I’ve been rescuing these boys from Junk shops for years, those 50p unknowns, the Great Uncles who maybe died and had no children, they become orphaned from their families, so I’ve ended up with an old biscuit tin full of these lads. Mostly Brits, but a few Aussies and Canadians have turned up, plus the occasional Fritz and one Belgian, I have no French men yet for some reason.
The most touching one to recolour was the chap in his hospital blues, the process usually starts with cleaning the image, removing the scratches and dinks in the halide or emulsion, scuffing and dirt have to come off. I busied myself with him, removing what looked like a large scratch on the bridge of his nose. It was only when I studied it I realised it was a scar from some long forgotten wound. The poor blighter.
Most of these are local to East Anglia, the Last one, Harry Potter-esque is called Tom Stone, he’s from Norwich, that’s all we know. Synchronicity.
How wonderful, what a wonderful thing you are doing . How many do you have ? I would love to have a display up in our public library in Townsville, Australia. “Lost Boys”. What are you planning for the images ? Annette
I collect lads in the same way. Some in tins, some on the wall in frames alongside those of my own family who fought. What a beautiful project. Thanks for sharing this. 🙂
Your restoration work is absolutely stunning.
A fantastic job you are doing ……….
thanks for showing them
Thank you for doing this and for sharing their images.
What stunning work you are doing, it brings them almost to life
How thoughtful! Keep up the good work and thank you