Category: TECHNIQUES & INSTRUCTIONS

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Paper Conservation | Wet Repairs

For a while I have been trying to think of something I could do on a weekly basis to keep my blog up and running and relevant, so I thought I might do a series of instructions. These will be to let people know exactly what I am learning at the moment, It will also help me remember everything I am learning, and means I have notes for myself in the future!

So this week I am starting on wet paper repairs, as this is something I am working on at the moment and have had recent instruction in.
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Prior to using the wet repair method, it is necessary to check that the object will not be effected by water, as it may have fugitive media on it or the water may cause tidelines, so relevant tests and humidification must be done first.

Repair material

A key issue in paper repair, is that the material you use for the repairs should be lighter in weight than the paper being conserved, this is because a heavier repair will create a weak spot, so if any pressure is put on the object will cause a break at the point where the two materials meet. Check the wet using a micrometer (if there is one to hand!!)

Japanese tissues, such as Spider and Tengujo are very good for paper conservation. They are archival papers and have an alkali reserve within them, which will lower any acidity in the object. They are also made from very thin, very long fibres. This means that they can often be invisible on the repair due to their weight, but strong at the same time and will provide support for the object where necessary.

Cutting the tissue and paper

Paper fibres are essential to the repairs, you cannot just cut the repair tissue or paper with a blade, as the harsh line will lift up from the object after time, you need a frayed edge of fibres to adhere properly. This is done using a water pen or a paint brush and water. You must draw a line using water onto the tissue or paper where you want to cut, you can then tear the tissue along this line, giving you a soft edge that will adhere better. When cutting infills, it is done in the same way – you can put the object on a light box with a piece of melinex on top to protect it, you can then trace an accurate line with a water pen directly onto the repair tissue/paper on top of the object and then tear it.

Mending tears

1. When repairing tears on the object, primarily, the tear must be tacked together using a small bit of wheat starch paste, this is done with a very small overlap as it will pull apart when it dries.
2. Starting out on the reverse (verso), draw out and cut a small piece of tissue using the lightbox method described above. For any tear bigger than an inch, it is better to use small pieces of tissue, letting each one dry before applying the next, as longer pieces can cause the object to cockle.
3. Trim the extra long fibres using scissors, as then will be too long to pick up the paste.
4. Paste the small piece of tissue on a piece of scrap melinex, leaving a tiny area at the end to allow you to pick it up.
5. Lift the tissue from the melinex and place onto object, and flatten down using a bonefolder on top of bondina and archival blotter, then weigh it down for a couple of minutes.
6. Repeat this process on  front (recto).
7. Once dry, trim any excess tissue from the edge of the object.

Mending missing pieces
This is very similar to mending tears, but uses an additional infill piece of paper

1. Find an infill piece of similar but lighter paper, if the object is antique laid paper, it should be repaired with the same type of paper. If it is a modern paper, it will be heavily sized, so should be put in bath of hot water to remove any size, and dried and pressed appropriately.
2. Cut the repair paper to fit the missing section using the lightbox method described above.
3. Tack the new infill piece to the object using wheat starch paste.
4. When dry, cut a piece of tissue that will cover the back of the infill and about 3/4mm of the object itself, this is because the tacking of the object alone will not be enough to keep the infill there.
5. Paste this piece of tissue to the object and infill on the verso and allow to dry under a weight, blotter and bondina.
6. Once dry check whether another piece of tissue is needed on the front – ideally not, but it may be necessary.

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Please be aware these are not official instructions and should not be followed as or in replacement of professional instruction.

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A Method in Wet Paper Repairs

Well this term we have really started to conserve objects, which has been great, we’ve had some great tuition from a very skilled paper conservator, who has been guiding us through the different techniques. Friday we were working on wet paper repairs, which uses japanese tissues and wheat starch paste to repair tears and form infills where paper is missing.

This is an old piece of laid paper, from a book. Initially it had two tears and two missing sections (not including the hole in the middle which I haven’t fixed yet!), all of which I have now repaired.

The japanese tissue used for the repair was called Tangujo, and the paper used for the infills was an ‘orphan’ piece of handmade antique laid paper. Unfortunately when doing the corner repair I failed to correctly line up the laid lines, and mine’s gone a bit skew-whiff, which is a bit pants and what seems like a lost opportunity to get it right. Mph. The infill paper was extremely crinkled, which meant a great opportunity to practice humidification, which worked pretty well even if I do say so myself!

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Tools of a bookbinder (a student at least!)

Well it seems that this year is already one for finishing off projects that have been sitting around for several years, the first being the finishing of my quilt squares, which I am very relieved about! And now I have managed to finished my tool kit, which has been sitting around unfinished for two years. I made it too long initially and have been meaning to reduce it in size for a long time. So here it is finished – finally!

As you can see the top folds over and it rolls into a portable tool kit, which has been very useful. My tool kit contains a few scalpels, a cobblers knife, two bonefolders, dentist tools, a japanese brush, a japanese awl, a water pen, nail clippers, scissors, tweezers, a ruler, an eraser and a couple of very nice wooden muji pencils.

This is my Singer sewing machine, which along with my tool kit is a favourite possession of mine. My father bought it for me from a charity shop, and amazingly it had all the original instructions, extra feet, extension plate and all sorts still with it. With some good instructions from my father and his help in installing my new motor for it, I have been making good use of it recently.

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Paper conservation

Over the last few weeks, we have been introduced to the art of paper conservation at college. Paper conservation is a key part of the craft of a book conservator, as, quite obviously, the majority of a book is paper!

We have been learning how to recognize the differences between different types of paper, including hand made and machine made papers, and to recognize the defects in a sheet of paper, such as the difference between mould and rust spots. Many old papers will have fragments of iron in their fibres, which over time will rust, causing reddish patches. This is an integral part of the paper structure and will effect the paper from the inside out, unlike mould, which starts as a surface problem (this may then go through to the other side of the paper, but not necessarily).

I have been working on a probate document (pictured), which has manuscript, coloured inks, printing, embossed stamps,  deckled edges and a very early form of photocopying (not technically photocopying) – a little bit of everything that has to be taken into consideration when conserving (e.g., you cannot do a full bath wash, as all the manuscript ink would run and the embossed stamps would be lost). In the pictures below I have been humidifying it to relax the folds. I then put it under a couple of weights to reduce the folds further.

As you can see – I am attempting to remember all this information, and what I do remember, I’m quite proud of! (It’s quite a feat in my opinion!)