Tips for Preserving Your Toys

Discussion in 'Whatever' started by badteethcomics, Jan 12, 2019.

  1. gatiio

    gatiio Post Pimp

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    Tips for Preserving Your Toys
    The one smart thing a Jordan's collector ever told me was: "always wear your shoes."

    Which I do, but then I realized he was talking about expensive sneakers and not my 50 buck onitsukas.
    Once he was looking at my case and he said a similar line: "Play with your toys"

    and that was the smartest and stupidest thing I have ever heard that person say. It was really Zen.
     
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  2. zindabad

    zindabad Line of Credit

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    Reminded me to go play with my Toxigon when I get home :twisted: one of my roommates is a sneakerhead and wears all his stuff as well. I felt about the same when he told me
     
  3. hellopike

    hellopike S7 Royalty

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    I don't worry about preservation so much beyond dusting and keeping them behind glasss (which is more of an issue with wanting them to display they nicely rather then keeping them minty) With a few exceptions, all of my toys get removed from the packaging and played with- well, taken down and handled and posed and looked at... I'm going to be 40 this year, even stored in direct sunlight it's a safe bet most of the things I've collected at this point will outlast me, and once I'm gone it's not really going to matter much, from my perspective. =)
     
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  4. gatiio

    gatiio Post Pimp

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    Yeah. I think most of us even have traveling toys we take around for photo ops. Ha!

    I love playing with mine
     
  5. jebcrow

    jebcrow Side Dealer

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    i have a question about wrapping in newspaper for storage.

    I am in the process of moving for the first time in 19years ..big job!! just the toys alone has taken me days

    this is probably a really silly question, however my mind is fried and just as i taped the final toy box, i began to stress that the toys are all wrapped in newspaper..they might be sitting in boxes for up to four months,,is there any chance of the newspaper staining or dirting the paint or vinyl?
     
  6. evom

    evom Mini Boss

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    Pretty sure theres a good chance that the ink will stain them. Using blank packing paper I think you'd be good, but I would definitely not risk using printed newspaper against bare vinyl.

    here's my own post from earlier in this thread about how I store toys, but it's alittle overkill.
    I stored all my toys like this for over a year when I was buying my house and there were no issues.
     
  7. jebcrow

    jebcrow Side Dealer

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    eeeeek!

    the fear

    have you experienced this?
     
  8. evom

    evom Mini Boss

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    I have not seen it happen on vinyl but other things. maybe it depends on the newspaper..?
    I dunno, but I'd be paranoid to do it. Try rubbing your fingers hard on the newspaper ink and see if it dirties your fingertips.
     
  9. jebcrow

    jebcrow Side Dealer

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    i just thought of that. been using the same title paper, so should be easy to figure out..

    crosses fingers!
     
  10. jebcrow

    jebcrow Side Dealer

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    yeah, it does come off on my fingers a bit...oh sh*t..however after rubbing pretty vigorously

    not sure i can face repacking them all especially when i have to finish all my records, clothes and paperwork in a short amount of time..nor do i have alternative stuff on hand to use

    curious if anybody has any experience of naughty newspaper stains?

    hoping that i am just overthinking it and unnecessarily fretting. never had an issue in the past however have never stored toys for any amount of time..
     
  11. 612DudeCrew

    612DudeCrew Toy Prince

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    Tips for Preserving Your Toys
    As someone that has made the mistake of using newspaper to wrap toys...don't do it. Ink stains generally come off, but Generally is the keyword here. I've got a few toys now that after having to put them away for months have some seemingly permanent ink stains. Nothing major, but they're there.
     
  12. jebcrow

    jebcrow Side Dealer

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    thanks for the input :)

    how long did you have them stored for?

    i have begun prioritising the sentimental/valuable ones.. luckily i have all the original bags stored away with headers. Just a matter of unpacking and repacking. The majority i won't be able to do for a week once I deliver everything to storage next week. Here's hoping that short amount of time won't be detrimental
     
  13. 612DudeCrew

    612DudeCrew Toy Prince

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    That's the other thing. 95% of our collection was stored for 5 months or so. :lol:
     
