Displaying embroidery

Christy Jones <litsavant [at] hotmail__com> writes

>We have plans to display a piece of embroidery, roughly 15 inches
>square, fraying at the edges, rather worn. Currently, the plan is to
>have it sandwiched between two pieces of glass and then the whole
>assembly will lie at (probably) a 30 inch angle [sic] on a plinth.

I fear I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill here, as the object
is made of cloth, presented in a tiny microclimate that is easily
passively controlled (by the object itself), and the object and
display frame are rather small. However...

A rag paper mount board will provide extra buffering from humidity
changes as well as better support for the embroidery. An appropriate
mount board would be unbuffered, and pre-conditioned to the desired
target humidity. If the proposed glass backing sheet is used, the
embroidery could slip downwards on the glass surface, encouraging
dreaded slumping.

An established framing shop will be able to offer a variety of
glazing options. If your gallery has natural light, or lots of
specular reflections from lighting sources, you may wish to examine
anti-reflective coatings. While anti-reflective, water-white glass
or acrylic is more expensive, the glass area is rather small.

Over a small span, and with only the weight of a scrap of
embroidery, there should be little tendency for glass or acrylic
glazing to sag appreciably, however, I would suggest the use of a
sheet of fluted polypropylene ("Coroplast") as rigid backing below
the museum board. Coroplast backing will also improve the
maintenance of the microclimate, as it will reduce moisture transfer
through the museum board.

Going a little further by asking a framer to use rag mount board and
a rigid backing board, as well as low reflection glass will not be
an extravagant expense for a small frame, considering the work you
will be doing to create a plinth. The resulting microclimate will
extend some protection from pollution and inappropriate humidity
levels.

Jerry Shiner
Keepsafe Microclimate Systems
416-703-3696 ext 701


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:7
                   Distributed: Friday, July 25, 2008
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