Serigraphs on transparent plastic sheeting

Arthur Marks <skrams [at] earthlink__net> writes

>I am an art historian with a conservation question. A conservator
>colleague suggested this list as a possible means to obtaining a
>solution for a problem. I am curious to learn if anyone has any
>experience with any of Arman's serigraphs on sheets of transparent
>plastic--mine is of his familiar image of squeezed paint tubes with
>extruded pigment.  I have had one for several years and have just
>discovered that it is rippling/crumpling badly, resulting in a kind
>of contraction. ...

In one of my previous lives, I was fortunate to be the master
printer at a print shop specializing in serigraphs.  I can't answer
to the best way to deal with the current problems of the image, but
I can assure you that there is almost no chance that the ink media
was formulated for printing on plastic.

If the print is more than a decade old, it was likely printed with
standard solvent-based serigraphic inks. Change in the ink base are
likely the cause of the distortion of the substrate, although there
is no guarantee that the plastic is stable (eg mylar). Artists and
printers will generally use whatever works at the time.

I should also add that the solvents from this kind of ink are
extremely dangerous. In my youth I thought that my half-assed
precautions would protect me, but they didn't.  I was lucky, and am
now quite healthy (perhaps even robust), but I no longer scoff at
health and safety issues.

js
Jerry Shiner
Microclimate Technologies International
800-683-4696
416-703-4696


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:56
                 Distributed: Friday, February 20, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-17-56-010
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