Whose Side Was He On?

If you grew up in the Northeastern United States, you probably learned early on that the Redcoats were the enemy in conflicts fought in the early days of the fledgling country. “The Redcoats” were the British, of course. Schoolbook illustrations of the War of 1812 featured red-coated Canadian troops as well in descriptions of the battles. Today, re-enactors in the Niagara region of Ontario proudly wear their red coats when educating tourists about the heroes of the Canadian side.

But those schoolbook illustrations are misleading, as we recently learned from a beautiful uniform that came into our care from the Delaware County Historical Society. This scarlet coatee with black collar and cuffs was likely to have been worn by a New York or New England patriot. The fine, dense wool was almost certainly spun and woven in England, based on its quality, but the coatee was probably tailored for a soldier on the southern side of the 45^th parallel.

The Red Coatee from 1812

In 1812, the U.S. regular army was growing but fairly small and the country still was dependent on state militias for much defense. Soldiers in some Connecticut militias, for instance, wore Red coats with black trim that would be indistinguishable from the coat in our care. Musicians, indispensable for armies at the time, often wore “reversed colors” and so even in regiments such as the New York City Artillery, who wore blue with red trim, a drummer or trumpeter might be clothed in red. U. S. Cavalry troops throughout the North East also frequently wore red.

We may not know who wore this uniform, but he certainly had a fine tailor! The quality of the fulled red twill fabric is impressive and the stitching meticulous. Unfortunately, the past 200 years have not been kind. The plain-weave front lining (woven from unbleached white wool singles) was riddled with holes from insect damage. The black collar and cuffs, made of fustian (similar to corduroy) were faded to brown and quite ragged from wear.

The damaged natural wool lining

In preparing the coatee for display, the goals were to protect all the fabrics while leaving them visible for examination and simultaneously presenting the garment’s handsome appearance in the best possible way. To accomplish this, the fine lining was fitted with a sheer overlay. The overlay will allow the coatee to be slipped on and off a mannequin without damage.

The lining, protected by a sheer overlay. Note the pillows to cushion the coat against creases

The thickset cuffs and collar were also protected with an overlay stitched in place. For this, a nearly invisible, soft netting was applied in areas of wear. Once those areas were protected, the yellow trims were reattached where they had come loose.

The "thickset" collar. The blue arrow shows one of the areas protected by netting

Finally, custom pillows were fitted in place so that creases that would weaken the fabric could not develop in storage. 

The provenance of this bit of history are still being researched by the historical societies that have cared for it. Someday we may know the name and regiment of this soldier. In the meantime, we can celebrate his memory by admiring his uniform.

Thanks to Shaun Pekar (on Facebook and shaunpekar@gmail.com) and Matthew Keagle of Fort Ticonderoga (https://www.fortticonderoga.org) for their patience, expertise and valuable insights in helping with this posting.

Delicate Yet Functional: Ladies Folding Hand Fans

Before the age of air conditioning, a must-have accessory for comfort, fashion and flirtatious conversation was the ladies hand fan. In fact, the fan's history stretches back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, China and India, where fans were used in religious ceremonies, as symbols of royal power, for cooling oneself and for keeping away insects. The folding hand fan was a Japanese invention, but French fan-makers turned the craft into a high art form.

From around 1600, the hand-held fan was used in Europe, where it also gained the notion of a utensil for coquetry. Later on, fans were also used as commemorating special or historic events, such as weddings and coronations, the first hot air balloon flight of the De Montgolfière brothers in 1783 or for the French Revolution. Others were destined to entertain, such as the fortune-telling fan or those depicting mythological scenes.[1]

The fans we're most likely familiar with today are the folding, hand-held kind -- a ubiquitous part of most 18th and 19th century middle and upper-class women's wardrobes." A society lady in the 18th century was expected to know how to elegantly handle and hold a fan, allowing observers to differentiate between different social statuses."[2] Silk, lace, vellum or paper were adhered to sticks of wood, mother-of-pearl, tortoise shell or ivory and decorated with all manner of miniature paintings, cut paperwork, feathers, and paper festoons.

Regardless of what they are made of, most folding fans have the same basic parts. The piece that’s most visible to the eye, and the source of decorative expression for fan makers, is the leaf, which is creased so that it compacts into a little package within the fan’s monture, which includes the sticks, ribs, and outside guards. A pivot anchors the bottom of the fan, which is also known as the head, and that’s about it. Everything else is decoration.[3]

These accessories are much more fragile than they might first appear. The combination of hard or sharp materials such as bone, ivory and metals, combined with fragile textiles, feathers, and paper, make them especially vulnerable to damage. Fans decorated with feathers are very susceptible to insect damage. These fans need to be boxed and perhaps bagged independently. Opening and closing the fans may cause creases to split. In addition, fans, like hats, are prone to damage with repeated handling; care must be taken when wrapping and unwrapping them. Therefore, they are best left resting uncovered on a board with twill tape ties to prevent them from sliding. Of course material selection for the storage container is critical; ensure all materials are acid-free for the artifact's long-term preservation.

