Woven papyrus sandals

Teresa K. Moreno <t.k.moreno [at] durham__ac__uk> writes

>I am looking for suggestions on how to go about cleaning and
>consolidating woven papyrus sandals....
>...
>The sandals are eventually going to go on display, and because of
>this they will need to be consolidated.  I am planning on running
>tests with various consolidants including cellulose ether, Mowilith
>DMC2 (PVA emulsion), PEG 1000, and PEG 1500.  Are there any
>suggestions regarding these or other consolidants?

I would second Jeff Illingworth's suggestions, with the addition of
the following:

Sara Wolf Green published the adaptation of a vacuum cleaner to make
a microvacuum for feathers; this might be useful in conjunction with
a binocular microscope and the manual removal of nasty bits.

I would also urge against the use of consolidants unless dating has
already been carried out, *and* you can be assured that the
information and the artifact will never be separated. I would
suggest putting the same time into the development of a very clever
unobtrusive support mount, and internal case passive humidity
buffering and stable materials instead.

Lisa Mibach
Heritage Resource Management
1-29 Cambridge St. North
Ottawa, ON K1R 7A4 CANADA


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:13
                  Distributed: Monday, August 14, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-14-13-005
                                  ***