Blueprint restoration


33Bravo

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Nov 3, 2006
688
Minneapolis, MN
I have a blueprint that was framed and in storage. I dug it out recently to hang it up, and it was completely faded (you can barely see the lines if you look sideways). It just looks like a tan sheet of paper now.

It’s a cool original (A Ferrari 288 GTO engine) – does anyone know of a process or service that can restore something like this?

Thanks!
 

33Bravo

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Nov 3, 2006
688
Minneapolis, MN
Thought I'd bump this in case someone might have an idea... Thanks
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
Do you have a pic of it or is it so faded you can't even make it out?
 

JCSB

Ex GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
I have a blueprint that was framed and in storage. I dug it out recently to hang it up, and it was completely faded (you can barely see the lines if you look sideways). It just looks like a tan sheet of paper now.

It’s a cool original (A Ferrari 288 GTO engine) – does anyone know of a process or service that can restore something like this?

Thanks!

Back in the 60's when I was in college I worked part time at a blueprint company. There were 3 processes then for large reproductions, offset printing, Ozalid (using ammonia vapours), and true blueprint processing. Was the background blue and the lines light or the other way around? A true blueprinting process would be with the lines whitish and the background blue. It was a fairly messy process and that's why many of the prints were done with the Ozalid process which was dry. The problem with the two processes was that both of the papers were light sensitive and unless stabilized they would fade with time. I guess you could try getting it digitized and reproducing it that way, but not sure how defined the lines are now.

John
 

33Bravo

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Nov 3, 2006
688
Minneapolis, MN
Do you have a pic of it or is it so faded you can't even make it out?

Took a quick pic with iphone. Its much easier to see in the pic than it is in real life. You can kind of make out parts in the pic.
 

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33Bravo

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Nov 3, 2006
688
Minneapolis, MN
Back in the 60's when I was in college I worked part time at a blueprint company. There were 3 processes then for large reproductions, offset printing, Ozalid (using ammonia vapours), and true blueprint processing. Was the background blue and the lines light or the other way around? A true blueprinting process would be with the lines whitish and the background blue. It was a fairly messy process and that's why many of the prints were done with the Ozalid process which was dry. The problem with the two processes was that both of the papers were light sensitive and unless stabilized they would fade with time. I guess you could try getting it digitized and reproducing it that way, but not sure how defined the lines are now.

John

Paper was tan. Drawing was grey. Didn't have the blue background as you described.
 

Kayvan

GT Owner
Jul 13, 2006
4,782
Google poster restoration

There are a number of places that are conservators of works on paper
and can literally "wash" the paper with ph neutral solutions that let ink chemically bind to original lines

One place was in Boston another in CT; email them ur pics.

They do this and then mount in linen and recommend using UV plexi to frame

Like $65 to do
 
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twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
Construction "blueprints" always smelled like ammonia when they were hot off the presses, and they DID fade very quickly. I always put mine rolled up in a tube on the site, and the piece of the prints that were exposed to air always faded quickly. I never heard of a way to "restore" them.
 

FENZO

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 7, 2008
1,518
Lafayette, CO
I'm not aware of a restoration process for a whiteprint (I believe that is what you have). Blueprints are a negative of the original, the lines are white, and they are stable. Whiteprints are made by passing a translucent drawing on top of a paper with light sensitive material on it through an ultraviolet light source then through an Ammonia vapor. The Ammonia turns the remaining light sensitive material blue.

The problem is that the paper remains ultraviolet light sensitive and the Ammonia causes the paper to decay strangely.