process.
Stay tuned for the following posts!
What is a Drying Clean?
Perhaps you will find it a bit confusing about dry cleaning. You can explore this process more with the basics below!
Dry Cleaning Comic Books
Dry cleaning is removing stains and dirt from comic books without water, solvents, or chemicals. Experts say that this is the best way to clean comic books.
The dry cleaning process is quite simple when you only need dry cleaners such as erasers, dry cotton, or Absorene erasers. It requires your meticulousness and sophistication rather than the use of complicated tools.
Some Signs You Should Clean Comic Books
Over time you will see your comic book stains appear. Not to mention that if you don’t take care of it, the stains will appear more serious.
The aging of ink colors, mold, fingerprints, food stains, pencil marks will make the comic book lack aesthetics. Surely you also don’t want those stains to appear on your comic books forever.
Those signs signal that you should start cleaning your comic books. The process does not require a professional level of work so that you can do it yourself at home.
What to Do When Drying Clean Can’t Help You?
Comic cleaning is a dry cleaning and removal of stains, not a repair of any tear in the page. You can only remove stains, but you can’t repair any lacerations or dents on the page.
So you need to protect your comic books from harmful effects, maybe check them before you buy the home.
Supplies Needed for Cleaning Comic Books
To remove ink or stains from comic books by dry clean, we need the following necessary items:
1. Dried Cotton Pads
Dry cotton pads are essential tools for your work. It can help you wipe through the dust on comic books at an early stage. It is soft but also very sturdy and can remove some light stains.
You can use cotton pads in your beauty set. However, if there are any other substances on the cotton, such as cream, makeup remover, it can be harmful to the comic.
In short, you should choose cotton pads that are completely dry, free of impurities, and soft.
2. Eraser Pad
An eraser pad is the most familiar tool to help you dry clean stains on paper. You can call them Magic Erasers with the ability to remove water stains or stains.
For comics, the absorene eraser seems more familiar. You can remove ink stains on paper more easily. It works well and can retain the original colors of comics.
However, when they are dirty, you should replace the pad with a new one instead of cleaning the Absorene pad with water and using it.
3. Focused Point Erasers
With the white borders around the drawing tiles, you won’t use the Absorene pad to clean. The area of this area is too small. If you intentionally use an eraser, it will easily damage the background color next to it.
The focused point eraser is an eraser that is only a few millimeters wide. It can work well in locations with extremely small white areas without affecting the surrounding.
You can replace this dry eraser with a small pencil eraser. But perhaps the focused point eraser’s design is easier to control and operate.
2. Book Cleaner Putty
To complete the dry cleaning process, you will need a book cleaner putty, possibly an Absorene putty.
You don’t rub it with the pages of a book to clean. You should dot or roll it over the pages of the book. Absorene putty will help you ultimately remove the accumulation of substances on the surface of the book page. You can use it in combination with dry cotton to remove stains in colored areas.
Some guides will ask for extra gloves, but frankly, you don’t need them.
Our clean drying process uses no chemicals so that you can do it directly by hand. When your hands are not wearing gloves, you will have the most accurate feel, thereby working more delicately.
Cleaning Process
The process is not too complicated. You should follow these instructions step-by-step.
1. Remove Dirt And Surface Residue
First, use soft dry cotton to wipe over the surface of the comic page. You can use clear cotton or a cotton pad. Just make sure it’s spotless.
On the surface of comic pages, which contain a lot of dirt, your eyes may not be able to see them. You may gently wipe it with a cotton pad a few times and observe the surface of the cotton. The dirt on cotton will surprise you.
Use a dry cotton pad to wipe the entire page in turn gently. In the area where there are stains or stains on the surface, gently rub. Most surface stains will come off. But if it is a stubborn stain such as a drink stain, a dried ink stain, then we need to proceed to the next steps.
2. Use an Absorene Eraser and Focused Point Eraser to Remove Stains
For more stubborn stains, we will use an absorene eraser and a focused point eraser. You will use these two erasers to remove ink stains or smudges from comic pages.
We recommend using Absorene Eraser for more prominent stains. It can clean a large area. For minor stains in difficult-to-clean areas, in order not to affect the surrounding paintings, you should use the Focused Point Eraser.
Although both of these tools work very effectively, you also need to be careful when using them. Rub or dab the cleaner gently on the stain. You should not use excessive force or rub continuously in one place. That way, it is easy to smudge the inherent color of the painting.
3. Use Absorene Putty and Finish the Process
After using an eraser and removing stains, ink stains, stains on the book page, you will use putty to finish the process. Using Absorene Putty will help you remove the residue on the surface of the comic page. It can feel smoother.
Using Absorene Putty also creates a more beautiful gloss for the page, the colors of the picture will display more clearly and vividly. The way to do this last step is quite simple.
You need to divide the Absorene Putty into small portions. You can hold it and dot the entire surface of the picture book in turn. If it is dirty, then you can substitute another portion of Absorene Putty.
The second way is to divide the Absorene Putty into a long shape resembling a worm. Then roll it over the book page, in turn, to remove residue, excess dirt on the book page.
Follow the same steps for the other pages of the comic book to clean it all up.
Watch the clip below to see how to clean and press a comic book before storing it in detail.
You should perform the whole process gently and patiently to remove stains or smooth with Absorene Putty. After three simple steps above, you can have a perfect comic book.
Conclusion
Long-lasting stains can make your comic book spoil faster. It also greatly affects the aesthetics. Therefore, cleaning your comic books is a necessity.
With the detailed instructions in this article, you don’t have to take the books to the cleaning professionals. Just follow the steps gently and meticulously, and everything will become perfect.
