Subject: Fibres adhered to adhesive dots on artwork
A contemporary artwork in our collection incorporates numerous dots of colourless adhesive in the work. It has been described as "conservation adhesive" and because of its rather tacky character, I feel it may be Rhoplex N-580. Some cellulose fibres have been very firmly pressed into the surface of some of these dots. I would like to investigate how best these can be released from the surface. I'm yet to find many references in this area apart from a post in the DistList which mentioned: "You can then stick something porous, like paper or cloth, to it and release it later using any mild solvent (alkanes, Freon TF,etc.), leaving the adhesive on the substrate" (John Burke, Jan 5, 2005). As the dots form part of the artwork, any dissolution/ loss of the adhesive would not be acceptable. Alayne ALvis Conservator Sydney University Museums Macleay Museum Nicholson Museum Rm H102, Quad A14 The University of Sydney Sydney NSW 2006 +61 2 9351 2761 Fax: +61 2 9351 2881 *** Conservation DistList Instance 30:10 Distributed: Saturday, July 23, 2016 Message Id: cdl-30-10-015 ***Received on Thursday, 21 July, 2016