Found a weird trick for cleaning up old blueprints

I had a set of 1970s site plans that were covered in coffee stains and pencil smudges. A guy at the supply house said to try a kneaded eraser, but that just made a bigger mess. On a whim, I tried a tiny bit of art gum on a low tack drafting tape edge, rolling it gently. It lifted the grime without tearing the vellum. Has anyone else found a good way to clean old drawings without ruining them?

4 comments

4 Comments

kai_foster1mo ago

That's a clever fix. Never would have thought to use art gum like that. Might have to try it on some old cookbooks I have.

charlie1981mo ago

I always thought art gum was useless, but @kai_foster is right, that's a smart trick!

abbyhall10d ago

My buddy who restores old comic books told me about this last year. He had this beat up 1950s Batman issue with some greasy thumbprint on the cover that just would not budge. He tried everything, even the fancy erasers that cost like eight bucks a pop, nothing worked. Then he remembered his high school art teacher always swore by art gum for lifting stuff off paper without tearing it up. Took him like twenty minutes of gentle rubbing but that print was gone, cover looked way better than before.

the_thomas1mo ago

Actually, it's kneaded erasers that work for that... art gum is the crumbly kind for charcoal. Easy mix-up though.