UV protection for art installation

Devorah Sperber <devorahsperber [at] earthlink__net> writes

>My work will be installed in a train station (non climate controlled
>with heat, humidity, salt air, and dust). My medium will be 80,000
>spools of Coats and Clark thread. I need to find a product to spray
>on or brush on the thread, which will provide UV protection and make
>it possible to clean the thread periodically for a minimum of 10
>years. The thread is cotton covered polyester spun onto plastic
>cores. Ideally I'd like to find a coating with a satin finish  as
>close as possible to the satin finish of the original thread.

Let me see if I've got this right. The display area has heat,
humidity, salt air, dust, and lets not forget the UV rays. All this
as the environment for 80,000 small spools of thread. And you want
something to spray or brush on the spools to protect it from all the
above and make it easy to clean for at least 10 years? And it has to
match the threads finish? I've been installing art for 20 years and
if you can find something that will do all that *please* let me know
about it! My only suggestion is to find some way to encapsulate it
properly with the appropriate ventilation. Or some kind of
incredible spray acrylic/varnish that I've never heard of. You got
me on this one.

Jerry Fahey
Exhibits Designer
The University Museum
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Edwardsville IL 62026-1150


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:26
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 2, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-26-005
                                  ***