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I have used lemon juice and a heat gun to make "aged" paper for cards. QUESTIONS: Would this technique be okay for scrapbooking? Does the heat neutralize the acid? Would the pages be archival quality or not?
I think just the opposite, that time and heat would neutralize the acid and you would be OK. Also, making photo mats out of papers that say "buffered" would helping lingering acid from migrating into the photos. Only a pH strip could say for sure, if you want to get really serious about finding the answer.
Mary Beth
interesting question....I sent a note to my son who is almost finished with his doctorate in chemistry with GarnetJ's questions. When I hear from him I will post his reply.
ok...my son got back with me and here is his answer....
The main acid in lemon juice would be citric acid. This may be the only acid, it has a decomposition temperature of 175C ~ 350F. So as long as your heat gun is able to heat it to 350 you should be able to remove the acid. Or you stick the paper in the oven for a while. Any way long story short you should be able to, I would probably try it, then test it for acidity with one of the various paper pH testers. Then you would know if it gets it hot enough for long enough.
Smart thinking, asking a chemistry whiz the question! Another thought came to mind: there are products on the market that you can spray on non-archival papers (like newspaper clippings and such) that neutralize the acids and make them safe for scrapbooks. I found a couple of them:
There is/was a "Make It Acid Free" spray by Krylon in the search results, but it didn't appear to be available online. You might want to take a look in a hardware or craft store - probably cheaper than the two listed above...
So if you can destroy the citric acid at 350 degrees that means you have to achieve that temperature in the paper itself. What happens to the paper at that temperature? Does it begin to brown? Paper self-combusts at 451 degrees, but it will definitely char before that.
What does that amount of acid do to affect the combustion temperature? Lemon juice is very acidic with a pH of 2.3, more acidic than sulfuric acid (2.75) or hydrochloric acid (3.01).
Besides that, lemon juice also contains ascorbic acid (vitamin C), malic acid, and pantothenic acid. What is their destruction temperature?
Just some things to think about. I think I would be looking at other options to achieve the "aged" look.
Another thought came to mind: there are products on the market that you can spray on non-archival papers (like newspaper clippings and such) that neutralize the acids and make them safe for scrapbooks. I found a couple of them:
I have used the Archival Mist before. Thanks for posting these links. For a while I couldn't find it. Glad to know I can get it again.
When I was using it the instructions said to spray the paper, front and back, and you have to kind of saturate the paper and let it dry. The can linked above will treat about 25 square feet.
Lemon Juice Aging
