The Textile Specialty Group

THE TEXTILE SPECIALTY GROUP American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works 38th Annual Meeting Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2010 Edited by Joel Thompson Amanda Holden Glenn Petersen Sarah Stevens VOLUME TWENTY PREFACE The twentieth volume of POSTPRINTS contains papers presented at the Textile Specialty Group (TSG) session of the annual meeting of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works (AIC), in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from May 11-14, 2010. TSG POSTPRINTS is a non-juried publication. Submission of these papers to juried publications, such as the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, is encouraged. The papers, chosen from abstracts submitted to the Meeting Chair, Denise Migdail, Textile Specialty Group Vice Chair for 2009- 2010, are published as submitted by the authors. Editing of papers was done according to the Journal of American Institute of Conservation’s Guidelines for Authors and AIC’s best practices guidelines for print and electronic publications. Materials and methods presented within the papers should not be considered official statements of either the Textile Specialty Group or of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works. The Editors wish to thank the contributors to this publication for their cooperation and timeliness. Without their enthusiasm and hard work this publication would not have been possible. Special thanks are extended to Translation Services USA, LLC, for translating the abstracts into Spanish. Thanks also are due to to Joel Thompson, who laid out the volume using Adobe Indesign. Publication of this volume of the Textile Specialty Group Postprints is made possible with funding from the Harpers Ferry Regional Textile Group, organizer of conferences on textile preservation from 1978 to 1992. Textile Specialty Group Postprints Volume 20 (2010) vii POSTPRINTS of the Textile Specialty Group, Volume Twenty, 2010, is published by the Textile Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works. POSTPRINTS is distributed to members of the Textile Specialty Group. Additional copies may be purchased from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works, 1717 K Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20006. http://aic.stanford.edu. Papers presented in this publication have been edited for clarity and content but have not undergone a formal process of peer review. Responsibility for methods and/or materials described herein rests solely with the contributors and should not be considered official statements of the Textile Specialty Group or AIC. Volume 20 © 2010 American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works The Textile Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works ISSN 1524-3664 In no event will Omnipress or its suppliers be liable for any consequential or incidental damages to your hardware or other soft- ware resulting from the installation and/or use of this product. No part of the product navigation and "Help" files may be reproduced or used without written permission from Omnipress. © 2010 Omnipress - All rights reserved. CONTENTS PREFACE i-viii CONSERVATION OF A FELT SCULPTURE ERIN ESLINGER 1-8 EVALUATION OF THE FORMS SUPPORTING ICONIC COSTUMES AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY: WASHINGTON, FRANKLIN, LINCOLN & THE FIRST LADIES SUNAE PARK EVANS 9-21 CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS: SHARING CONSERVATION INFORMATION IN AZERBAIJAN PATRICIA EWER 22-30 NOT MUCH LEFT: DIGITALLY RECREATING UPHOLSTERY IS A GROUP EFFORT ANN FRISINA 31-40 FINDING SUPPORT: REASSESSING & DEVELOPING A NEW SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR ORIGINAL UPHOLSTERY G. GUIDESS, W. DONNELLY, J. GARDINER AND J. WICKENS 41-54 THE USES OF NONWOVEN FABRICS IN CONSERVATION CATALINA HERNÁNDEZ 55-66 REVISITING THE TREATMENT OF 12TH CENTURY MONGOLIAN DEELS ALLISON MC CLOSKEY, MYAGMARSUREN BUTEMJ AND CYNTHIA LUK 67-75 THE NEW YORK STATE BATTLE FLAG PRESERVATION PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER SARAH C. STEVENS 76-87 CONTENTS COMPARATIVE APPROACHES IN TEXTILE CONSERVATION: THE WHALLEY ABBEY VESTMENTS & ALTAR FRONTAL LEANNE C. TONKIN 88-101 THE EFFECTS OF LONG TERM DISPLAY ON PREVIOUS TREATMENTS ABBY ZOLDOWSKI 102-113 EXPANDED ABSTRACT THE CONSERVATION OF THREE HAWAIIAN FEATHER CLOAKS ELIZABETH NUNAN AND AIMÉE DUCEY 114 POSTER SESSION FAILURE TO BIND: A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE AGEING OF HOOK AND LOOP FASTENERS JOY GARDINER AND JOSEPH WEBER 115-120 WEAVERS PROTECTING THEIR OWN HERITAGE: A CONSERVATOR’S EXPERIENCE IN THE COMMUNITY MUSEUM OF TEOTITLÁN DEL VALLE, OAXACA, MEXICO HECTOR MANUEL MENESES LOZANO 121-127 THE CONSERVATION OF A HISTORICAL OBJECT: THE FLAG ON WHICH CHILEAN INDEPENDENCE WAS SWORN IN 1818 CATALINA RIVERA