Lisa,

You have to be extremely cautious about using those cotton gloves with the 
"grip" dots.

As a conservator I (and many colleagues) have seen metal tarnish and transfer 
marks on other museum objects from using those type gloves. A conservation 
scientist from CCI (The Canadian Conservation Institute) heard about this and 
did a test on those gloves and found that they contained a plasticizer that 
transferred to the objects. I did a feature on the use of gloves in conservation 
and museums for the New Materials and Research Column that I edit for the AIC 
News (American Institute for Conservation) last year. 

The text of that column follows my signature line.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Objects Specialty Group Chair Emeritus, AIC
Conservator
Los Angeles, California  USA
_________________________________________________
Cotton Gloves:

An interesting discussion recently arose on the ConsDist List in regard to a 
query about dotted cotton gloves by an English colleague. Several respondents 
noted observable problems with the use of these gloves – that tarnish and 
corrosion had occurred in the pattern of the dots in metals and also on gilded 
frames. Some had observed transfers of the dot pattern to glass and ceramics 
objects as well.

Scott Williams, Senior Conservation Scientist at The Canadian Conservation 
Institute (CCI) conducted some analysis and posted his response about the 
composition of these gloves, widely used in the museum and preservation community.

“During a recent IR spectroscopic analysis site visit I was handling
glass microscope slides with gloves having knobby fingergrips and I
noticed the creation of a spotted pattern on the glass.  I pressed
one of these nodules against the ATR crystal of my TravelIR
spectrometer and obtained a spectrum of phthalate plasticized
poly(vinyl chloride).  When I removed the glove from the crystal a
residue was left which produced a spectrum of phthalate plasticizer.
As a result of recent notices on the Conservation DistList I decided
to  repeat the analysis for confirmation.  I obtained three gloves of
this  type from staff at CCI.  These three gloves look identical to
each other and had been previous used.  Unfortunately their
containers have been lost and their source is unknown.  They are
made of four separate pieces of fabric--two pieces with nodules, two
without.  The palm and palm side of four fingers are made from one
piece of knobby fabric and the palm side of the thumb from a second.
The back of the hand is made of a single piece of fabric without
nodules and the back of the thumb is made from another piece of the
same fabric.  There are three gathers about 2.5 inches long along
the top of the knuckles parallel to the fingers.  One glove has a
label bearing the inscription--"84%Cotton 16%PVC Made in China
RN#65739".

Nodules of all three were analyzed as described above and have the
same composition.  The nodules are made of phthalate plasticized
poly(vinyl chloride).  All leave a residue of dioctyl phthalate on
the ATR crystal after being pressed against it.  In some cases the
residue  also seems to contain particles of plasticized poly(vinyl
chloride), presumably fragments of the nodules that have broken off
and deposited on the crystal.

Stock suggests that grip marks on silver indicate the presence of
sulfur. This may be true if the nodules are made of something that
contains sulfur, such as sulfur vulcanized rubber, perhaps the
"rubber compound" cited by Harvey.  However, in the case of the
gloves  I analyzed, sulfur tarnishing is unlikely.  A much more
likely  scenario is corrosion by acidic products from hydrolysis of
the phthalate ester plasticizer (perhaps catalyzed by the metal).
Yvonne Shashoua described the production of phthalic acid from
hydrolysis  of phthalate plasticizers in her PhD thesis entitled
"Inhibiting the deterioration of plasticized poly(vinyl chloride)",
pp 36-37.

Whether a product is likely to transfer material to an object can be 
assessed  by using the technique of pressing the product against a
freshly cleaned microscope slide or polished metal surface (or any
other  polished surface of interest) then observing the polished
surface by holding it so that the specular reflection from a broad
light  source such as a window can be seen.  If material is
transferred it will be revealed by imperfections in the reflection.
This will show transfer by simple contact.  A different test where
the product is dragged across the polished surface will show if
material  can be transferred by rubbing, which might happen with soft
materials, such as the nodules on the gloves.  Neither test shows if
material  can be transferred to rough surfaces by abrasion.”

R. Scott Williams
Senior Conservation Scientist (Chemist)
Conservation Processes and Materials Research
Canadian Conservation Institute
613-998-3721
Fax: 613-998-4721

Other issues where research may prove helpful in regard to the use of gloves 
in the museum and preservation communities may be the wicking of perspiration 
and moisture from skin to fabric to object, a determination of the transfer of 
surface dirt and chemicals from gloves to objects, and the proper cleaning 
protocol for cotton gloves to avoid the presence of detergents and chemicals 
from washings so that they can be safely reused. 

A wide array of people beyond conservators use cotton gloves when handling 
art, objects, and artifacts in personal and institutional collections so it is 
important for us all to be aware of potential problems with the materials that 
comprise the gloves and also the practices in their use. 

- David Harvey
- editor

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