Good morning, MuseumLers - My first thoughts on these "recommendations" would not be appropriate to report in this forum. First off, the OxyClean products are meant for the consumer market and not the archival/museum/preservation market (meaning that there are all sorts of unwanted additives in the formulations and that the formulations change without notice). Next, which OxyClean product is being recommended as there are at least 9 being marketed for use in the laundry and others for non-laundry use. Most of the OxyClean products are based on a hydrogen peroxide bleach. Some formulations also have detergents and optical brighteners (not appropriate for archival/museum) . Even on the container, it states not to use OxyClean on wool, wool blends, silk, silk blends, or on fabrics labeled dry clean only. And that the OxyClean works best in warm to hot water. So the answer in one word to the question "Is OxyClean safe for historic textiles": No.
There was no mention of checking for water/wash fastness, no mention of water quality, no mention of water quantity, no mention of the current physical condition of the quilt, no mention of the fibre content of all the components of the quilt, no mention of the size of the quilt compared to the size of the washing machine, no mention of the condition of the washing machine (used for everyday washing of household using what kind of quantities of detergent and fabric softeners), no mention of getting the spun-out quilt out of the machine, no mention of how to lay the quilt out safely to dry, etc., etc.
Now getting off her soapbox (that does not contain optical brighteners, dyes, nor perfumes) now.
Please feel free to contact me off-list for any further clarifications.
Regards,
Meg
. _ _ _ _ _ ______
Margaret E. Geiss-Mooney
Textile/Costume Conservator &
Collections Management Consultant
Professional Associate - AIC
707-763-8694
[log in to unmask]
...about cleaning an antique quilt. We talked about surface cleaning and hand cleaning with our old standby Orvus. But she had apparently talked with an antique quilt "expert" (non-museum) about cleaning it earlier and that person told her the following: Fill up her washer with cold water and add Oxyclean. Soak the quilt without aggitation and then spin the water out. Have to be honest. I cringed. But my question to you is....is Oxyclean safe for historic textiles? Maybe I need to update my conservation knowledge, but I haven't heard anything about using it. Any thoughts?
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