Have you wondered why all those newspaper clippings that your family kept have aged so fast? Well, as far as collectables go, newspapers are one of the most unstable you will find!
The high concentration of acid and lignin in newsprint causes the paper fibres to break down when exposed to light, heat, air and pollutants. In fact when placed in the ground they can decompose completely in only 2months to 2years!
They are a disposable commodity and purposely produced cheaply and quickly. Their intent isn’t archivability or to last. They quickly become brittle and yellow and the ink fades.
So how can we prolong the life and memories of those sentimental clippings that we collect through the years?
Here at Lion Studios we can complete high resolution scans on our large format flatbed colour scanning service. This preserves the tonalities of the original. From here we can create an archival copy on 100% cotton rag using fade resistant pigment inks.
If you want to display an important or sentimental newspaper clipping, NEVER frame the original. Even behind glass, this irreplaceable artefact isn’t safe. Ultraviolet (UV) light, a component of sunlight and some artificial light sources, is extremely damaging to sensitive newsprint. We recommend creating a reproduction and framing it using high quality archival Matboards and UV filtering glass. We are trained in archival framing techniques to preserve these memories for generations to come!
The sooner we scan and reproduce a clipping for you, the better quality it will be. It will essentially freeze the presentation of the newspaper at that exact moment in time before future deterioration occurs. Newspapers will continue to deteriorate despite archival storage due to its acid and lignin content. Proper storage only slows this down.
We welcome you to stop by and chat with our team to make a reproduction regardless of framing. It’s these clippings that chronicle important events in our family’s history and lives. They can be enjoyed for future generations with reproductions.
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