Adhesive for photographs

Corinna Herrmann <corinna.herrmann [at] stadt-frankfurt__de> writes

>Presently our glue is the glue stick by Herma, which is supposedly
>acid and solvent free. The gluing is done--for budget reasons--by
>volunteers.
>
>Since I cannot find out the ingredients of the glue stick, I would
>prefer another product. The product will have to be photo-safe, easy
>to apply, stored at room temperature, and available in Germany or at
>least Europe. Any ideas?

I would advise using a paste made from wheat or rice starch rather
than a glue for this purpose. It's a little more work because the
paste will have to be mixed every couple of days (there's no stable
liquid version available), but a good paste has a strong tack when
dry and is completely safe for photographic use. It also has the
benefit of being water soluble so you won't damage the photographs
should you ever need to remove them from the boards.

I'm not aware of archival suppliers in Germany, but this is the
product I use from our supplier in Canada:

    <URL:http://www.carrmclean.ca/CategoryGroupBrowser.aspx?GroupNo=6744>

The paste needs to be mixed up with warm water, and stirred and
heated over a stove or in a microwave into a sort of jelly
consistency (instructions should come with the powder). Brush the
paste lightly onto the back of the photograph and let dry overnight
before storing vertically. Once dry, this paste will hold up very
well.

If you have a little more money in the budget, I could also
recommend putting the photographs in clear plastic sleeves and
attaching the sleeves to the boards to avoid any need to apply
adhesive to the photographs themselves.

Elizabeth Knazook
Photo Archivist
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
55 Queen Street
PO Box 520
Stratford ON N5A 6V2
Toll Free 1-800-561.1233
519-271-4040 ext 4311


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:13
                  Distributed: Sunday, August 19, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-26-13-002
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