Most people, at some point in their life, save a newspaper clipping. Not so much now that people get their news from the Internet. As a child, I lived in a small town during junior high. I was in the city newspaper twice, one for science fair and the other for piano concert. These are memories definitely worth scrap-booking.
There are even sad events we may clip — a national tragedy, an obituary, or details of a car accident. The reason we clip these newspaper article is because they document a period in time that for whatever reason, we want to remember.
Unfortunately, many people don’t consider the fact that the very article they wish to keep, is already starting to slowly deteriorate seconds after coming off the press. Over time the paper becomes brittle and turns dark yellow? That is part of the “aging” process of newspaper.
What do you do? Continue to clip and accept this as the way it is? Absolutely not. With the help of modern technology, your newspaper clippings can be preserved, so that they will never be yellow, brittle, and faded. With a little preventive maintenance, your newspaper clippings will be able to be enjoy by future generations. Here are your options:
1. To keep and reserve the actual newspaper clipping by neutralizing the acid in the newspaper. Dissolve a milk of magnesia tablet in one quart of club soda and leave overnight. Pour solution in a large shallow pan and soak the clippings for one hour. Carefully remove the clippings and pat dry with white paper towels (or hang up to air dry). This process will stretch the life expectancy of the clippings up to 200 years (supposedly). Note that this process is only for printed matter or papers written in permanent ink. Colored inks may fade. Test a small portion first before submerging entire sheet.
2. Use your computer scanner to scan the newspaper clipping into a PDF document. This preserves it digitally; I personally use 300 dpi for scanning documents.
3. Photo copy the newspaper clipping onto acid-free paper.
Take some time and find those newspaper clippings that you have tucked away and get them prepared for the future.
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Using Scanners. This is probably the easiest way to do it. Just scan your newspaper clipping into the computer and print. The best part of this is that you can adjust the coloring, crop out any unwanted print, re-size and generally change many aspects of your scan. Then just print it out on acid-free paper and you can trim and adhere to your layout. If you don’t have a scanner, just take it to Kinko’s or another print shop and they can do it for you. You might need to provide the paper though.
There is a product called Archival Mist. And a newer one by Krylon called “Make It Acid Free”, found at paint stores. Most scrapbookers swear by these sprays, but they can be an expensive option. If you don’t have a lot of newspaper clippings this product might work well for you, because it will last a long time. You will be able to save it for future newspaper clippings. The solutions in these products neutralize the acid in the paper, stopping it from becoming yellow and brittle.