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Re: Ink on Leather

Hi again Kathleen,
 
I had another thought about your ink-on-leather situation, caused by reading this article: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug05/XRF.imaging.stones.fac.html...
 
If you contacted a lab, maybe one that does lead paint analysis for the EPA or HUD programs, they would have this equipment and could give you a price on testing your sample to see if anything pops out.  The XRF testing can detect metals that would be present in your ink, and there's a chance it could give enough differentiation that you could read beneath the scribbling.  
 
Some XRF equipment can be tuned to a "depth", meaning that it could possibly be calibrated to read below the surface scribbling.  You'd have to talk to an XRF expert in the lab though- I'm pretty much making this up.  :-)
 
~Debbie
 
 

From: Textile Conservators [mailto:TEXCONS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kathleen Daly
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 4:14 PM
To: TEXCONS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Ink on Leather

I would like to know if anyone has tried removing ink from leather. I have an inscription on a leather waistband that has been written in ink and then scribbled out in very similar, if not the same, ink. I would like to know how I can go about deciphering the inscription. Can anyone help? The object dates from the early to mid-nineteenth century.
 
Thank you,
Kathleen Daly
 

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