Framing retailers can frame

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1 ARCHIVAL SERVICES STORING TEXTILES By Paul MacFarland, MCPF, GCF Preservation housing for textiles not meant for display offers a prime opportunity for framers to expand their businesses Framing retailers can frame just about anything, but in today s competitive business environment, they also must provide other related services if they want to maximize their talents. Many established shops provide services that go well beyond art and framing. When asked, some will completely avoid the topic while others may recite a litany of special services they offer. Some want that information to remain guarded; others figure that any sensible businessperson would offer the range of services they offer. One of the related services for custom frame shops is preservation housing for items that are not meant for display in frames. Custom frame shops are actually preservation centers. Most of the products, tooling, and skill sets required to produce sophisticated art packages are directly applicable to preparing textiles and related products for safe, retrievable, long-term storage. Many clients have valued objects they want to preserve but will never show on a wall. There are as many reasons for preserving collections as there are objects. Storage is important, and custom Pre-manufactured archival boxes are available in many sizes to accommodate almost all project., such as this one from University Products. frame shops are well positioned to provide this service. When it comes to preservation framing, there is often more to things than meets the eye. Museum storage is usually done under controlled conditions with all applicable precautions. Individual clients storage conditions may vary, and a project might even be jostled around a few times in the foreseeable future. So, in addition to creating museum-grade packaging, a framer must plan for variable conditions. Textiles offer a prime area that framers can help preserve, although many of the techniques can be applied to preservation of other types of objects. Long-Term Storage A close inspection is always necessary for incoming objects. Wear gloves, and change them as they soil. Washing your hands is not enough; there is no need to add your DNA to a project. Also, with a lot of vintage textiles, you are probably protecting yourself as much as the object you are preserving. Condition reports are standard practice for all archival procedures. As the inspection is completed, according to the form, the answers will define the particulars of the storage protocols. Inspect along seams, folds, and pleats carefully. These areas provide excellent cover for vermin as well as lint and dust. These are also the areas that are most likely to be the stressed. Mold is fluorescent under ultraviolet radiation. A handheld inspection lamp is an important tool for finding mold. When using an UV lamp, always wear UV eye protection rated for the radiation levels of the device. If mold is detected, place the textile and everything it came in a sealed plastic bag until an action plan is developed. Mold- or vermin-infested work must 36 PFM June 2015

2 Hand-held UV inspection lamp; courtesy of University Products. not come in contact with other art or the storage environment; it may contaminate them and require a complete sanitation. Moving a garment around will release spores into the air. There are also many molds already in the environment; hopefully, they are not active. A textile should also be inspected by transmitted light. Hold the work up to a light and look for holes, snags, and anything else that lets light through. These must be noted on the permanent condition report. Although it is not always necessary to know exactly what all of the fiber origins are, there are times when an educated guess is helpful. A burn test can aid in textile identification if it is not otherwise obtainable. Threads are removed from a discreet spot, often the back of a hem. By holding them with tweezers and igniting them, the burn rate, flame color, and residue help identify the fabric. The warp and weft is often not the same, so it is best to test in both directions. For detailed burn test instructions, go to 38 PFM June 2015 Know Your Bugs Many bugs that you don t want in or on a textile love the residual organic debris people leave in even lightly soiled clothing and accessories. Many insects that would not normally eat a particular fiber for food will consume it if it contains traces of human perspiration odors, body salts, body oils, skin flakes, and small hairs. Silverfish can live for eight years grazing across the surface of all kinds of textiles. They, along with similar looking firebrats, are in search of protein, sugar, and starch. Fabric starch is made from vegetable starch, often corn, and is everything a bug could want. If at all possible, starch should be laundered from textiles prior to archival boxing. The voracious larvae of the casemaking clothes moth enclose themselves in a casing spun from the material they are feeding on. Their cousins, the webbing clothes moth larvae, leave a trail of silk as they go. Both prefer dark, enclosed areas with temperatures above 75 o F, with 75 percent also being the perfect relative humidity. Carpet beetle larvae are as insatiable as moths and thrive under the same conditions. Clothes moths and carpet beetles eat protein-based fiber: wool, silk, hair, feathers, and leathers. They do not generally eat plant-based fibers like cotton, hemp, linen, or rayon, or synthetic fibers such as acrylic, nylon, and polyester. They will, however, eat vegetable or synthetic fibers if they contain a protein they crave. Killing both mold and insects can be done chemically or mechanically. Mechanical methods are preferred to chemical ones when possible. Chemicals leave a residue that may interact with the composition of the textile over time, and application saturation levels may vary. It is difficult to know how much is enough, and there are health regulations governing chemical use. Exposure to at least -3 o F in a chest freezer for 72 to 96 hours will generally inhibit vermin, including mold and insects. The infested textile is placed in a loose-fitting plastic bag. The air is squeezed out of the bag, which is supported horizontally in a freezer. Upon removing the item from the freezer and bag, it is brought to equilibrium with the room under a gentle air current from a fan. When an object is back at room temperature, it can be vacuumed to remove carcasses, spores, and dust prior to boxing. Close, detailed vacuuming using a HEPA filter and polyester upholstery screen is the most effective way to remove mold spores as well as lightly embedded dirt. If not vacuumed away, very fine, sharp, abrasive dust can actually saw at the fiber as the textile naturally expands and contracts over time. Refer to CCI Technical Bulletin 26, Mould Prevention and Collection Recovery: Guidelines for Heritage Collections for detailed instructions on this process. Clean Is Good Cleaning textiles is not to be taken lightly; it is an archival service that few currently provide. Identify the fiber and the general colorfastness of the dyes before you try it. There are several specialized techniques and products for spot removal, erasing, and overall washing. Preservation washing products such as Forever New, Ovacion, Orvos, and LeBlanc Linen are routinely used to clean textiles prior to storage. Storage Archival storage of textiles can involve hanging, rolling, and flat or folded

