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Preserving
Your Own Needlework Editor's Note: Jeanne Brako, curator and conservator, has studied art history and art conservation through graduate studies at New York University's Institute of Fine Art and apprenticeships. She has worked for a variety of museums, organizations and collectors, among them the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Rocky Mountain Conservation Center, the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution. She operates Art Conservation Services of Colorado, Inc. and is employed as Curator of Collections and Public Programs at the Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. On weekends, Jeanne can be found at flea markets and local garage sales looking for old textiles. |
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In museums in any city, one finds handmade artifacts from the past. Weather-beaten stone faces of antique sculpture, rounded edges of historic wooden furniture, and eroded iron grill-work of architectural features remind us how much time has passed since hands created these artifacts. Yet passing into other galleries, one is dazzled by the vivid colors of an old tapestry. In still another gallery one finds embroideries, stitches intact and carefully preserved. How surprising that these textile artifacts, made of more transitory materials than stone or wood or metal, have withstood time so well! What makes one textile last over time, while another is lost in history? Why will one embroidery remain vibrant, while another becomes fragile and tattered? Many factors influence the preservation of textiles. These include the worker's original choice of materials, the textile's construction, how the textile was used originally and later accidents of time and history. Combined, these factors will affect the rate of deterioration of textiles and determine the present condition of any textile. Textiles were not made to end up in museums. More often, they were made to be used; however, handed down through time, as cherished family heirlooms, or forgotten in an attic trunk, they find their way into our collections. Handmade textiles have become important cultural documents. Efforts have been made to preserve these artifacts for future generations. In museums textile conservators, professionals who care for textiles, attempt to minimize the natural deterioration of artifacts. The most common historical textile materials -cotton, wool, linen and silk- are organic and by their physical nature deteriorate over time. Their deterioration rates can be reduced by properly controlling their physical environment. This may be as simple as placing a fragile textile flat in an archival storage box in order to avoid folding or exposure to impure materials, or as complex as eliminating specific pollutants from the surrounding atmosphere. The textile conservator can only affect later stages in a textile's life span since the materials and construction techniques of the textiles they work with have already been determined. Conservators' preservation efforts focus on appropriate remedial treatments, storage and display techniques. Today's needleworker has the advantage of affecting the preservation of their projects from the outset. Not everyone starts out intending to make textiles that outlast a lifetime. But after so much labor many needleworkers wish to see their work preserved for family, friends and future generations. Textile conservation principles can be adapted to the care of one's own needlework at home. The following sections discuss aspects of textile construction and use that will influence the preservation of your contemporary needlework. In order to make heirloom textiles one must consider the properties of each material to be used. Their properties when new must be compared to their properties on aging. The longevity of the textile will be influenced by all the components acting together in the finished piece as well as the characteristics of any associated materials, such as backboards and framing materials. All textile materials should be washed before using. Threads, yarns and fabrics can contain excess dyes that interfere with later attempts to clean textiles. Finishing processes may introduce detrimental chemicals to the fiber structure. Not all yarns and fabrics are preshrunk. At high relative humidities the individual yarns may expand in cross-section making the fabric shorter in length and width. The use of silk in historic textiles provides a good illustration of the variables involved in textile aging. Silk has often been chosen as an art fiber because it is the strongest of the common natural fibers for its weight, and also because it is considered a luxury fiber. As a luxury fiber, it is often used for highlights or accents in needlework. While silk is the strongest of the natural fibers when new, silk weakens over time, especially with prolonged exposure to light and in acidic environments. The problem is compounded when silk is mixed with other fibers, especially the more hygroscopic (moisture absorbing) fibers such as cotton and linen. One has only to look at antique needlepoint textiles to observe silk's potential for deterioration. Many needlepoint textiles consist of wool stitching on linen grounds with silk highlights. The foundation, generally linen, tends to retain more strength than silk on aging, but swells as the moisture in the air increases. This slight swelling is often enough to break weakened silk threads. Adjacent wool areas are often in better shape than silk areas, as wool tends to stretch farther before breaking. Silk, as the weak component of the structure, tends to be acted on by all the stressing features and is often found in fragile condition. The best foundation for a needlework would be a fabric composed of a single fiber type which has good preservation characteristics. Stitching threads could be chosen to match the foundation. For instance, cotton embroidery floss might be most compatible on a cotton foundation. However, strength characteristics might be more important in a foundation fabric than in a stitching thread. As a materials choice, polyester on polyester may prove to be one of the most archival fiber/fabric choices as it shows less aging characteristics under typical display conditions. Not everyone is ready to base their choice of materials on longevity alone! Since materials are mixed for a variety of reasons in needlework, controlling other factors in preservation may be a more easily practiced approach. Certain storage and display methods may help to protect more fragile fabric/fiber choices. First, one must identify a suitable storage area. The best storage area would prevent light exposure and provide a clean and insect free environment with stable temperature and relative humidity. Storage in attics is discouraged as the temperature tends to fluctuate widely. Storage in basements is also discouraged as insect and moisture problems are common. Find a location that has a steady relative humidity in the 40-45% range.1 Low temperatures are preferable, but a steady RH is more important