This is one of the worst cases of damage I have 
from tape. A second season Eatman cel, about 5 
years old, taped down both sides. (Probably 
because it's a vertical pan.) If I did it right, 
the scan should be true size.

The tape had done two things -- part was drying 
and coming off the cel, and part was not just 
sticky, but *gooey* sticky. The sticky part would 
NOT come off without damage, but the dried part 
looked terrible. ~_~;

I first freed the cel by cutting the tape along 
the cel's edges (incidentally, tape comes off 
acetate easily). Then I trimmed the tape, cutting 
off all the dry parts and leaving only the part 
that was still sticky. In my opinion, the result 
came out so well because I was careful to use 
*straight* cuts on the tape, which are much less 
noticable than uneven or jagged cuts.

The black mark is my notation for the tape still 
on the background. So the part bracketed is what 
it looks like with the tape still there, and the 
part above and below that is the damage from the 
tape drying on the background and coming off on 
it's own.

Keep in mind, the part of this tape that was 
still sticky was itself beginning to degrade to a 
gooey stage which is why it's much more visible 
than it should be. I have a couple newer cels 
than this one (Psychic Force) that have tape 
which I left on the background and it simply 
can't be seen because it's still fresh enough. 
I'm keeping an eye on it as the cels age, to 
determine if and when I should do more about it. 
I'm not sure what the difference is, but not all 
tape goes through this "gooey" stage.

Remember, this is my *worst* example and it still 
looks very passable. ^_^  Most other (formerly) 
taped backgrounds I have are nowhere near this 
bad, so don't let this scare you. ^_^

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac