Acid Free does everything need to be??

[DIZBOUND]

I am realitively new to scrapping and have picked up a bunch of ideas from you guys, thanks a bunch! Anyway, I am guessing that some of the stuff you use is not acid free. How does that affect your pages? I guess what I am asking is if an item is not acid free what happens?

 

[LindaBabe]

If one is adamently acid free, one can avoid using anything that isn't labeled 'acid free' or else spray the offending item with the stuff that keeps it from leaching acid (I forget the brand name) or encapsulate the offending item in an acid free envelope.

As for me - I'm 60 years old and figure when I die my scrapbooks will all go in the trash anyway (no interested family members) so I scrap what I like, and acid be darned. If the photos or pages fade in 40 years, am I really going to care?

 

[Lisa]

Acid is a substance that is sometimes added during the paper-making process. It also forms when residues or pollutants combine with moisture in the paper. Acids break down paper fibers over time, causing them to become brittle and, eventually, leading the paper to crumble.

Source: CM

 

[nicurn]

Y'all know how I feel about the whole acid free thing. my grandmother stuck her pictures to who knows what with glue and funny, they haven't exploded, faded, shriveled up, etc. It's completely up to you and what/how you want to scrap. I certainly don't go out of my way to be acid free because I personally don't think it's a huge deal. (and trust me I have some odd things in my books from mirrored tiles (xmas chains really) to hardware (washers, laminate chip samples, etc) in my books... they haven't exploded yet (well, ok except the one that I crammed to many pages into and then kate dropped last week... ) do what makes you happy. maggie

 

[creativeamanda]

I'm in the court of, if you put acid-ridden stuff on pages that are buffered, you'll be fine. So that's why I exclusively use CM albums. But I don't use only their products on the pages (fellow consultants, please don't flame me now)

 

[DIZBOUND]

I'm in the court of, if you put acid-ridden stuff on pages that are buffered, you'll be fine.

ok so I guess it is not the end of the world if I use stuff that is not acid free. But, what do you mean to put acid-ridden stuff on pages taht are buffered?

 

[creativeamanda]

ok so I guess it is not the end of the world if I use stuff that is not acid free. But, what do you mean to put acid-ridden stuff on pages taht are buffered?

I think and I could be wrong, that Creative Memories is the only company that sells albums that are buffered. Basically, they put like sodium bicarbonate in the paper (which neutralizes acid). I've always been happy with that and had to redo my non-cm albums because after 5 years, I could visibly see the difference in the colors of pages in the albums. You also have to make sure the stuff that says it's acid free really is. But trust me, your albums are not going to explode because of the acidic content in them.

ETA: Wow--that was my 300th post.