?digital scanning textiles?

[Mary Ballard <BallardM@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone: here's a question I just got: is it ok to scan antique textiles on the digital scanner? The advantages are that the image is 1:1; the front and back can be scanned; it's easy; it's quick. The disadvantages would seem to be the bright light and it's duration over a small section of a textile art work. At SCMRE our scanner uses a xenon gas cold cathode fluorescent lamp. It appears as though the peaks of the spectrum exclude ultraviolet but include infrared at least for one manufacturer. Certainly the glass cover would act as a filter, but has anyone put a light meter against one of these scanners to determine the footcandle or lux level that a textile would receive? Mary