Good afternoon, MuseumLers – But do please be
aware that washing/rinsing the fabrics has some limitations that you must take
in to account. First, your water quality must be excellent (ideally deionized)
so different minerals/contaminants are not left behind in the fabric. My rule
of thumb: if you don’t drink the water yourself and/or the
bathroom/kitchen fixtures are stained from the water, you can’t use that
water for rinsing. You need to use a washing machine that has been stripped of
any/all detergent and fabric softener residue. You need either a clothesline
that can handle the yardage you will be using and/or a clothes dryer that has
never had fabric softener used in it. I always recommend that case dressing
fabrics be rinsed in order to remove/reduce the amount of finish present, check
to see if the colourant is fast (I throw in a piece of cotton muslin in with
the yardage) and won’t bleed/crock, and to allow shrinkage/physical
dimensional stability to be achieved.
…i am a big fan of
….
Does anyone have suggestions of other manufacturers or vendors?
And
there are some fibres and dyes that should not be used in conjunction with
certain types of artifacts – no amount of rinsing/washing will make a
wool-containing fabric ‘safe’ enough to use with silver-containing
artifacts for example. There are some dyes that contain sulfur and therefore
should not be used with silver-containing artifacts as well. Ideally, you would
be conducting Oddy tests on any fabric under consideration for use in a
closed-environment such as a tightly sealed exhibition case.
When
you add in this amount of hassle and the limitations, it is easy to see that buying
case dressing fabrics from vendors who do Oddy testing (like Bench Mark <www.benchmarkcatalog.com>
) or use undyed/unfinished (PDF) fabrics like those available from Testfabrics,
Inc. (www.testfabrics.com) is actually more affordable in the long run
(i.e. putting in a washer/dryer set-up; running a clothline, etc).
Regards,
Margaret
Geiss-Mooney
Textile/Costume
Conservator
Professional
Associate, AIC
========================================================= 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).
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.4.0/762 - Release Date: 4/15/2007 4:22 PM
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.4.0/762 - Release Date: 4/15/2007 4:22 PM
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).