Thank you to everyone for the helpful responses! We will certainly proceed very carefully with this object. Best, Michele On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 2:23 PM, David Harvey <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > A caveat on the excellent reply from Marc. > > Ivory is extremely sensitive to changes in RH - splitting often happens, > especially if there is a pin or bolster or other metallic or inorganic > material affixed to the ivory. So RH must be lowered very slowly - ramped > down no more than 5% at a time. > > Approach it like you are climbing a mountain and you need to ascend a > litlle - take time to acclimate - the go up a little more - and so on. In > order to do this you don't have to involve your whole HVAC system - because > changing your RH set-point by 30%% in a whole collection can have lots of > consequences - some good, some not so good. You can make an individual > housing for the affected object and use pre-conditioned silica gel along > with an RH indicator and slowly introduce higher or lesser RH in a very > controlled way. I have done this when treating archaeological leather shoes > hundreds of years old from wet well sites and also with dessicated brittle > leather shoes recovered from 14,000 ft. mountains. > > Cheers! > Dave > > David Harvey > Senior Conservator & Museum Consultant > Los Angeles CA > www.cityofangelsconservation.weebly.com > > > On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 10:30 AM, Marc A Williams <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > >> ** >> Michele, >> >> Mold will grow on almost any organic material if the conditions are >> right. In a collection, the only reason active mold is not found >> everywhere is that the RH generally is below 70% most of the time. If it >> is not, mold will grow. So, first, you need to look at the area where the >> figurine was located and see if any other items have mold on them. Then, >> you need to lower the RH in that location. In the mean time, put the >> figurine in a lower RH, ideally 40%-50%, and the mold will become >> inactive. It will not become active unless the RH again goes too high. If >> the areas are small, and you are not particularly sensitive to mold, you >> can remove it with a very slightly dampened cotton cloth or Q-tip. >> Hopefully, if you caught it early enough, there will not be any staining of >> the underlying surfaces. Wear a respirator and gloves if you have health >> concerns. Again, everybody is different, but I have removed mold from >> hundreds of objects and architectural surfaces without using a respirator >> and have not had any problems. That's just my personal experience, YMMV. >> >> This is a bit of an unusual time of year for active mold growth, at least >> in locations where heat is required. Usually, the RH this time of year is >> low, even lower than desired for collections preservation unless >> humidification equipment is installed. So, be sure that it is actually >> mold, and not, for example, degradation of some sort of coating or >> treatment that was applied in the past. If it is mold, it would be useful >> to try and determine why that location had so much moisture present. The >> figurine may just be the canary in the coal mine, and is tipping you off to >> another problem. If you would like to provide some more details, I would >> be happy to see if I can assist you further. A detailed photo would be >> helpful, but please email it directly to me and not the list. >> >> Marc >> >> American Conservation Consortium, Ltd. >> 4 Rockville Road >> Broad Brook, CT 06016 >> www.conservator.com >> 860-386-6058 >> >> *Collections Preservation Consultation >> *Conservation Assessments & Surveys >> *Environmental Monitoring & Low-Tech Control >> *Moisture Management Solutions >> *Collections in Historic Structures >> *Collections Care Grant Preparation >> *Conservation Treatment of: >> Furniture >> Painted Wood >> Horse-Drawn Vehicles >> Architectural Interiors >> Decorative Objects & Folk Art >> >> Marc A. Williams, President >> MS in Art Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program >> Former Chief Wooden Objects Conservator, Smithsonian Institution >> Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC) >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> *From:* Michele Frederick <[log in to unmask]> >> *To:* [log in to unmask] >> *Sent:* Friday, March 08, 2013 9:18 AM >> *Subject:* [MUSEUM-L] Treating Mold on Ivory? >> >> Hello all, >> >> While working on an inventory of some objects in our collection yesterday >> I found what I'm pretty sure is live mold on an elephant figurine. The >> figure is wood but the tusks and eyes are ivory, and except for a few spots >> over the body, most of the mold was growing on the ivory tusks. I've >> isolated the object, but we are at a loss about how to attempt to kill the >> mold without damaging the object. We have a small freezer that we've used >> to treat works on paper and textiles in the past, but are worried about >> what freezing something made of these materials could do. Has anyone had to >> deal with this problem before and has some suggestions? >> >> Thanks so much, >> >> Michele >> >> -- >> Michele L. Frederick >> >> MA, Art History and Museum Studies >> Curatorial Assistant, College Art Collections >> Berea College >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: >> http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: >> http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 >> > > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > -- Michele L. Frederick MA, Art History and Museum Studies Curatorial Assistant, College Art Collections Berea College ========================================================= 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).