Fans can be stored fully opened or closed. The deciding factor is condition, as well as access. If a specific fan is frequently examined by researchers or others, having the fan open is preferred. Fans with warped and broken sticks, brittle fabrics or papers, and flaking paint are stored open and supported on mounts. Mounts may be time-consuming to make, but they could also be used for display. A mount style for an open fan can be smooth or have a accordion surface where each of the folds of the fan can rest. A support for a fan that is fully open. Images from Pauline Webber's 1984 article in The Paper Conservator. More modern fans in good condition can be stored closed and housed in custom boxes or divided drawers or trays. Closed fans within their original storage boxes.

Notes 

1. Alexandra Starp. "The Secret Language of Fans." Objects of Vertue, April 24, 2018. https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-secret-language-of-fans, accessed February 11, 2019.

2.  Ibid.

3.  Collector's Weekly. https://www.collectorsweekly.com/accessories/hand-fans, accessed February 11, 2019.


Resources
Annie Walker, 'History Unfolded' poster, http://www.conservation-us.org/docs/default-source/annualmeeting/2014am_poster44_history_unfolded.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Joseph Addison, "Art of the the Fan," The Spectator, No. 102, http://www.victoriana.com/Fans/art_of_the_fan.htm, accessed January 13, 2019.

"History of the Fan," Victoriana Magazine, no date, http://www.victoriana.com/Fans/historyofthefan.html, accessed January 13, 2019.

"Ladies and their Fans," AVictorian.com, http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/fanlanguage.html, accessed January 19, 2019.

"The History of Fans," The Fan Museum (England), https://www.thefanmuseum.org.uk/fan-history, accessed January 13, 2019.

"Victorian Hand Fans: Ladies Fans," VintageDancer.com, https://vintagedancer.com/victorian/victorian-hand-fans/, accessed January 13, 2019.

Conserving, Storing and Mounting Hats, Caps, and Various Headgear

By Barbara Owens, SAC staff

Hats and head coverings are a broad category. They can be large like a chapeau, tall like a shako, tight like a fez, slouch like a beret, have a brim like a kepi, be rigid like a helmet, have a display of feathers like a headdress, and have all sorts of composite accessories, like metal buttons, leather straps, plumes, silk lining, wool tassels, or grosgrain ribbons, to name a few. The conservation of a hat is a complex task; hats can be composed of many materials, and have very different purposes or uses.

This blog entry will focus on a few military style hats, which Spicer Art Conservation recently conserved and mounted at for storage or for display in an upcoming exhibit. Each hat required a problem-solving approach to address various concerns, including:

• Recreating a 3-dimensional hat from a flattened hat 
• The sometimes excessive and "mixed media" decoration on hats
• Weak and vulnerable areas of hats, many naturally occurring along folds or creases
• Accessory pieces, like plumes (which are a separate artifact), but are displayed together
• Creating exhibit mounts and storage mounts to fit the needs of the individual artifact

Before treatment photograph of a very flattened chapeau. The hat itself was quite compressed with weakened areas in
the wool at the pointed ends. The decorative embellishments, particularly the ribbon at the front were also quite
flat and creased from their previous method of storage.

Decorative elements:
Hats, particularly those worn by military officers, feature decorative elements such as metal pins, insignia, or embroidery. Some hat decoration is intended to represent the wearer's military branch, company or unit. These decorative elements can be considered mixed-media, composed of various types of fabric materials, metals, or metallic thread.

A detail image of an Officer's Chapeau, c 1810, shows the various materials involved in its
construction; silk ribbon, wool, braided elements, ribbon with metallic thread, metal eagle.

The hat below (an officer's chapeau circa 1832) composed mainly of beaver pelt is complex and highly decorative. The front, or cock, of the hat features taffeta ribbon, grosgrain ribbon ruffle, thickly embroidered knotted braiding and embellished pieces (including unique horse shoe shapes), metal button, and gold-toned metal eagle with a banner pin above, which reads: "E Pluribus Unum". At each of the cocked ends (not visible in photo) are thick tassels of metallic thread.

A detail image of the complex decoration. During cleaning of the metal elements,
the other fabric decorative pieces must be protected with a barrier material.