than maintaining a specific temperature. Keep temperatures low (below 680C), but above freezing.2 Unframed two-dimensional needlework should be stored flat in archival storage boxes between layers of acid-free tissue. These supplies are available from a number of archival and conservation supply companies.3 It is best to purchase shallow boxes so that layering within the box is avoided or kept to a minimum. In museums, layering is discouraged and many textiles are stored individually. A number of companies sell over-sized boxes (up to 8' long), for accommodating the flat storage of large items. If your needlework will not fit into an archival box without folding, it is recommended that folding occur in one direction only and that the folds be gentle and padded. "Draping" might be a better word to describe the end effect. Lightweight tubes of acid-free tissue covering polyester batting or acid-free tissue alone can provide padding. Three-dimensional items should be placed in appropriately sized boxes and padded to retain their shape. Larger needlework can sometimes be rolled onto tubes, but this will depend on the structure and condition of the piece. Many historic pieces are too fragile or damaged to roll or have linings that will cause creasing within the roll. In general, stable, flexible, smooth-textured contemporary pieces without linings or metal threads can be considered for rolling. The greater the tube diameter, the less stress from bending on the needlework. Acid-free tubes can be
purchased4 or cardboard tubes can be covered with polyethylene
sheeting5 to protect the textile from damaging acidic components of many paper products. Acid-free tissue or unsized cotton may be placed between the textile and the plastic. A dust cover of clean, unsized
cotton6 and/or polyethylene should be provided over the rolled textile. Complete instructions for rolling are available from the Canadian Conservation
Institute7 and have been given in numerous articles. Insect infestations should be eradicated as soon as possible. While paradichlorobenzine (mothballs) treatments used to be common, new information on the toxicity of mothballs has caused a reevaluation of this method. Also, PDB can cause fiber discoloration, disfiguring textiles. Freezing at extremely low temperatures is currently a popular method of eradication of moths and other insects in some museums and deserves consideration. Contact your local museum or conservator for updated information on this method. A vacuuming screen for textile surfaces can be made by placing a piece of fine nylon netting over a smooth embroidery hoop. The needlework is placed flat on a clean table with the screen placed against the area to be vacuumed. The vacuum suction should be low or the nozzle should be held slightly away from the screen surface as each area of the needlework is vacuumed. The screen should be lifted and moved rather than dragged along the textile's surface. Fragile needlework should not be vacuumed in this manner. Mounting methods are important aspects of display. Often a supplementary backing or framework is required. Mounting methods should not place undue stress on a needlework and, in theory, should work to alleviate stresses of hanging. Materials used for mounting should be archival or appropriately barriered from the needlework. Archival mounting will be addressed in a subsequent article. The glass or plexiglass must not touch the surface of the textile in order to avoid crushing the fibers and to inhibit condensation. Glare-proof glass is not recommended, as it must be placed directly against a surface for clarity. A space of at least 1/4" is needed from the highest point of the textile to the glass, and additional space is needed with plexiglass to avoid static build-up. 100% rag matboard, plexiglass strips or slit polyethylene tubing can be used as spacers between the textile and the glass or plexi. Shadowbox frames (frames with a large space built between the item to be framed and the glass) and plexiglass boxes are also recommended. No metal, tape, cardboard or unsealed wood should be in direct contact with the needlework. Dust covers or protective backings, if in direct contact with the needlepoint, should be of archival materials, such as 100% rag matboard. Backboards are recommended, to protect the needlework from puncturing. Backboards are often incorporated into the mounting procedure. Many framers provide museum quality or conservation framing. Be sure to request these services and ask the framer about the materials and techniques that they will be using. Light affects textiles, as it does all organic materials, by breaking chemical bonds, causing weakening and fading. Higher frequency (bluer) light has more energy and can do more damage. Protection against ultraviolet rays, primarily found in daylight and fluorescent lighting, is most important. The damaging effects of light are related to the amount of illumination multiplied by the time of exposure. This means that light damage can be reduced by lessening the amount of time a piece is lit, or by choosing less intense illumination, or both. Recommended light levels in museums are generally 50 lux8 or below, with display limited to 3 months. As an example, a bare 100 watt bulb would provide 14 lux on a surface 100 ft. away9. Often light levels can be minimized simply by choosing the right location for a needlework Locations under skylights and across from bright windows will provide too much light. Choose low light areas without direct sunlight. Artificial light should be limited to low wattage bulbs or should incorporate dimmers to allow reduced light levels. Any light sources which produce heat must be kept away from artwork Painting the adjacent walls a light color will provide reflected light and will make the piece easier to see in low light conditions. The rate at which textiles fade is dependent on the amount of light the textile has been exposed to and the lightfastness of the dye used to color the fibers. The more lightfast the dye, the longer it will take to fade. Simple experiments can be done to determine the lightfastness of colored stitching threads before they are used when this information is not available from shops or manufacturers. Yarns or threads can be wound around two 1" strips of matboard. The date is written on the strips and one board is placed in a bright window for a number of weeks, while the other is placed in a paper sleeve in a drawer. The strips are periodically compared to observe the fading rates of the various colors. The less faded colors or brands would be the better yarn or thread choices for making heirloom needlework. Whether contemporary or historic, there are many variables that need to be considered when striving to preserve needlework This article has drawn on some of the major principles of textile conservation and applied them to the construction and preservation of contemporary needlework Each section could be the topic of an article in its own right. We encourage you to apply some of these principles to your own work, creating needlework that will last for future generations. Footnotes |
