I know some people get annoyed seeing little 
specks of paint missing from the tips of hair on 
their cels (hair paint) only to find the missing 
paint specks on the accompanying sketches.  I 
decided to try to do something about it and was 
successful at transferring a paint speck that was 
stuck on a sketch back to the cel.  I forgot to 
keep the 'before' scan, though.

I tried it again this morning on a different cel 
setup and remembered to do both before & after 
scans.

As a little reminder, this is not something you 
should attempt if you have shaky or nervous hands 
and without prior practice on cheap cels.  (those 
freebies are good for something)

By the way, the paint specks I've tried putting 
back onto cels are only like 1-3 mm in length and 
width, so very nimble hands and excellent 
eyesight are a must.

This is basically what I did:
1) dab some water on the opposite side of the 
paper of the stuck paint speck (obviously, you 
want to minimize the amount of water used on 
matching sketches or sketches that you like)

2) using a razor (hobby knives work great), 
carefully pick away at the area surrounding the 
paint speck and try to get the blade underneath 
the paint speck.  As long as enough water was 
used, the paint speck should come off without 
removing paper fibers.

3) carefully let the paint speck dry on the razor 
blade.  Do not blow on the paint speck to dry 
it.  (you'll just blow it away never to be seen 
again)

4) while the paint speck is drying, cut open a 
cel bag (NOT mylar since mylar will have a 
greater attraction for the paint speck than the 
cel) so that it's open on 3 sides (kinda like a 
book).  Open up the cel bag and put down the cel 
in question on one side of the cut-up cel bag.  
Don't cover up the cel with the other side of the 
cut-up bag yet.

4) carefully set the paint speck down on the cel. 
Get a dull, pointy, object that won't generate 
static cling (like a pen cap) and orient the 
paint speck back into its original position on 
the cel.  This may take a loooong time to do.  
The paint speck may be a little shriveled, but 
this is ok.  The next step will fix that.

5) Now cover the cel with the other side of the 
cut-up bag and press down on the area with the 
paint speck.  If the paint speck was a little 
shriveled, this will flatten it out.  If 
necessary, open up the cut-up bag again and 
readjust the newly flattened out paint speck.

6) With cut-up cel bag covering the paint speck, 
apply pressure for a minute or two.

7) Place cel setup between two pieces of 
cardboard, put paperweight on top, and set under 
bed for at least a week.  After a week or so, the 
paint speck should have full adhered back onto 
the cel.

I've tried this twice on my non-freebie cels and 
was successful twice.  At the worst, one will 
probably just lose the paint speck.

The picture on the left has a L-shaped paint 
speck missing on the hair.  The missing speck of 
paint was on the sketch.  The paint speck is now 
off the sketch and back onto the cel in the right 
pic.

Of course, a lot of people don't care about one 
missing speck of paint on a cel, but missing hair 
paint just irks me, heh.