Table 2: Papers and Characteristics
* Prices quoted are for the smallest size and quantity available for purchase, rolls are more economical.
In preparation for framing or storage, paper and parchment artifacts are often matted or mounted. In many instances, this is done improperly and causes additional damage rather than protecting the work of art. The boards used for matting and mounting are not always up to conservation standards. Just because a framer offers a board, it should not be assumed that it is adequate for your artifact.
Poor quality boards are acidic and can cause matt burn — a darkening where the board touches your artifact. Matt burn weakens the paper and causes it to become brittle. Always specify that you would like an acid-free, 100 percent rag, conservation-quality board. Ask to see the board and confirm the maker and grade.
There are many framer’s tapes, adhesives, and methods of adhering your artifact to the mounting board. Never use pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes, heat-activated adhesives, or “dry mounts” to attach your artifact to the mount board. These methods can discolour or stain your object, cause deformations, result in breakages as your object expands and contracts with environmental fluctuations, cause your object to become brittle, or weaken your artifact. These adhesives are difficult, if not impossible, to remove. Your artifact should never have an adhesive applied completely over the reverse or on all perimeter edges; it should be hinged at the top edge only (see Appendix 10: Matting and Framing Paper Artifacts).
Matts and mounts applied by an artist are historically and aesthetically important. They should be maintained and, if possible, incorporated into the new mounting package. If in doubt, find someone to consult prior to taking action.
When to Call a Conservator
Maintaining a collection means that with time you probably will encounter damage and problems that require the attention of a conservator. It is important to know when you should call on a specialist.
Buckling and Deformation from Plane
When parchment, vellum, and other hides begin to buckle due to high humidity or exposure to moisture, the fibres of the tissue that form the structure are losing their directionality due to a loss of tension. Some buckling is expected and, if it is minimal and does not interfere with the aesthetic appeal of the work, it may not need immediate professional treatment but may need some preventative care at home. If the deformations do affect the visual appearance of the work or are causing the paint or other decoration to flake, you should consult a conservator. The same is true for paper artifacts.
Water Damage: Tide Lines, Mildew, Mould
Tide lines occur as water and impurities are wicked through paper or other support and impurities are left behind as the water evaporates. Tide lines should be referred to a conservator since trying to remove them could result in additional movement of the impurities.
Parchment is extremely sensitive to water and moisture. Therefore any stain removal, cleaning, or repair of tears should be referred to a conservator.
Mildew refers to a specific kind of mould or fungus, usually related to agriculture, that has a powdery or downy appearance. But the term is generically used to refer to mould growth that has a flat profile.
Mould is always present in the air. Given the right environmental conditions, it will begin to grow on any suitable surface: glues; sizing applied to paper or clothes; paper; and invisible oily fingerprints. Mould colonies grow in many colours, from bright pastels to black, and are sometimes hard to detect. Often a musty odour first indicates the presence of mould or mildew. If the mould growth has not progressed too far into the structure, it can be brushed off, but this is not prudent as the spores can enter your lungs and colonize. Mould is a health hazard as well as a hazard to your artifact and should be referred to a conservator.
Tears, Breaks, and Losses
Tear, breaks, and losses should always be repaired by a conservator. Never try to fix these problems with tape or adhesive as this will often lead to additional damage and a more costly and difficult treatment later. Damaged items should be treated by a conservator but can be encapsulated or stored in an acid-free folder so that no pieces are lost until conservation treatment is possible.
Stamps
Adhesive backed stamps should be handled with great care. The humidity and oils on fingertips can easily disturb the surface of the adhesive. Always wear gloves and use wide-tipped tweezers to move stamps.
The adhesive on the back of many stamps is susceptible to high humidity that can cause the adhesive to stick to adjacent materials. Do not hinge or mount previously unused stamps with adhesives. This will lower the value of the stamp.
Many stamp collector supply houses offer photocopy protection pages, pages that prevent copying of the stamps, and black mounting pages. Tests have shown that many of these pages are acidic and will cause damage and discolouration of the stamps with long-term exposure.
Stamp storage should be uncoated polyester, acid-free buffered paper, glassine, or parchment paper. Polyester sleeves can be stored in a three ring binder, some of which “zip” open down the side for easy access and to allow viewing of both sides of the stamp. There are mounts for individual stamps that require no adhesive. Once mounted, stamps can be stored in an acid-free box.
Trading cards
There are different grades of trading cards. Common cards that are purchased in packs have a low monetary value. Popular cards that are collected because of the card image or information also are of little monetary value. Premium cards are ones that have a monetary value of over five dollars. The most valuable are sets that have been left in their original factory packaging.
Usually common cards are stored in boxes. Acid-free boxes are recommended since you never know when a common card may become valuable. Sets are also usually stored in boxes. When you buy a set, it is usually sealed in a printed Mylar (Melinex) envelope or sealed in plastic. Sets should be handled infrequently and with care. You should wear gloves because damage to the plastic or the image printed on the Mylar lowers the value of the set.
Popular and premium cards are usually stored in sleeves. There are sleeve pages that hold two to nine cards that fit into binders. There are also sleeves for single cards that would then be stored in an acid-free box. There is a wide range of different materials and quality sleeves available. It is important to insure that you are storing your trading cards in polyester sleeves. Sleeves should be acid-free, and plastic sleeves should not contain PVC. Again, always wear cotton gloves when handling premium cards.
In order to care for a book collection, it is important to understand a bit about the construction and structure of books. The text of a book, the combined printed or written pages of a book, is determined by the orientation of the text on a page, whether the paper is folded to form multiple pages, and, if so, how many times they are folded.
Unfolded paper results in two pages (leaves), front and back, per sheet of paper. These sheets can be put together, or bound, in several ways: glue/adhesive, sewing, staples or posts, oriental binding, or ring or spiral binders.