  14. ungawa222

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    For the sake of both of you guys, I want to chime in here and ask: @612DudeCrew, did you try gently wiping any of the ink-troubled spots on your toys with a soft cloth sprayed w/ 70% iso alcohol? That really should do the trick, especially because most modern newspaper inks are soy-based and pretty easy to clean off. Even imagining some reaction during storage between the ink and the off-gassing soft vinyl which could set a stain a bit more stubbornly onto the surface, this should work. Also, as long as typical, solvent-heavy vinyl paints were used to color the toy, this should have no effect of creating rubs/damaging the paint. I mean, you should always do a small spot test, but I have cleaned trouble spots on toys (very) old and new with this method, and never picked up any paint. (EXCEPT, rather unexpectedly and inexplicably, as I assume it was painted with V-Color or the like, a Grody/Zapatoloco Moloch.)

    Give it shot, if you're so inclined, and let us know the results here... it might allay some of @jebcrow's fear and save him some repacking work. :D
     
  15. Mr. Humphreys

    Mr. Humphreys Mini Boss

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    I stored my toys for +8 years, and when they were finally unpacked, they were as pristine as the day I packed them--the lengthy period was due to a lot of unsettling circumstances which prevented me from buying cases to display them with any sort of permanency. Before packing toys, they were cleaned to remove dirt and grime, and were dried thoroughly if they needed a wash. I used plain white thick paper towels (i.e. Costco's Kirkland brand and Brawny brand), to wrap all toys (vintage and modern). No patterns or colors on the paper towels, just all white. I heard that bubble wrap can cause stickiness and leave dirty "bubble imprints" if left in direct contact with the toys for too long. I had very few toys with bubble wrap in contact with the vinyl. Nearly all of the toys were wrapped in paper towels and an added outer layer of bubble wrap for fragile things. Toys that contained an outer layer of bubble wrap, were stored separately from just toys with a paper cocoon. The few that were initially stored in contact with bubble wrap, were later unpacked, washed, dried, and then re-wrapped with paper towels, once I'd heard of the warning--being such an OCD person that I am, I labeled each bin with the entire contents (yes it takes extra time, but is well worth it for loooooong periods of storage). Large batches of paper-towel-wrapped toys were then sealed in plastic bags and stored in bins (all stacked in a cool and dark basement). Perhaps somewhat extreme, but I knew that the toys would probably be in storage for some time, but I had no idea they'd be stored for such a long time! The added nicety with using paper towels is that you can reuse them to clean up pet messes and dust around the house, once you unpack your toys. Vintage toys showed no sign of stickiness, metallic paints did not dull or peel. Those who have bought toys from me, know that I packed them with paper towels too!

    Whether for storing and/or a big move, sturdy well made bins are definitely a plus. You won't regret spending the extra dollars, and they will be useful for other things after the move. These are the bins I use (see below). Comes in many sizes, but the 24 gallon size is a nice choice. They stack securely and can withstand a lot of punishment. Some toys were also stored in banker boxes and large Mandarake boxes too.
    https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-ActionPacker-Lockable-Storage-Industrial/dp/B07QXGRHDY/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Heavy+Duty+Plastic+Storage+Containers&qid=1611718731&sr=8-4&th=1

    [​IMG]

    * Very pricey on Amazon. You can check other stores, including Walmart. I think I got 8 bins for $30 each, but then again it was ~10 years ago.

    p.s. MIB toys were left in their baggies with header cards. I just made sure I wrapped the toy bag portion with a full circle of paper towels, and then gently allowed the header card to flop down against the first layer of paper towels, and then added another layer of paper towels to protect the header card. The first layer of paper separating the toy from the card, helped to prevent pressure (if moved) that might cause scuffing of the toy.

    p.p.s. I live in a relatively dry area. If I lived in a humid area, I would've left out the plastic bagging part, and just stored everything in bins. Paper towels do allow your toys to "breathe".
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2021
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  16. Waterbear

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    Newspaper is a bad idea. Anything with print on it is a bad idea. The length of time is meaningless compared to the relative temp and humidity. If they get cold then warm and become slightly damp just once you're fucked. Unwrap everything and use plain brown packing paper or even white printer paper or plain paper towels.

    You leave that stuff wrapped in newspaper and the temp changes you'll be peeling off vinyl toys with words on them like they were made of silly putty.
     
