Wash table

Wendy Dodd <wendy.dodd [at] smtplink__awm__gov__au> writes

>The textile laboratory at the Australian War Memorial is hoping to
>replace its stainless steel wash tanks with a wash table.

If anyone is interested in a good overview of textile wash tables
"worldwide", I suggest their reading Cara Varnell's (conservator at
LACMA) article on tables in the Postprints of the AIC Textile
Specialty Group (St. Paul meeting, 1995).  It discusses various
tables, both in the US and Europe, their benefits and problems.

In the past I have used both stainless steel and white tables
(constructed of either painted wood or fiberglass) and I prefer  the
white tables.  With a white table,  I can see a good deal of what is
happening to the submerged textile (ie., dye bleed, dirt release,
etc.) that I just can't see with a stainless steel table.  I realize
you are interested in a more "high-tech" table, but I honestly
prefer the "home made" type--boards bolted together with a plastic
lining.  Sophisticated it isn't, but it does work quite well, can be
adjustable, and collapses down for storage (if you don't wet clean
much, the wash table frequently becomes a  storage area--sometimes
a good thing, sometimes a bad thing). Hope this helps,

Susan Mathisen
Ayers Conservation Studio
NY, NY
212-229-1523

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:7
                 Distributed: Wednesday, July 10, 1996
                        Message Id: cdl-10-7-003
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