Removing a label intact

[RobinClay]

Greetings !

I have a portrait of my grandfather aged about four, in 1875.  The back is made of thin pine, in three strips, joined togteher with strips of newspaper glued along the seam !

Curiously, the newspaper used is from The Preston Guardian of Sat July 23rd, 1866 !   i.e. it was a nine year old newspaper they used !

However, I digress...

Stuck onto the other, outside, of this pine backing is a label in ink in my grandmother's handwriting.  How can I remove this label ?

If I lay a wet cloth on top to loosen the glue, then the ink will smudge... and I guess steam would have the same effect.

Any ideas, please ?

[CaroleW]

Are you wanting to remove the label so you can preserve it elsewhere?

If so - I would recommend you leave it intact and scan it instead.  Only other alternative is to cover with a dry cloth and use a warm dry iron on it in the hope it may loosen the glue

[RobinClay]

Yes.  The portrait was far too small for the frame, into which we have put a portrai of his mother-in-law, while he has gone into a smaller more suitable frame, so I would *like* to remove the label and put it onto the back of the new frame.

Yes, I have scanned it - as you saw ! - so if all else fails....

[PrueM]

Hi Robin,

As Carole says, probably best to leave it where it is, and print off a copy to use on the other frame.  It looks like your gran has used a felt-tipped pen in which case any moisture is going to make it go everywhere!  You could try putting a tiny drop of water onto the edge of one of the letters, to see what happens - have kitchen towel at the ready to blot it if it starts running!

Cheers
Prue

[still_looking]

I'd go with the copy route but you could add a single thin sheet of wood (or something similar) to the other side of the three strips to give the whole thing rigidity before cutting out the piece that the label is on.

[RobinClay]

Thank you for those suggestions.   We'll "give it a go" !