Dear Kathy, From a conservation perspective I would not recommend using gallery waxes for museum objects or for valuable personal collections. I have treated numerous museum objects that have been secured on display with various waxes. This is often problematic for several reasons. When used long term, the wax will cause staining on porous materials such as unglazed ceramic, wood, leather, paper, etc. that are difficult, or impossible, to fully remove. Even on harder, stable surfaces the wax will leave a residue. The wax can also cause damage to friable surfaces such as unstable glazes or the irridescent crusts on archaeological glass. Whenever possible I would recommend securing your objects using a more stable long term solution such as a plexiglass, properly coated brass mount or an archival product like Ethafoam. When I was in college I too was not allowed to tack or nail things to the wall. I used blue-tack to secure my posters but, within months staining was visible on both the poster and the painted wall. Many dorms with this regulation provide a moulding running along the top of the wall to allow you to hang things with picture wire. Then you could frame and hang your posters. A cheaper alternative to framing are long clips that you can attach to the end of your poster which will allow for hanging off wire. Best of luck, Rachael Arenstein Assistant Conservator Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Harvard University 11 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138 tel: 617-495-2487 [log in to unmask] Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 00:49:54 -0400 From: Kathy Mancuso <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: some help needed Just out of curiousity, what do people think of the various "gallery waxes" you can buy at art supply stores? I have found that they hold fairly light objects even to textured walls, and that they are useful for leveling artwork and holding small pieces (ie lids) to clay/sculpture which is not going to be put in a vitrine, but I wonder about conservation issues and getting it off valuable objects. In my personal life (ie dorm), I have the same sort of situation--the university disallows tacks and nails, yet we have textured wallpaper (ie nothing, except gallery wax sticks!). I'm trying to figure out how to hang my collection of movie posters and art posters (which have a lot of sentimental value and would be relatively hard to replace). Suggestions? Kathy Mancuso ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).