3 boxing to preserve the item. Hanging - Hanging is used in very specific cases, usually for heavier articles of clothing, costumes, gowns, robes, coats, and uniforms that need to be easily accessible. Custom-padded archival garment hangers help distribute the garment weight, and muslin dust covers are placed over the individual pieces. Rolling - Textiles may be rolled around an archival tube if they have flat surfaces free of three dimensional irregularities and are in good enough shape to withstand a little potential sagging. The tube should be about 8 to 12 longer than the textile and of the largest diameter practical. This allows the ends to fit into hanger sockets without touching the textile; rolls must be suspended so that they do not rest unevenly. The fabric should be rolled together with the appropriate interleafing tissue, 100 percent cotton print cloth or (Right) Cotton rag button tab for isolating metal components. (Below) Vintage dress folded for boxing. Unbuffered tissue isolates metal and glass sequins from direct contact with the textile. unbleached muslin. Inert polyester felt is used to lightly pad raised embellishments or highly textured surfaces if they must be rolled. The textile should not be folded on the roll, and there should be only one object per role. Stacking is not recommended. Weavings, quilts, and tapestries are candidates for rolling. 40 PFM June 2015

4 Boxing - Most historic textiles were stored in wooden or cardboard boxes. Drawers, shelves, and even cedar chests did little to help preserve the articles. Wood and cardboard are generally acidic. Even if lined with paper or painted with a synthetic or natural varnish, including polyurethane, the textile will eventually suffer. Glass and metal are the only effective barriers to the acid migration from cardboard or wood to the more alkaline textile, and acid always attacks alkaline. Foil-backed shelf liner or Corrosion Intercept film is used to line any wooden surface a textile must be stored on or in. Prior to boxing, it is necessary to isolate unlike materials. Many embellishments and closure devices are made of metal or other material that may adversely affect a textile under the right conditions. Metal buttons should be removed before boxing; they can be bagged separately and stored in the box. If it is not practical do that, then button tabs are required. Made from unbuffered cotton rag matboard, the tab is ½ larger than the button overall. A slit in the center of the tab allows it to slide around the stem, effectively separating the metal and fabric. Sequins, snaps, hooks and eyes, and zippers should also be isolated with folds of tissue or strips of unbuffered 4-ply cotton matboard. Unfolded, flat archival storage is the preferred method for most products; however, this is often not possible outside of an institutional setting for several reasons. Folding textile products to fit storage space or uniformity requirements is a common practice. The item should be rolled over, not folded. Folding bends the textile, so it must be done in a way that minimizes strain or pressure. If a textile is strong enough to be 42 PFM June 2015 gently folded, develop a plan based on the pattern of the textile. Although not always possible, folds should go in one direction only. Crossed folds place a lot of stress at the intersection points, regardless of padding. Padding is still very important; it supports the fabric in the folds, minimizing stress. It also puffs out and separates layers in a garment. The primary boxing material, interleafing tissue, is available in different sizes and weights as well as buffered or unbuffered. Buffered, usually with calcium carbonate, is used with plant-based textiles. Unbuffered papers are used with animal-based textiles. When in doubt, go with unbuffered; it is ph neutral. While it may not remain alkaline quite as long as buffered paper, it will do no harm. The tissue should also be PAT Approved. Interleafing tissue is formed and folded to create pads and fill voids. Accordion-pleated sheets of interleafing tissue, 1 or 2 tall, are used to separate layers in a garment textile, support collars, isolate lace, and gently radius unavoidable folds. Crumpled balls of tissue add structure and support in shoulders, sleeves, cuffs, and