AND FRANCISCA CAMPOS 128-134 RESEARCH AND TECHNICAL STUDIES SPECIAL SESSION: MICROFADING ORIEL MICROFADING TESTER (MFT): A BRIEF DESCRIPTION JAMES DRUZIK 135-143 COMPARISON OF FIVE MICROFADING TESTER (MFT) DESIGNS JAMES DRUZIK AND CHRISTEL PESME 144-156 PROTECTING THE MOST IMPORTANT, MOST EXHIBITED AND MOST FUGITIVE MUSEUM OBJECTS FROM LIGHT-FADING BRUCE FORD AND NICOLA SMITH 156-166 MICROFADE TESTING OF 19TH CENTURY IRON GALL INKS SEASON TSE, SHERRY GUILD, VALERIA ORLANDINI AND MARIA TROJAN-BEDYNSKI 167-180 DEVELOPMENT OF A MICROFADING TESTER FOR LIGHT EXPOSURES INCLUDING NEAR-ULTRAVIOLET WAVELENGTHS CHONG TAO AND PAUL M. WHITMORE 181-189 Textile Specialty Group Postprints Volume 20 (2010) vi PREFACE The twentieth volume of POSTPRINTS contains papers presented at the Textile Specialty Group (TSG) session of the annual meeting of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works (AIC), in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from May 11-14, 2010. TSG POSTPRINTS is a non-juried publication. Submission of these papers to juried publications, such as the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, is encouraged. The papers, chosen from abstracts submitted to the Meeting Chair, Denise Migdail, Textile Specialty Group Vice Chair for 2009- 2010, are published as submitted by the authors. Editing of papers was done according to the Journal of American Institute of Conservation’s Guidelines for Authors and AIC’s best practices guidelines for print and electronic publications. Materials and methods presented within the papers should not be considered official statements of either the Textile Specialty Group or of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works. The Editors wish to thank the contributors to this publication for their cooperation and timeliness. Without their enthusiasm and hard work this publication would not have been possible. Special thanks are extended to Translation Services USA, LLC, for translating the abstracts into Spanish. Thanks also are due to to Joel Thompson, who laid out the volume using Adobe Indesign. Publication of this volume of the Textile Specialty Group Postprints is made possible with funding from the Harpers Ferry Regional Textile Group, organizer of conferences on textile preservation from 1978 to 1992. Textile Specialty Group Postprints Volume 20 (2010) vii Textile Specialty Group Postprints Volume 20 (2010) viii CONSERVATION OF A FELT SCULPTURE ERIN ESLINGER ABSTRACT – A 1968 untitled felt sculpture by Richard Morris was treated to correct holes, tears, and misshap- ing from hanging. The sculpture consists of eight large layered rectangular panels of wool felt with horizontal slits, with the top corner of each panel fitted with grommets to permit the panels to be hung in a large swag effect. Treatment was carried out by the author at the Midwest Art Conservation Center in the summer of 2009. Distorted areas of the felt were reshaped and a needle felting technique was used to reinforce and repair the weakened and damaged areas. The metal grommets were removed and replaced. The treatment successfully al- lowed the sculpture to be safely displayed with minimal visibility of the repair. CONSERVACIÓN DE UNA ESCULTURA EN TELA: RESUMEN – Se trató una escultura sin título de 1968 realizada por Richard Morris para corregir perforaciones, rasgones y deformaciones debido al colgado. La escultura consta de ocho grandes paneles de tela de lana rectangulares dispuestos en capas con aberturas hori- zontales, con ojales en el extremo superior de cada panel para poder colgarlos creando un gran efecto de festón. El tratamiento fue realizado por el autor en Midwest Art Conservation Center en verano de 2009. Las áreas distorsionadas de la tela fueron remodeladas y se utilizó una técnica de fieltro con aguja para reforzar y reparar las áreas débiles y dañadas. Se extrajeron y reemplazaron los ojales metálicos. El tratamiento posibilitó exitosa- mente que la escultura fuera exhibida con seguridad y la visibilidad de la reparación fue mínima. 1. INTRODUCTION The artist Richard Morris, known for his minimalist style in many mediums, intended his 1968 untitled sculpture (fig. 1) to change with time and environment in ways that he did not want to control or predict.This ap- proach, he wrote, “…results in forms which were not projected in advance. Chance is accepted and inde- terminacy is implied” (Morris 1968, 35). While the owning institution wanted to retain the functionality of the piece in so far as it should be able to continue to be displayed, the artist’s intent was considered and no other changes to the piece were addressed. Figure 1. The piece on display prior to treatment. CONSERVATION OF A FELT SCULPTURE The sculpture (80 x 142 in. when flat) consists of eight rectangular panels of commercially produced,

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