Textile wall hangings

Currently, I'm studying Textile Conservation at the Fachhochschule 
in Cologne with Prof. Annemarie Stauffer. I just started my research 
project which is part of my final degree examination. I'm very
fortunate to have found a very challenging project to investigate: 
It concerns the wall hangings at the New Palais at Sans Soucci, 
Potsdam, Berlin. They are made from red silk damask, and have 
fringes of Metal thread. My aim is to find an adequate solution to 
preserve the original silk damask wall hangings in the 'Rotes 
Tressenzimmer'. Since they were mounted in 1765 they have been left 
more or less untouched. 

The rooms are located to the north, west, and south side of the 
palais. There are windows on the east-facing side of these rooms.  
There is no heating in these rooms. Up to 1919 during the summer 
time the majesties and their visitors has been used the rooms. Since 
1920 it is opened for the public. Most of the other silk wall 
hangings were exchanged with replicas, because of the fragile 
condition of the originals. This was done to give an impression of 
what the original effect would have been. In some cases, the designs 
were even 'modernised'. The project of conserving the silk wall 
hangings in the 'Roten Tressenzimmer' aims to preserve the original 
textiles. The intention is to re-mount the hangings after 
conservation in their original way.

There is a great difference in the mounting method between the 
hanging in the 'Roten Tressenzimmer' and the other rooms within the 
Palais. Most of the other hangings are mounted on a wooden stretcher 
and backed with a jute or linen backing which is adhered to a paper 
support.  Onto this backing the fabric was stretched and nailed into 
place. The wall hangings of the 'Rote Tressenzimmer' is directly 
nailed onto untreated wooden (3 cm thick) without any buffering 
layer. In the wooden boards there is the wood worm. The distance
between the actual wall and the boards is 5 cm. 

The condition of the wall hangings vary very much. Generally, there 
is surface dust all over. Depending on their location in the room 
there are splits within the silk and it starts to shatter, in other 
areas where it was more protected is appears stable. In some places, 
the back is black, it is covered with soot dust from the chimney 
which is located at the back wall. Special problem areas are those 
close to doors where the silk has been touched a lot.  The greatest 
areas of damage are to be found along the lower edges of the 
hangings; the higher parts are in much better condition.

The tears and slits were partly repaired in the past with either 
stitching techniques or adhesives treatments. The adhesive used 
cannot be identified, and has deeply penetrated into the original 
fabric leaving an unsightly discoloration and feel very stiff to the 
touch. 

Proposed Treatment:

    *   the metal fringes are in good condition, therefore no 
        further treatment on them is needed
    *   remove the heavily damaged areas of the wall hangings
    *   remove old repairs where appropriate
    *   clean the silk (wet-or surface-cleaning, as appropriate)
    *   support the original fabric with a colour-matched support 
        fabric (either stitching technique or an adhesive treatment, 
        as appropriate)
    *   to treat the pinewood boards against the wood worm
    *   re-mount the wall hanging

    *   prevent the wall hanging from further damage by good 
        housekeeping, control of light levels, environment and 
        physical public access 

These are my ideas so far.  The practicalities and materials have 
yet to be decided on. Therefore I seek information from anyone who 
faced a similar problem and how she or he solved it.

My concrete questions are:

    1.  Description

        What kind of wall hangings have you treated in the past, or 
        are currently treating?
        Where do they hang?
        Under which conditions, climate?
        In which way are or were they mounted?
        What kind of condition did you find them in?

    2.  Treatment

        Which kind of previous treatments have you found?
        Have you had problems with them?
        Did you clean the hangings--if so, how--method; detergents?
        Did you use sewing or adhesive techniques, or a combination 
        of both?
        What kind of materials did you use to support the hanging 
        (fabric, threads, adhesives)?

    3.  Presentation
        Did you re-mount the hanging, and if so how?
        What kind of prevention is done against further 
        damage--light, dust?

    4.  Observations
        Did you encounter any specific problems during the 
        treatment?
        Have you noticed any change after conservation, and if so 
        what are they?
        Did you encounter problems with micro-organisms once the 
        hanging was back on display or in storage?

    5.  Your opinion

        What do you think about exchanging an original textile wall 
        hanging against a replica?
        If you faced a similar problem in the past or are currently 
        working on something like the, please contact me. I would be 
        grateful for any advice, thank you very much, 

Julia


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:35
                 Distributed: Friday, December 17, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-35-015
                                  ***