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  17. rattanicus

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    Ink from printed, uncoated stock with definitely transfer to the vinyl, as easy as it does to your fingers from just handling it. Packing peanuts will definitely melt and stick to the plastic. At this point it’s a matter of deciding what will be less of a pain: repacking or cleaning when you unpack!
     
  18. maxwelldanielle

    maxwelldanielle Fresh Meat

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    Can anyone help me work out what's causing these stains? And if I've got any chance of removing them?

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I put this figure in storage about a year ago in the bubble wrap it came in. A couple months ago I took it out and noticed these stains, so I wrapped it in tissue and put it back. Since then there seems to be more stains even though it's been out of the bubble wrap. I've tried iso alcohol which hasn't made much difference as far as I can tell.
    Does anyone have an idea why these stains have appeared and if I've got any chance of removing them? I have iso alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and just ordered some sodium hydrogen carbonate because I heard that can remove stains from vinyl flooring :?:
    Or is my best bet to send it to someone to get painted?
    P.S. There are no stains on the main torso of the figure, only limbs and head.?.
     
  19. JoeMan

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    This is a really good stain remover, though in your case I’d be worried it’s some kind of fungus. I’ve seen spotting like it on many vintage toys and occasionally a new toy, the worst I ever saw it was a glow Cronic toy.
    http://www.twinpines.com/remove-zit
     
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  20. maxwelldanielle

    maxwelldanielle Fresh Meat

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    Thanks a lot. I'll give a couple of those cleaners a try. Would make sense if it's fungal since it's spread over the toy. Frustrating...

    Do you know anything about how to get rid of the fungus? Nor sure I want to trial and error antifungal agents in case they stain
     
  21. JoeMan

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    I don’t know, you’d probably need to treat the whole toy with something and not just the spots. At least it’s blank though so it should be hard to damage it trying a few things. I’d probably start by taking it apart scrubbing inside and out with dish soap, spot cleaning the stains and see what happens over time
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
  22. akum6n

    akum6n Vintage

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    @maxwelldanielle Who made this toy and where was it produced?

    The staining looks similar to something I found on some Pointless Island figures recently. Similar situation- I had them in storage and bagged for about a year (maybe a little longer). When I took them out to display, a few had those light brown spots on them, but others seemed ok. They were all purchased around the same time. My suspicion is that there was a batch of figures with production/quality issues with the vinyl. I believe the Pointless Island figures are sold by a HK company, and produced in China.

    I think this is different from the issue that I have seen on the GID Cronic figures, which may be what @JoeMan references. In my memory, the vinyl had some sort of surface accretion that looked almost like bread mold, but was sort of spotty and gritty. I've only seen this on one or two figures, so I think it may have been storage conditions, or possibly a production issue with those specific runs.

    It looks a little like the staining that you sometimes see on vintage vinyl figures. However, it seems very odd for it to show up after 1 year, whereas vintage figures have often been in suboptimal storage conditions for decades, following years of play wear and tear. In those cases, I don't think it's odd for discoloration or surface contamination to occur at some point, and it becomes really hard to say whether it was an environmental issue or a materials reaction over many years.
     
  23. Radin

    Radin Toy Prince

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    Store toys in bubble wrap in slightly breathable containers. Do not Use newspaper or paper that is not acid free. Controlled/regulated temperature is a must. Humidity or extreme temperatures will ruin or degrade your vinyl toys. Direct sunlight is the devil…
     
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  24. maxwelldanielle

    maxwelldanielle Fresh Meat

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    Yeah that sounds sensible. I haven't tried taking toys apart before. Am I able to do it without heating it up? Bit of a Fresh Meat question sorry even though I've been collecting for years… Thanks for your tips
     
  25. maxwelldanielle

    maxwelldanielle Fresh Meat

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    Were you able to deal with your affected Pointless Island figures at all or was there no way of rectifying it?

    This is a papalemon figure (I know some people hate his stuff but I'm just partial to this sculpt) produced in China. I bought it about two years ago. There's no visible surface accretion on the marks, just these dull orange spots. Applying iso alcohol may have reduced some of the stains very slightly but I'm really not sure. There is no noticeable smell or anything.

    In regards to it being a problem with the quality of vinyl – there is no spotting anywhere on the torso but it's distributed randomly over the head and limbs, so would that give any indication?

    In any case, there's a selection of cleaning chemicals in the post to me now so I can test them out and report back.
     

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