The safest way is to send your cel to a
professional cel restoration company. You can
find it by doing an archive search here or ask
for the URL someone is bound to know.
Beyond that:
The level of risk involved in doing it yourself
depends on a couple of factors:
A.) Do you really want the sketch? If you do,
then you will most certainly damage it to some
degree no matter what you do, especially if it is
stuck "deeply". If it is stuck "lightly" you can
sometimes get away with just very lightly pulling
it off, simple as that. You can tell because it
won't take much effort at all and you won't get
any centered resistance, but just some coming
from around the edges. This is very, very light
tugging I remind you. Otherwise, you may want
to "freeze it" in a freezer for at least a few
hours making sure that the cel lays flat. I have
tried this with inexpensive cels before and I
have sometimes been able to remove the cel from
the sketch with insignificant or no paint loss.
Other times I have failed, because I was in a
rush, or it simply was too stuck in the first
place and the freezing method did not work. So
either way don't just believe it will work 100%,
more like there is a chance that it may work. You
are taking a chance! Paint loss to the cel is the
most important thing for you to avoid at all
costs if possible, so please remember that.
B.) If you don't care about the sketch so much,
or if you really want to get it off at all costs
(or because you tried the freezer approach and it
didn't work), Then you can "wash it off" very
gently with water. You can wet the back side of
the sketch, actually soak it by lightly running
or spraying water on it (cel) until the paper
begins to dissolve, and oh so carefully peel the
paper off the places that are easiest to peel
first saving the really hard core areas for
later. If the paper does not peel easily off even
after you have done soaking approach, I would
just leave it alone if it doesn't show through to
the other side, because if you are too rough you
will get paint loss and "punch holes" in your cel
image by ripping the paper off that is too stuck.
And you will take a chance of possibly dissolving
some of your paint away with too much water, so
again be careful and don't over do it. You will
have to dry your cel with a clean soft cloth that
doesn't shed fibers or scratch the acetate or rub
the paint off. Maybe just blot dry it or hang it
up for awhile and then in a few minutes blot dry
it with the cloth. You will have water spots on
the acetate and you will want to plot those away!
If you have clear clean bottled water, rather
than tap, I would you it. But, I know a lot of
people may moan about what I have just told you.
In any event use your best judgement and common
sense if you decide to risk it yourself. Be
GENTLE and don't step off too much into la-la
land of the unknown. ^-^
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