bleaching printed cotton

[Jenny Barnett <andelos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Season,
Thank you for your extensive advice.
I had already read the literature you suggested and have had some
experience with sodium borohydride which was the stimulus to explore
other solutions.
That particular case concerned a small piece of 20th C. embroidered
cotton with so-called foxing spots. It was a test piece so it was
possible to cut it in half to see the difference before and after
bleaching. The embroidery threads lost a little colour intensity as did
the "foxing" and the cotton was significantly lighter. The result was
more intense "foxing", so my conclusion was that the colour of the
foxing was preserved just as well as the colours of the embroidery
threads.
I shall test the possible results with local bleaching with peroxide and
with sodium borohydride to see which is most effective and suitable.
Thanks for the reminder!

Will keep you informed,

best wishes,
Jenny Barnett

Andelos Textielrestauratie
Oude Looiersstraat 65-67
1016 VH Amsterdam
NETHERLANDS
tel/fax 00 31 (0)20 427 18 27
andelos@xxxxxxxxx