Wonderful upload Peter. For me I do not like to use Bestine on a dry cover because of the tideline issues. I came across the use of jels for a stain remover. I believe it is made from seaweed.
Thank you, Jerry! Yes, Bestine agar gels technically shouldn’t be used on a dry surface but here, the study uses cyclomethicone D5 to provide the wet substrate underneath the agar gels in the treated areas. The D5 prevents formations of tide lines from the gels and the study says it evaporates within a couple of hours without leaving tide marks. Well, except that I did see tide lines form after it dried in my case but not too bad. Most of them go away in a Bestine bath full immersion. And you’re correct about agar, it is extracted from red algae.
Thank you, Dr Paul. It really does show promise, imo, if the procedure is followed. I had to do several applications before I was happy. It maybe more suitable for small tape-stained area and not as extensive as this book. But there are steps one needs to take before seeing good results. I worked out some kinks with the agar gels last week and the video tomorrow will show the cover results after most stains were removed.
Great experiment. I thought the purpose of the gels was so the underlying surface did not need to get "wet". I wonder if you could mist the affected area of the book with cyclomethycaine (using a perfume atomizer) to reduce the volume/concentration of liquid applied with the brush that created the tidelines. Or maybe clean the whole page with a water bath before this treatment to reduce the particulates that were moved/concentrated to create the visible tidelines. Wonderful thought experiments.
The D5 mister might be a good idea though I don’t know if it would make a difference. I didn’t want to introduce any water or CaOH2 to the wraps before the experiment. I did some minimal dry cleaning. The tideline from the D5 did go away after the Bestine bath and the follow up CaOH2 bath. The tideline stays, however, if the D5 isn’t allowed to fully dry before the Bestine bath. I don’t know why that is. As for the Agar gels, they hold and release the chemicals slowly into the area immediately in contact but then the solution will fan out and create tideline around the gel - the cyclomethicone prevents that from happening but as you saw created its own tideline once dry that disappeared after subsequent washing in Bestine and CaOH2 baths.
