How to get glued picture scraps off paper
Did you score that beautiful album online and after days of waiting it is finally in, the previous owner has pasted all the poetry pictures on sheets of paper ... If you are lucky then the glue is already so old that it loosens quite easily and leaves minimal traces. Below we explain various ways that we invented and looked up on the internet. We do not guarantee that this will work, but it might be of use to you!
Letter opener
Going between the paper and the poetry picture with a letter opener and carefully making a sawing movement there worked quite nicely, but soon we saw through the picture itself.
Sticker remover
We tried a standard store sticker remover and applied it with a cloth through the back of the paper with a cloth.
But this immediately goes through the paper and often also through the poetry picture itself and it does not let go yet.
Freezer
The idea of the freezer would be to make the glue grainy so that it would have less strength and thus release more easily. We put a few sheets in our freezer, taking care not to get ice on it and left it for over an hour. However, after we took them out, the glue still seemed to be stuck for a while so we will not try this way again.
Microwave
Always briefly put in the microwave and then try to heat the glue again so that it is liquid and releases. Every 5 seconds so that the glue cannot get too hot and damage the poetry picture. We tried this several times and it seemed to work for a while, but in the end we gave up this method because the pictures did not come off properly.
Sharp (bread) knife / scalpel
We did this with our bread knife because we don't have a scalpel, but that knife is razor-sharp if you ask us. There is also the danger immediately because one wrong movement and you cut through the picture. Maybe if you can pull it off with surgical precision, but we wonder if that's worth it.
Dental floss
The only dental floss that we have in our house feels a bit greasy and after some clumsy attempts, we tried to get a picture loose with two men, with the result that we cut through the picture again. Only plus was that the picture smelled a bit fresher of menthol ...
Hairdryer
We have not tried this because we do not think it will work. Not even because we have already tried the microwave.
Spatula
Online we found a movie that advertised a product called 'Un-du' and there was a spatula on the bottle of liquid that you had to squirt between the paper and in this case old photo and thus carefully pry it off. To be honest it looked quite blunt how it was done so we did not order a bottle anymore.
Upside down
In the end, this was the best and fastest way to get it done. What you do is put the poetry picture down so that you can no longer see it through the sheet of paper attached to it and start tearing the paper off the poetry picture. Always hold the poetry picture close to the glue so that it cannot tear and gently pull on the paper. This way you have the most chance that the poetry picture itself will remain beautiful at the front without tearing and at the back you will have at most some glue spots with paper.
Submitted tip (thanks Gerald)
Pasted pictures can be removed from paper by rubbing the back with a mixture of washing up liquid and water, wait a moment and you can very carefully pull off the picture. You put one capful of dishwashing liquid in a container and add the same capful of water 18 times.
Good luck with removing your poetry pictures and if you know a good way that we have not covered here, please let us know and we will mention it here! (Possibly with name if you wish)