Mission Restore Kellogg's Spockbox

Space may be the final frontier, but restoration revives the charm of the withering treasures of our world. Whether you are a Star Trek fan, or purely interested in the process of restoration, today's blog post is sure to be a galactic adventure.

Join us on MISSION RESTORE SPOCKBOX!

As you can see in the image above, this rare 1970's Star Trek cereal box has endured substantial damage. With blistering edges, surface damage, and a missing top portion, this box is very fragile. As the half-human, half-Vulcan, Spock once said, "Change is the essential process of all existence." Our job at Poster Mountain however, is to restore this artifact to its original condition, ensuring it can be preserved and appreciated for years to come.

Before reconstructing the missing pieces, we need to take the box apart. Carefully, it is deconstructed to a flat surface. At this point, we reinforce the areas that are flimsy or torn using wheat paste and strong archival tissue. (You can see little pieces of tissue hanging out in the image above.)

Giving artwork a bath may seem unnerving, but that's just what we do next! Completing this phase in a delicate, yet timely manner is essential. It's also worth noting, each item we get in is unique, and not all pieces can handle moisture well. This is another of the infinite reasons to leave restoring your valuables to the professionals.

Once it's fresh and clean we brush a layer of gelatin onto the back.

A sturdy piece of okawara paper is placed at the top of the structure, overlapping where the missing piece will go. We then burnish down the okawara with a bone folder tool, eliminating any tiny air bubbles.

 

In order to attach the patches, and eventually air brush, the cardboard must be temporarily adhered to a flat surface. To accomplish this, a sheet of hollytex is used as a protective shield between the gelatin and the particle board.

 

 

 

Finally, the Spockbox is clean, flat, (eventually dry) and ready for prep!

To construct the perfect patch, we use an identical sized cereal box as a tracing template.

The patch is then trimmed and beveled to fit as snug as a puzzle piece. 

 

The patch is glued down to the overlapping oakawara with an archival friendly wheat paste. Next, a thin coat of methylcellulose is used as a binding agent to melt the paper fibers of the patch and original structure together. The end result is a seamless transition from patch to paper. The structural repair is officially complete and now onto the aesthetic.

Finally, it's air brushing time! Well, almost. Before paint is applied, the areas we don't want to paint are masked off with tape. Then, using the airbrush, the patch is blended in to match the rest of the box.

To best match the original aesthetic, the missing red sections are screen printed back on.

 

And wala! It's finished and ready to be rebuilt.

It is carefully removed from the board by sliding a large pallet knife behind the hollytex. Once off the board, the hollytex is easily removed from the back of the structure without causing any damage. (Think of it as pulling a freshly baked cookie off parchment paper.

Using a bone-folder tool, the edges of the box are scored where the fold lines will be.

 

The box is folded back into it's original box shape, glued, and secured with rubber-bands until dry.

And there you have it, another restoration mission complete! We hope you enjoyed following along with us on this project. Until the next one, "live long and proper."✋