Family Matters: September 1999

As you read this I am planning the next volume in my heritage
album saga.  This time, I'm going to work on black pages.  I enjoy the
look of these pictures with the black and encourage you to try it for
yourself. My pictures for this album have mostly aged to the same
coloring, but for those of you who are combining a wide variety of photos and
are concerned about the look being too scattered, think about this. 
The background, whether it's white or black, is a neutral. 
Everything will play off that.  You can control the look by controlling the colors in
your album. In college design class, we had a huge stack of paper in every
possible shade.  Once our assignment was to take 2 colors of paper and
make them look the same by changing the backgrounds.  Another time, we had to
make the same color look different using the background.   It's a lot of fun,
and well worth your time, to play around with your cardstock and your pens
and see what you can come up with.  You may surprise yourself.

One of the questions I'm asked most frequently is by people
who want to start scrapping to do a heritage album.  No matter what kind of
album you're planning, there are lots of basics about safety and materials
that you need to know.  I urge you to check out www.learn2scrapbook.com .  If
you still have questions, feel free to ask.  I love questions that help me
learn while you do.  Keep 'em coming!  And speaking of questions, here are
this month's Ask Jenna questions.

My Great-Grandfather was a captain of one of the first steam paddle wheelers
in BC. Any way to make a long story short.....I was on vacation in the town where 
he was a Captain and I went to a yard sale and came across
a book with his boat in it. So I bought it. When I got home and was flipping
through the pages I found a captains log. To my surprise it was my
Grandfathers handwriting that was photocopied into the book. This was so
exciting for me. I haven't started my family heritage album yet but when I do can I
photo copy this and have it in my book? There was also a two page spread
picture of his boat and him. The book binding runs down the middle  of the
picture, is it possible to take this and get it made into a photo? Thanks in
advance.

Michele

I'm sure you can get a good copy of the picture made, but I have
another idea.  Did the book give picture credits?  If not, you might even
be able to call the library of that area and ask if it is in their archives.
  If you could find out where the original is, then I'm sure you could get
an even better copy and might even learn more than you already know about
this really neat story.  I do think though that you should be sure to
include the story about finding the book in a yard sale when you do the
album. Somehow, there's something of fate about that story!

If you're not concerned about the integrity of the book, you
could slit the pages out, copy them and then replace them in the book with 
bookbinder's tape.  But I personally prefer to save books.  Also, you might
try using one of those photo machines that scans then prints out your picture
on photo paper.  They do allow you to do a certain amount of correction on
your photo and it could end up with a really nice look.

Jenna

Dear Jenna,
 I love your website and the information that you have given. 
There is one area that I have never seen covered on any web site, that is the
care and storage of old negatives.  Like yourself, I found myself the
caretaker of wonderful old family photos and negatives.  There is lots of
information on the care of the photos, but I am at a lost at how to care for the
negatives.
     These negatives are small individual squares about two inches
in height and  width.  I have been told that they can be flammable!  If you
have any advice or information on how to care for them, I would be so
grateful.

Renette

Dear Renette,
     Negatives of all sorts should be stored either in boxes,
organized like cards in a library card catalog, or in safe plastic sheets that
could go in a 3 ring binder.  You can get either of them at Light
Impressions,  www.lightimpressionsdirect.com and other places.  If the
negatives are about  2" square you might be able to store them in slide protector
pages.

 As  to flammable, if the film is nitrate based film from before 1950 or
1951,  it can be very unstable.     If it is the improved version, then the
words safe or safety film will be visible along the edge of the negatives.
These are fine, but if you are not sure about them, then I would have
copies made and dispose of the rest.  Certainly, at the very least, store them
safely and separately from your other negatives.

I am working on Heritage albums - both sides of our families.  I
have had great luck with color copying and also using originals.  My
question (and concern) is how to remove the musty smell from some of the photos
- I would like to keep them.  I have both black & white, and color.  Thanks
for your help and I do enjoy reading your Q&As.

The musty smell is a problem lots of people have and without
having the pictures cleaned or copied, there are no great solutions that I
know of. You might try closing them in a container with some baking soda
for a while; just don't have the pictures touching the baking soda.  You might
want to pour the baking soda into the box instead of leaving it in the
original box.

Another idea is to leave them where air can get them.  I've left
a few really bad ones in my laundry closet, when I'm not doing laundry.
The air can circulate, but there's not much light in it.  A few days of
this can make a big improvement.  HTH

Jenna