Solander Boxes

I have been working with Ed Spink from Spink and Gabor, Inc., and
conferring with Hugh Phibbs, to revise the materials they use to
make their solander boxes, which we use to house works of art on
paper, etc. Although the boxes are still composed of Davey acid free
board and basswood construction elements, they are a significant
improvement over the boxes traditionally used and are available upon
request to S&G.

The final revisions S&G has made are:  1) to use MicroChamber
Enclosure paper (7 pt, pH 8.5) for the inside lining paper,
replacing the Tyvek currently used; 2) to use polyvinyl acetate
emulsion Jade 711 to adhere the inside paper and the outside cloth,
replacing the animal glue currently used; and 3) to use an acrylic
coated polyester cloth as the outside black cloth, replacing the
cellulose nitrate coated cloth currently used.

I performed only simple tests on sample boxes, including the Oddy
test, Acid Detector test indicator strips (from the Image Permanence
Institute), water fastness (on the outside cloth), and a basic smell
test.  A number of back and forth changes with various materials
were made, but the revisions listed above were ultimately decided
on.  Several conservators and collections professionals I have
spoken to have informally performed some of the same tests on the
traditional boxes and found they did not pass.

The revised boxes look very similar to the traditional ones, and
cost us about $12 more per box.  S&G is interested in using these
materials for their boxes if there is the demand.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:52
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 1, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-17-52-007
                                  ***