Re: Materials for storage

[Textiles & Organics Conservation <tex-org@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We've used Correx for the base of drawers. We had the help of a 
needlewoman at the time and each sheet of Correx went into a bag made of 
Tyvek, with a sheet of polyester wadding. Cotton wadding might be good 
for buffering the RH as Mary suggested. The wadding supported uneven 
textiles better than a flat surface. The Tyvek is very smooth and things 
don't cling to it. Each Tyvek cover has loops sewn to it so that the 
Correx and the textile on it can be lifted out without handling the 
textile. This is easier than getting the drawer off its runners. Our 
drawers were wood frames with a couple of bars across the base because 
we couldn't get a cheap enough quote in metal. Wood was sealed. One 
drawback would be the maximum size of Correx sheets - lots of our 
barkcloth is much bigger. Pat Hood, now in France, and Annie Lord here 
at NMGM were directly involved. 

Vivien Chapman, Conservation Centre, NMGM, Liverpool.

 message <200105071707.TAA13153@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, =?iso-
8859-1?Q?Anna=20Jav=E9r?= <anna.javer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
>
>My name is Anna Javér and I am a Textile Conservator at The World 
>Culture Museum in Gothenburg, Sweden.
>
>We are in the process of moving our collections of ethnografic and 
>archaeological textiles into a new storage building and in the process 
>we will install a new storage system. 
>
>We are now just about to order our this system but do feel that we need 
>more input for materials that are in use in museums around the globe.
>
>We will have a system for rolled textiles and we will be using acid-
>free cardboard boxes on solid shelves for some textiles. This straight 
>forward and we know what we want to use here.
>
>Then we have decided to use frames in a "baking-tray" system which will 
>support our often large and very fragile textiles (read: pre-columbian 
>textiles or Indonesian barkcloth).
>
>This last system is what I would like to have input and views on 
>especially your thought on materials.  The frame will be of aluminum 
>because we want it to be light in weight. The supportive material in 
>the frame is what we have not decided on what to use. The criteria for 
>it is to be light-weight, supportive, and inert. 
>
>We have discussed using a streched polyester weave, secured 
>mechanically as has been used in The Art Institute of Chicago and at 
>American Natural History Museum but are worried that it will "sack" 
>over time. We have also discussed using Correx (polyethylen)sheets but 
>are worried about the static electricity that comes with it. Then as a 
>third alternative is paper, such as corrugated cardboard or honeycomb. 
>The worry here is that it's hard to find acid-free cardboard that is 
>not buffered and we do have a lot of fragile protein fibres in our 
>collection.
>
>I would really like to hear your ideas on this. I do not whant to 
>invent the wheel once more and at the moment I feel like I am trying 
>to... Thank you for your help,
>
>Yours sincerely,
>Anna Javér
>The World Culture Museum
>Goteborg; Sweden
>

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Textiles & Organics Conservation