RE: archaeological textiles

["Ellis, Shirley" <shirley.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you Karin for your comments. I think this latest conference in
Amsterdam would have been most informative.

I have read Elizabeth Peacock's earlier papers (early 1990s) and her
observations about drying.  Still, I would be interested in hearing other's
comments, especially on the use of glycerol or PEG. 

Shirley

Please note NEW area code of 780
Shirley Ellis, MAC, CAPC
FSO/Conservator
Department of Human Ecology
B-20 Human Ecology Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2N1
ph (780) 492-7678  fax (780) 492-4821
email:  shirley.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxx
www.ualberta.ca/~hecol/txcons.htm


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-texcons@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-texcons@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Karin von Lerber, Prevart GmbH
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 3:22 AM
To: texcons@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: archaeological textiles


Dear Shirley,
I cannot tell you what a generally accepted treatment would be - and I guess
nobody can. I can, however, refer you to Elizabeth Peacock, who has lately
(November 2000, Amsterdam, "Conservation of Archaeological Textiles")
presented a very interesting paper on the effect of the drying method onto
the physical proberties of archaeological textiles. Her results showed, that
air-drying resulted in a much stiffer (and fragile) textile than
freeze-drying (which was best) or solvent-drying. The latter has the
disadvantage of removing remaining fat in the fibres, but might - depending
on the case and the possibilities at the given moment - be an alternative.
I know that Elizabeth Peacock does a lot of research in this domain. You
might want to contact her directly:

Elizabeth Peacock
Institute of Archaeology and Cultural History
Norwegian University of Science
N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
elizabeth.peacock@xxxxxxxxxx
phone: +47 73 592163
fax      +47 73 592238

Unfortunately the papers delivered in Amsterdam will not be published.
Eventually there will be a compliation of the abstracts. But I am sure,
Elisabeth Peacock is going to publish her results sooner or later somewhere.

As far as my own experience is concerned, I am much more careful about
choosing wet-treatments than say 10 years ago. I *always* do vacuum-cleaning
with a very gentle aspirator with a pipette as "head". Like this I can
controll to leave signs of use on the fabric but remove dust and fibre
debris. (This, of course, for dry archaeological textiles!)

I hope that this is helpful. Sincerely,

Karin von Lerber

-------------------------------------------------
Prevart GmbH
Konzepte für die Kulturgütererhaltung
Oberseenerstr. 93
CH-8405 Winterthur
Tel. *41 (0)52-233 12 54
Fax *41 (0)52-233 12 57
e-mail: karin.vonlerber@xxxxxxxxxx
Website: www.prevart.ch


 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellis, Shirley" <shirley.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <texcons@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 6:34 PM
Subject: archaeological textiles


> I have been looking into the treatment practices for archaeological
textiles
> (from wet or dry sites) and am left wondering "just what is considered
> acceptable practice"?  I have come across those that say do not use
> detergents and those that do.  Those that use glycerol (percentages vary
> from 10% to 50%), PEG, rinse with increasing concentrations of solvents,
air
> drying, freeze drying, etc.
>
> I realize that one must look critically at every case but if deemed
suitable
> for wet-cleaning what is considered acceptable treatment practice?  For
> instance, I have found little reference to vacuuming if the textile is dry
> prior to treatment, and wondered if this is because there may be some loss
> of the "evidence of use".  On the other hand, wouldn't cleaning remove
that
> and the degraded fibres?  Can someone please enlighten me?
>
> Shirley
>
> Please note NEW area code of 780
> Shirley Ellis, MAC, CAPC
> FSO/Conservator
> Department of Human Ecology
> B-20 Human Ecology Building
> University of Alberta
> Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2N1
> ph (780) 492-7678  fax (780) 492-4821
> email:  shirley.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxx
> www.ualberta.ca/~hecol/txcons.htm
>