Source for cotton wool sought

Do any conservators know of an alternate supplier to Cutisoft cotton
wool, which has changed quality over the past 6 months or so.

Previously the cotton wool fibres in the Cutisoft brand were long
strand, and silky and could be teased out such that they could be
rolled easily and wound onto a satay stick and their long fibres
essentially stayed put, during cleaning processes such as varnish
removal.

The current stock of Cutisoft has much 'woolier' fibres which appear
to be short fibered linters. These have a less uniform more felted
quality and are very difficult to roll onto a satay stick, and its
smaller fibres are more likely to unravel during cleaning sticking
to the surface, do not pick up varnish successfully.

We have endeavored to identify the reason for the change in quality
and the supplier assures us that the cotton wool is sourced from the
same grower(s), which may well be the case.  Unfortunately it no
longer performs well for our particular conservation purposes.

We have also tried numerous alternative suppliers across the medical
field to source another supplier of the longer fibered and superior
cotton wool, without success.

If any other conservator has identified this issue and located an
alternate source for the long fibered cotton wool, please circulate
on the Conservation DistList.

Caroline Fry
Painting Conservator
The Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation - Commercial
    Conservation Services`
UoM Commercial Ltd
Commercial Engagement Services for the University of Melbourne
Victorian Archives Centre
99 Shiel Street
North Melbourne, VIC, 3051
+61 3 9348 5700
Fax: +61 3 9348 5656


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 27:8
                 Distributed: Thursday, August 8, 2013
                        Message Id: cdl-27-8-027
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