Dear Donia,
How do I preserve the black paper from scrapbooks?
Q. Dear Donia,
Is there a way to preserve the black paper that scrapbooks are made from? The holes that hold the pages together are very brittle, and I'm looking for a way to reinforce them. Thanks, CJ
A. Dear CJ,
Unfortunately, the black scrapbook paper of old is very poor quality and is prone to getting very brittle. This embrittlement cannot be reversed and any sort of hole reinforcer you put on will only cause damage to the paper in other places causing it to fail again. You can get new black scrapbook pages that are acid-free and lignin-free but that would necessitate being able to get the scraps off the other paper to put into the new. For scrapbooks like this, I would recommend getting folders for the pages and a drop front gallery box sized to fit the folders. Our sponsor, Hollinger Metal Edge, has materials just for this purpose.