Tag: Paper conservation

Heritage Conservation

4-day Paper Conservation Workshop Experience at HPA

A part of history dies with every lost manuscript. The knowledge of the past keeps us grounded in our traditions and guides us into our future. Therefore, we find the prospect of conserving these valuable assets incredibly exciting. With a strong yearning for learning paper conservation but no direction, we set out to find a way. During our search we came across many conservators and … Continue reading 4-day Paper Conservation Workshop Experience at HPA

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Archival Conservation, Heritage Conservation, Paper and book conservation, Paper conservation

Sellotape: How it deteriorates and changes with time

  What is sellotape?  Sellotape is basically a brand of transparent, polypropylene-based, pressure-sensitive tape. But, this term is also used for any such pressure sensitive tape of any brand. Sellotape is generally used for joining, sealing, attaching and mending.The older version of sellotape has shown some changes in its physical and chemical properties over a longer period of time due to ageing. Initially such tapes … Continue reading Sellotape: How it deteriorates and changes with time

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Sticky post
Archival Conservation, Heritage Conservation, Paper and book conservation

Aspergillus niger and Paper

Aspergillus niger is one of the most active cellulolytic fungi. The roll of drawings in the above picture is mainly infested by A. niger and Chaetomium sp. as identified from the cultures isolated from the deteriorating inner-side of the roll. This culture was maintained on potato dextrose agar slants. Following are the digital pictures of the portions of the slides that were studied under a … Continue reading Aspergillus niger and Paper

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Archival Conservation, Conservation of Paper paintings, Heritage Conservation, Paper and book conservation

Paper burnt or eaten?

  This black powdery sheet (!) is not burnt paper, but, paper eaten by fungus. Cellulolytic microorganisms are hiding nicely all around us and are much more destructively powerful than we can expect from the tiny spores. Storage enclosures that were designed and created for protection turned out to be actually working with the deteriogens (deteriorating micro-organisms), by providing them not just the ideal and … Continue reading Paper burnt or eaten?

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Archival Conservation, Conservation of Paper paintings, Heritage Conservation, Paper and book conservation

Removing Foxing is doable, but needs thorough understanding and patience too…

In paper conservation literature, there are many ways and materials advised to be used to remove foxing or at least lighten its scars. Here i am not going to suggest what to use, but would like to mention the importance of a thorough knowledge of chemistry and physics too apart from the deep appreciation of the art work and its technique! The conservator must know … Continue reading Removing Foxing is doable, but needs thorough understanding and patience too…

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Archival Conservation, Heritage Conservation, Paper and book conservation

Team working towards final steps of an intense task of books’ conservation

Team Heritage Preservation Atelier had a challenging task of conservation of a set of books that could not be digitized by a library because of the extremely brittle pages and stuck up and deteriorated condition. We started with making a detailed condition assessment report. After initial documentation, we opened up the worn out and damaged binding and treated each and every folio individually. Damaged signatures … Continue reading Team working towards final steps of an intense task of books’ conservation

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Archival Conservation, Heritage Conservation, Paper and book conservation

Studying Paper for presence of watermark and bluish tinge: Case of 150 years old drawing

The drawing under study is made in 1868 (as evident from the signature) and the watermark mentions the paper manufacturing year to be 1866. ‘Watermarks’ are markings put into paper during its production, by making thinner or thicker  layer of pulp when it is still wet. It becomes visible when paper seen with light source at the back of the paper. This drawing was created … Continue reading Studying Paper for presence of watermark and bluish tinge: Case of 150 years old drawing

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Archival Conservation, Heritage Conservation, Paper and book conservation

Case of a 150 year old engineering drawing

June 26, 2018   By Manit When we first saw the drawing on site, it appeared to be in a fairly good condition. Once it arrived in our conservation lab and we started a thorough diagnosis, there were a lot many observations and analytical details that were required to be considered before any treatment methodology could be prescribed or finalized. In this blog post we … Continue reading Case of a 150 year old engineering drawing

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Sticky post
Archival Conservation, Heritage Conservation, Paper and book conservation

Sellotape: How it deteriorates and changes with time

What is sellotape?  Sellotape is basically a brand of transparent, polypropylene-based, pressure-sensitive tape. But, this term is also used for any such pressure sensitive tape of any brand. Sellotape is generally used for joining, sealing, attaching and mending. The older version of sellotape has shown some changes in its physical and chemical properties over a longer period of time due to ageing. Initially such tapes … Continue reading Sellotape: How it deteriorates and changes with time

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Archival Conservation, Heritage Conservation

Paper and book conservation – Part 2

Two major problems associated with old paper manufactured during mid nineteenth century onward are: Brittleness Yellowing or darkening Breaking of paper due to brittleness (loss of flexibility to bend without breaking) generally occurs in very old paper which was manufactured from wood pulp technology. Other feature found in such old paper getting brittle, is yellowing or browning. Paper becomes acidic either by absorbing pollutants such … Continue reading Paper and book conservation – Part 2

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Archival Conservation, Heritage Conservation

Paper and book conservation- Part 1

To understand and master paper conservation, one must understand the composition and manufacturing of paper. The composition of paper and raw material in its making has varied since its invention in 105 AD in China. The timeline of paper manufacturing technique and composition as understood from various sources is as follows: The invention of paper by T’sai Lun, a member of Imperial Guard and Privy … Continue reading Paper and book conservation- Part 1

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Heritage Conservation, Internships

Internship Experience- June/July post 4

Interns: Chetna, Subhashini, Keerat and Lovely We have been spending time learning various methods and techniques related to archival conservation in the past few days. Lab work related to archives can be very technical and precise, and requires considerable practice and hands on training. We spent most part of the day practicing the process of archival conservation which includes:- PHOTO DOCUMENTATION The procedure begins with … Continue reading Internship Experience- June/July post 4

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Heritage Conservation, Internships

Internship Experience – June/July 2017 post 3

Internship is a pathway from studentship to professionalism.  This month’s archival conservation internship started around mid June. After the first day of simple discussion and brain-storming session, the new team learned the basics of archival conservation while working on the actual old maps starting from simpler procedures to more responsible ones. Students are slowly turning into professionals…. I feel so glad for them…. namita Continue reading Internship Experience – June/July 2017 post 3

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