Cels Forum

I have a cel that has a rather bad case of this white stuff on it. The white stuff is NOT on the painted sections, so I think it is safe to say that it is not due to the paint. I can't tell from ash's Esca scan, but it would be interesting to know if he can tell whether the white stuff is on the top of the cel, or between the paint and the cel...

On my cel it is most noticeable near the top, by the holes, where it is inches from any paint. My guess is that it might be a patina. 

For those that don't know a patina is the very light scratches that things like gold rings get from everyday wear. It is a series of very small scratches which, on jewelry look nice, but looks bad on cells.

It is possible that between usage and storage at the studio and then going through dealers and collectors hands some cels might just get scratched up. Imagine if your cel is under another cel, that has a background, in a large stack. That background paper is thicker and rougher than the celluloid. If someone pulls the cels out of the stack a few times it might be possible that the rough background paper works a bit like sandpaper and causes the cel to get these patina style scratches. Or if the stack is in a car and gets shaken around a bit, or any other situation where one rubs against another...

Anyways, that is my theory on the white stuff.

Kane