PVA emulsion

Andrew Hart <ashart [at] email__unc__edu> writes

>I'm very interested in ideas or experience anyone can share about
>unexpected change in PVA from a single supplier, brown film, unusual
>odor, or mold.

This problem has been discussed before.  What someone had figured
out was that the conservation suppliers buy a large container of
adhesives and then dole it out into smaller containers--that's one
way they can make a profit.  So if you get some from a fresh
shipment, it should be fine, but if not, it may be older than you
think.  That may be the case here, but there are other possible
reasons. Emulsions are mixture of at least a couple dozen
ingredients.  Any one of them, I suppose, could have been
contaminated, or  the amount of fungicide could have been
insufficient, or the container could have been contaminated when a
supplier poured it out, or the smaller containers that it went into
could have been contaminated. Using single-component materials or
making a mixture yourself is a way of avoiding such problems, but
isn't always feasible.

Barbara Appelbaum
Appelbaum and Himmelstein
444 Central Park West
New York, NY  10025
212-666-4630
Fax: 212-316-1039


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:2
                 Distributed: Wednesday, June 22, 2005
                        Message Id: cdl-19-2-004
                                  ***