Posts Tagged: paintings
Collection Care Series: Enemy #6: The Gang
This week, we’ll be talking about our next enemy, which is really a collection of enemies. I call it: The Gang.
There’s nobody really new here. I just wanted to emphasize that you can get multiple enemies working together, and this type of situation will destroy your treasures even more quickly!
Some dangerous combinations you frequently find are light and heat, humidity/moisture and heat, moisture and insects, and moisture and mold. Or if you’re really unlucky, you can even get moisture, heat, insects, And mold all together! That’s…not a situation you want to find yourself in.
In general terms, for the types of vulnerable materials we’ve been talking about over the last few weeks—like paintings, papers, photos and negatives, wooden items, musical instruments, plastics—you want to avoid bright, direct light, such as sunlight or fluorescent lights. Keep the humidity and temperature moderate—if it’s uncomfortable for you, it’s probably uncomfortable for your treasures.
Avoid really warm areas like attics and garages. Cold is generally okay, but you want to avoid rapid fluctuations in temperature, which can cause rapid humidity fluctuations. Keeping the temperature and humidity stable is also generally more important than maintaining a specific number. Of course, you don’t want the humidity to go over about 70% since that leaves your items susceptible to mold and insect infestations.
For storage, you want to use acid-free, archival materials. Food-grade plastic storage boxes and food storage bags are good choices. Avoid cardboard and newspaper! Don’t store your treasures in areas that aren’t climate controlled—like attics and garages, or in basements where they can get flooded. If you do need to store things in a basement, use plastic storage boxes and try to raise them at least a few inches off the floor.
If you’ve missed any of the previous posts, you can go back and check them out here.
What storage and display concerns have you identified over the last few weeks? Tell me in the comments.
Missed the previous posts? Start at the beginning of the collection care series here.
Want to stay up to date and see more of what I’m working on? Sign up for my mailing list here and get a FREE collection care resource guide. (I promise not to be spammy with my emails—I hate that too!)
Collection Care Series: Enemy #3: Heat
This week, we’ll be talking about our next enemy: Heat.
There are two issues with heat as far as your collections go. First, we have a bit of a chemistry-based issue. Higher temperatures increase chemical reaction rates and many deterioration processes are due to chemical reactions. So storing your item somewhere hot will cause it to deteriorate faster, even in the absence of other risk factors, such as light, which we talked about here. Secondly, higher temperatures usually result in lower relative humidity levels. If you missed it, we discussed problems related to humidity here.
Some items that can be damaged by heat include plastics, photos and negatives, paintings, and musical instruments. For these materials, avoid rapid changes in temperature, which can cause rapid humidity fluctuations. Plastics and photographic negatives are particularly susceptible to chemical degradation, which is accelerated at high temperatures. Avoid storing them in areas that can get very warm, such as attics or garages. You also want to keep in mind that when very cold, plastics get brittle and are vulnerable to damage from dropping or crushing. Again, don’t store them in places like attics and garages, since these areas tend to experience extremes and rapid changes in temperature and humidity levels.
Where do you store your vulnerable treasures? Tell me in the comments.
Check out the next post in the collection care series here.
Missed the previous posts? Start at the beginning of the collection care series here.
Want to stay up to date and see more of what I’m working on? Sign up for my mailing list here and get a FREE collection care resource guide. (I promise not to be spammy with my emails—I hate that too!)
Collection Care Series: Enemy #2: Moisture
This week, we’ll be talking about our next enemy: Moisture.
Moisture, in particular humidity, is a tricky matter. If it’s too high, bad things happen. If it’s too low, bad things can also happen! The humidity level that’s best for your treasure depends on what material it’s made from as well as what environment it’s used to.
Obviously, you want to avoid getting your items really wet—floods can do a Lot of damage. Fun fact: I spent over three and a half years conserving a huge archaeological collection that was damaged by flooding from a hurricane. But with some materials—primarily organic materials like wood, paper, leather, etc, you also want to keep them from getting too dry. Organic materials shrink and swell with changes in humidity. This physical action itself can cause problems over time—the repeated fluctuating and bending can weaken the material and cause cracks and breaks.
Items that are made of two or more materials that respond to humidity differently are even more vulnerable, since the different responses cause increased stresses within the object itself. This can cause breakage where, for example, a metal knife blade inserts into a wooden handle or where leather is wrapped around something moisture-resistant like metal or stone. You can also get damage where humidity fluctuations cause paint to crack and detach from the substrate.
Wood really doesn’t like being very dry—it shrinks and cracks along the grain. Wooden musical instruments are very susceptible to this this. They are also often made of multiple incompatible materials—stringed instruments like violins are a prime example. There’s a reason they sell so many different types of humidifiers for instrument cases. And if you live in a dry area (or have cold winters, with low indoor humidity from your heating system) and have a violin or similar instrument and you don’t have some sort of humidification system (and a hygrometer to measure humidity levels), please get one! They don’t have to be high tech or super expensive, but they can prevent a lot of damage.
On the other end of the humidity spectrum, you don’t want your items exposed to very high levels of humidity for extended periods of time either. Wood and other organic materials will swell and can crack or stick, paper can buckle. And if your relative humidity level goes (and stays) about 60%, you can get…Mold!
