Deacidifying charcoal drawings

Justyna Szpila Verdavaine <justyna_szpila [at] yahoo__fr> writes

>I wonder if a contact washing with a blotter paper moistened with a
>buffer solution would be an option, or spraying? I have heard about
>the Wei T'o method but has anyone used this for art drawings? What
>were your results? Is the method commercialised in Europe?

In graduate school we used commercially prepared deacidification
products as an exercise to see the effect on various materials.  I
also did a special science project using Wei T'o on paper.  I found
that if the paper was acidic a color shift could occur.  I noted a
significant green cast to poor quality paper that contained wood
pulp.  However, with good quality rag paper no color shift was
noted.

Jodie Utter
Conservator of Works on Paper
Amon Carter Museum
3501 Camp Bowie Blvd.
Fort Worth TX 76107
817-989-5088
Fax: 817-989-5099


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:27
                 Distributed: Sunday, November 9, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-27-005
                                  ***