synthetic adhesives
Find below the blog posts related to synthetic adhesives:
Premiere of the video of the conservation treatment of a map
Premiere of the video showing the full conservation treatment of an oversized hand-coloured map, varnished and lined on a canvas. Do not miss it! Next Thursday 27 at 4pm CEST (UTC+2).
Housing as a (quite desperate) conservation resource
New artwork arrives at the studio to be ready for an exhibition: pressure, limited time, bleeding inks... Could it not be some other easier and more showing off artefacts? Here's what I do when I don't seem to find much to do: Tape removal, and failing to flatten under tension with magnets... Mounting the artwork on a housing that secured an even tension on the artwork during the exhibition, was the last resource.
Unlocking St. Anthony’s locked manuscript
"Tony, Tony, come around, something’s lost and can’t be found!" Some manuscripts require more than just manual skills to succeed in their conservation, and so we prayed to Saint Anthony to help us unlocking the bookbinding, whose key had been lost forever. Certainly not many renaissance bookbindings have an iron safety lock in their covers and thus this extra holly help was deemed quite necessary. The prayer didn't provide any key, but at least a satisfactory conservation solution was achieved!
Gels, microemulsions and nano-systems applied to pressure sensitive tape removal: latest updates
Tape removal, chemical and physical gels, microemulsions and much more. Review and abstract of the conference "Nanosystems. Application to tape removal on cellulosic supports,", which took place in Madrid (Spain), on June 6 to 8th, 2018; within the context of NanoRestArt, the european Research and Developement project.
Hold on and suck in, Miss Scarlett! Removing a plastic corset from a manuscript
A personal story, a historic manuscript, a crazy laminating machine and a final outcome. All these ingredients are seasoned with PFTE, TFA, HFIP, PE, DMSO, PET... cling, dong and BOOM!... An explosive -but most irresistible- cocktail. We'll discuss about synthetic polymers, sorts of laminations and encapsulation.
“Customized” conservation with Richard Wolbers
Fellows of joys and sorrows, conservators, here is why I am so excited with the "Cleaning workshop: Paper bathing/stain removal", given by Wolbers: The idea is to make every conservation treatment a kind of custom-made dress for each particular object with a minimal initial investment. He speaks about solvents, gels, surfactants, conductivity and pH. Nor in my wildest dreams had I imagined such a close, easy and useful chemistry. Thanks a lot Richard, we owe it to you.
This document will self-destruct in 30 secs!
Or how to remove pressure sensitive tapes, without removing them. We have spoken about bibliopaths, about misuses and how to eradicate its effects... But, what happens when the artefact itself causes its own degradation?
Tracing paper conservation, berliner style
I never enjoy anything as much as visiting other paper restoration studios, especially if they are private. They usually bear the imprint of a personal vocation, a personality which is barely present at institutional studios. I watch the space distribution, the tools, the jars... at Hildegard Homburger's studio. Is there a better way to nose around than becoming a berliner restorer for two days?
Bibliopaths: The case of the lacquer binding
Are we supposed to fear bibliopaths? Or maybe we should give them an award? Who are they? Atention! Because they can be among us, or we might even be one of them?! I invite you to read the Case of the Lacquer Binding to know more about them
New conservation methodolgy to retrieve lost flexibility to brittle tracing paper
Approach to a new methodolgy to retrieve the lost flexibility to brittle paper. Tracing paper -so usual among technical drawings- have in common their transparency, but there are significant differences in the process to make them. The properties and behavior will be very different then. Impregnated papers, for an instance, were applied oils or varnishes to provide them translucency. Explanation restoration of several drawings in which the varnish was removed to replace it later.
Who says BluTack® is ideal for papers?
BluTack in papers? Never! Restoration of a document from industrial heritage with a stain from this adhesive, property of the Municipal Archive (Barcelona)
Damned “sellotapes”!
Which damages cause sellotapes? Can we release documentary heritage from these fatty strips? Explanation for the degradation mechanisms of this historic "remedial" tapes that we can find in documents of all kinds, and restoration possibilities in each case.
Conservation of school poster from spanish civil war period
This map represents the typical scholar posters: with its wooden slats to roll and hang, lined on the back. It was very common to varnish them with shellac to waterproof and protect them from abrasion. This one was made of two pieces of printed paper, sticked together along the central horizontal stripe. It is from 1936, spanish civil war was barely breaking. Removing the old varnish has allowed to repare other minor damages: tears, gaps and wrinkles. But most important is that the new varnish is not oxidizing nor yellowing. As it is very flexible it will not crack in the future.
Minimal intervention on “Serra & Balet” documents
Standard treatment of minimal intervention on documentation with slight damages: Disinfection, removal of clips and staples, consolidation and folder to fit.