anywhere else that needs some dimension and air space. Do not stack anything but the lightest weight textiles in a box, such as linen handkerchiefs or silk scarves, and always box animal and vegetable separately and interleaf appropriately. Boxes Contemporary archival storage boxes are available in several different materials and a wide variety of sizes. This is where a textile will permanently reside, so its design and composition is important. The properties of a textile will help define the properties of the box. Where the box will spend most of its time will help define the physical composition of the box. Some things to consider when choosing a box are: ambient humidity and temperature levels, if the package needs to be completely sealed, how often a textile will need to be accessed, and if a textile needs to be folded. Textile boxes can be manufactured in a frame shop, and standard sizes are available from industry suppliers. Lignin-free boxboard containers with reinforced corners are the industry standard and are available buffered or unbuffered. Corrugated B-flute boxes are usually buffered, which is best suited for plant fibers and many synthetics. They may also be lined with unbuffered tissue for protein-based textiles. Archival corrugated polypropylene boxes require no buffering and are highly moisture resistant, a good combination for the long-term storage of wool, silk, and other protein-based textiles and blends. You can t help what happened to a textile before you receive it, but you are responsible for it while it is with you. After it leaves the shop, it is in the client s hands. You can, however, council a client on the proper storage environment and the routine maintenance of the project. A client s primary ongoing environmental considerations for textile storage are heat and humidity. Heat will accelerate negative changes in objects in general. It speeds up oxidation, literally cooking a textile as well as accelerating biological activities and overall aging. For every 10 o F increase above 70 o F, the physical processes that cause oxidation and structural breakdown approximately double. The cooler the storage area, the better, as long as it is dry. Most of the materials used for textiles are primarily made of water. These materials are called hygroscopic. The

5 moisture content of hygroscopic material continually changes, always seeking equilibrium with the relative humidity in its surrounding environment. High humidity speeds up chemical reactions that deteriorate paper and textiles. High humidity also creates inviting habitats for insects and molds. Very low humidity can desiccate materials over time. In many environments, RH rises and falls drastically in seasonal and often daily cycles. As substrates expand and contract, the near constant movement of the materials causes stress that will eventually result in permanent damage. Inspections and Rotations Regardless of how or where a textile is stored, it is necessary to inspect and reposition it and reverse the folds at least twice a year. Spring and fall are peak bug seasons; this is also when temperature and humidity are changing in most environments. This are a good time for a preservation checkup. A microscopic infestation can grow to destroy a significant amount of fabric in a few months under the right conditions. But if the steps outlined here are followed, a textile can remain safe for the foreseeable future. Paul MacFarland, MCPF, GCF, is an internationally recognized master framer and industry historian with more than 30 years of hands-on experience. His work is found in public and private collections in the Americas, Europe, and East Asia. MacFarland has been actively training custom framers, collection preparators, and art handlers since 1984 and is the founder of Art Preservation Resources, a consulting and training organization working with fine art preparation professionals, businesses, and institutions worldwide. He is the author of numerous industry articles, procedural manuals and essays, and he lectures on fine art and framing at the National Conference in Las Vegas. He has been conducting the Practical Preservation Workshop at the National Conference for the past 15 years. 44 PFM June 2015

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