Globes

A client brought me two globes, about 8 in. in diameter, made of kid
leather, from the early 19th c.  They were originally meant to be
blown up, and have brass valves for that purpose.  They have what
were air-tight bladders inside; these are now shriveled up.  One
globe is intact; the other has a loss to the exterior.  Both are
somewhat pruny.

The question (at least one of them) is what I can fill them with
rather than air.  Batting is one possibility, at least for the one
that is not intact, but given that the remains of the air bladder is
still inside, some kind of beads would be preferable.  I heard from
Julia Fenn that some leather pieces filled loosely with pellets ca.
2-3 mm. in diameter now have a pebbly surface conformation, so I
would obviously need something substantially smaller.

Has anyone investigated the range of pellets available?  What inert
materials are used to make such things, and who sells them?  I
assume that glass microballoons are totally inert chemically, but
they are so horrible to handle.  Is there such a thing as glass
balloons that aren't so micro? Any help would be appreciated,

B. Appelbaum


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:11
                  Distributed: Thursday, July 12, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-11-012
                                  ***