Facing materials for mosaics

I am posting this message for Kent Severson <kjpsever [at] aol__com>
in response to a suggestion in the Mark Clarke's posting concerning
the use of hide glue and fabric to face the mosaics.

    Thank you for your response regarding the mosaics.  Indeed, they
    were originally faced with animal glue, the old fashioned way,
    when they were lifted.  I had hoped that they would be backed
    for either storage or display within a year or so when I lifted
    them, but they ended up in storage, face down, with plastic
    sheeting between layers, about 4 or 5 deep.  The storage depot
    was a good one, but even good ones can burn...and it did.  The
    fire was extinguished with water, and as you can imagine this
    had some negative impact on the previous facings.  The problem
    now is how to get through the damaged parts to the parts which
    can be recovered without disturbing anything beneath. I envision
    something like a temporary, flexible backing (a facing on the
    back, if you will), using a material that is not water-soluble,
    so as to allow for removal and refacing from the front. Thanks
    again for you interest.  If something interesting happens, I
    hope to publish it one day.

    Kent Severson

Pat Griffin

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:79
                 Distributed: Wednesday, March 25, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-11-79-005
                                  ***