Globes

Barbara Appelbaum <aandh [at] mindspring__com> writes

>A client brought me two globes, about 8 in. in diameter, made of kid
>leather, from the early 19th c.  ...
>...
>The question (at least one of them) is what I can fill them with
>rather than air.  ...
>...  Is there such a thing as glass
>balloons that aren't so micro?

When I was a silk screen printer (another story) I used a lot of
"fumed silica" to thicken my inks. It is a very lightweight powder,
and I understood it to be essentially frothed glass.

I don't know how well it "packs" or settles, but I suspect it might
be a solution for your globes. I was always careful when handling to
avoid breathing the dust it is a very fine powder. I still have a
bucket of the stuff if you would like to try it. You might find it
at a large supplier of inks for silk screen printing, or contact the
manufacturer for a coarser product.

js
Jerry Shiner
Keepsafe Systems
Micro-climate and Oxygen-free storage for Professional Conservators


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:12
                   Distributed: Friday, July 13, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-12-006
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