Mold can be a real pain. And it brings with it some health risks, particularly for sensitive people. Everyone’s heard about the deadly black mold, that makes people so sick, right? Well, most of the time, when you get mold it’s not going to be that type, so you can relax a bit. But you still don’t want it on your treasures! Mold can cause discoloration on paintings, papers, and photos. And it can be a difficult to get rid of—try and prevent it if you can. Your life will be so much easier!
If you do have some minor mold on one of your treasures, manual removal (a soft brush works well), preferably outdoors or using a HEPA filtered vacuum and a dust mask (you need one with an N95 rating—it will filter out mold spores) works well. If you have large amounts mold, discoloration from mold, or many items with mold (flooded basement, anyone?), your best option is to contact a professional conservator for treatment.
Like with light damage, it’s best to prevent moisture damage from occurring in the first place. If you have susceptible materials, store them in an area where humidity doesn’t get too high or too low. Avoid storing susceptible items, like paper, paintings, wood, photos, and musical instruments in places like attics or basements. You should also keep in mind the environment your object is used to. For example, if you have a violin that’s spent its entire life in a very dry environment, you don’t want to suddenly raise the humidity to 60% or something. That will just cause problems. If it’s happy and accustomed to a certain environment, there’s no need to change it. What you really want to avoid is sudden or short-term humidity fluctuations.
What treasures do you have that could be damaged by moisture issues? Have you had any water disasters, like a flooded basement? Tell me in the comments!
Check out the next post in the series here.
Missed the previous posts? Start at the beginning of the collection care series here.
Want to stay up to date and see more of what I’m working on? Sign up for my mailing list here and get a FREE collection care resource guide. (I promise not to be spammy with my emails—I hate that too!)
Collection Care Series: Enemy #1: Light
Fun fact: I actually trained and worked as a museum conservator for a number of years. I specialized in archaeological and ethnographic materials, but also covered the basics of conservation of most traditional fine art and decorative art materials—you never know what you’re going to encounter, particularly with ethnographic objects!
Everyone has their ‘treasures’ that they want to preserve for as long as possible, right? Maybe it’s a crayon drawing from your first child. Maybe it’s something you inherited from your grandparents. Or maybe it’s a piece of art you got at a fair and just really enjoy. Whatever it is, you want it to last, so I thought it might be helpful to go over basic care information for some of the more common materials found in peoples’ houses. We’ll do this as a multi-part series, where I’ll focus on a different collection risk factor each week and which materials are most at risk. As a bonus, I put together a short guide covering some common items with simple recommendations for storage or display as well as a list of resources where you can get more information or professional conservation services. You can get it here.
Enemy #1: Light
This week, we’ll be talking about the first ‘enemy,’ Light.
Light can cause a lot of damage, particularly UV light. I’m not going to go into the chemistry involved in light damage (I mean, I totally could, but I don’t want to bore everyone to tears!), so just keep in mind that sunlight and fluorescent lights can be particularly damaging.
Some common items that can be damaged by light include paintings, paper, photos and negatives, and plastics. Plastics are actually becoming increasingly common in museum collections and despite all the press about them never breaking down, plastics can degrade quite badly and pose a lot of problems for preservation. So, you know those plastic dinosaurs or toy horses you had as a kid that you want to hang on to? They need a little TLC to keep them in good shape.
On of the main signs of light damage is fading and discoloration. Along with discoloration, many materials will also become quite brittle. Both are signs of the underlying chemical deterioration that is taking place. Places you’ll see light damage are with paintings, particularly things like watercolors, and prints on paper, as well as photos and negatives. You may notice that artwork that was displayed near a window has faded or discolored. Also, some colors are affected more than others, so the overall color of the print will have shifted. Reds and blues are often the first victims of light damage. Plastics will discolor and, if originally colored, will fade as well, often getting a hazy, whitish film on the surface. You see this sometimes on older plastic playground equipment, since it’s exposed to the sunlight all the time.
Now, unfortunately, light damage is cumulative and permanent. If you have something that’s faded or discolored from light, there’s no fixing it. But you can help prevent further damage by limiting the amount of light it’s exposed to in the future. If your treasure hasn’t been damaged by light yet, fantastic! Let’s keep it that way so you can enjoy it for years to come.
As far as preventing light damage, it’s really quite simple: don’t expose your item to a lot of light. I don’t mean you have to keep everything in complete darkness all the time (though that’s the best way to prevent light damage). After all, you still want to enjoy your treasures, otherwise what’s the point? Just keep them away from bright light. Don’t hang them near windows or under fluorescent lights. If you have something like a really old photo you want to display but don’t want to damage (or damage further), consider getting it reprinted on modern photo paper and displaying that. You can then keep the original stored away from light entirely to preserve it as long as possible.
There’s a peculiarity you should know about with oil paintings, however. You should avoid storing oil paintings in complete darkness as this will cause the linseed oil in the paint to darken or yellow. This color change is different from the light damage we’ve been talking about, however, and actually can be reversed by placing the painting in natural light for a few days.
Do you have any treasures that you think are vulnerable to light damage? Let me know in the comments!
Check out the next post in the collection care series here.
Want to stay up to date and see more of what I’m working on? Sign up for my mailing list here and get a FREE collection care resource guide. (I promise not to be spammy with my emails—I hate that too!)