Hats, as 3-Dimensional artifacts almost always require that they be conserved and stabilized simultaneously. The mount of a hat therefore should provide overall support to the hat, especially any accessory item or overhanging piece, like a brim. Hats should not only be placed on 3-D mounts for display, they should be stored as a 3-D artifact as well.

Each hat that is conserved at SAC is custom fitted with an internal support created from carved ethafoam and covered with pre-washed 100% cotton stockinette. The hat with its internal support are placed on a handling tray. It is the tray that moves in and out of the storage box, therefore reducing or eliminating the handling of the hat itself (see photo below).

The chapeau, on its handling tray, easily slides in and out of its
 archival storage box. The box is custom made and features smooth fabric
covered ethafoam blocks strategically placed to provide gentle support and
stability for the chapeau while in its box. The box is not only a
great storage container, but is perfect for travel.

Plumes:
Plumes are a hat accessory that often accompany shako or chapeau style hats. The plumes are created from feathers, but can also be more of a long flowing item, created from horse hair. When these plumes were originally part of the hat, they were originally fastened to the hat by being slid into an applied sleeve located at the brim, hat band area, inside the crown, or sometimes tucked behind the decorative elements at the front of the hat. Artifact hats, especially those that are quite fragile, are no longer able to support the plume as they once did. Plumes that are original to the hat, like the one featured in the image below, can be quite rare. These fragile items require their own treatment and stabilization (see image below).

(LEFT) This feathered plume from an officer's chapeau, circa 1810, was quite fragile. The plume requires its own stabilization and encapsulated in a fine net to secure the small brittle ends of the feathers that were prone to breaking off. It will also be supported with a custom made Vivak mount to hold it in the proper position and angle (RIGHT). The accompanying hat (see below) was no longer able to support the plume as it had originally been inserted into a fabric sleeve on the reverse of the hat's front. 

Display mounts to provide optimal support and incorporate accessories:
As mentioned in the above section about plumes, accessories which were original to the hat, may not be able to be incorporated as they originally were intended. The plume discussed above had been held onto the hat with a fabric sleeve (see photo below).

Before treatment photograph highlighting the sleeve that originally held the base
of the plume. Both the sleeve and the hat could no longer perform its original
function of supporting the plume. Also, the plume could not be held on the hat
in such an unsupportive way. Another method to display the plume and hat
together needed to be found. Also notice the fragmented
pieces of the feathers, indicating their easy breakage.

The sleeve had been sewn to the hat with threads that were now loose and quite fragile. Placing the plume back into this sleeve would weaken the sleeve and place the the hat at risk for tearing, and the plume at risk for falling, therefore causing potential damage to both artifacts. (Additionally, the plume could no longer be displayed with such minimal support to its base).

The solution was in the mount. The creative mount for the plume to be seamlessly displayed with the chapeau was fabricated by BRIGID MOUNTMAKING. The unique, custom mount would address the display of the two artifacts together, the full support of the hat (both inside the crown and the weak pointed ends), and the delicate plume, which required encapsulation in a fine net to minimize the loss of the breaking barbs of each feather, but also required a custom made Vivak cradle to hold and support it in the proper, supportive, position. Vivak is a polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG). It is clear and is easily bendable with low heat, perfect for subtle shaping needed for such purposes as this.

The wooden base and body of the plume is supported by the custom made
display mount. The lower curved portion of the plume mount is designed to
wrap around the edge of the chapeau and fit directly into the support mount
constructed for the  chapeau. Once placed, the plume mount is secured with a
metal screw. The gold colored portion of the mount will slide into a receiving
portion, placed within the hat display mount.

A close-up view of the junction of the plume mount and the hat mount. Here, the
lower portion of the plume mount is shown as it fits into the hat mount and is
secured with a screw. The black fabric is wrapped around a custom made ethafoam
form, which will provide support when the hat is placed onto the display mount.
Inside, the square receiving end has been built into the mount.  

The two display mount pieces: the hat mount (before the hat has been placed on it)
and the plume mount, as they fit together. Now, the two-piece mount is ready
for the Chapeau and ready for exhibit!

The two-pieces of the display mount work in synchronicity. The internal body of the hat is supported by the cotton stockinette covered portion, which fits directly inside of the chapeau. The black display fabric covered base will provide the support to the fragile pointed ends of the hat.

Once the hat has been placed on its display support, the plume mount is slid into its receiving end and secured. The plume mount, while placed close to the hat, does not rub or rest on the hat in any way, and is not distracting to the viewer. The hat is now ready for exhibit.

After treatment photograph of the exhibit ready
mounted hat and plume.

Material composition:
We have conserved hundreds of hats at SAC. The hats have been made from leather, wool, cotton, silk, beaver pelt, molded plastic, synthetic textiles, and every combination of fabrics. Each fabric behaves differently based on its age, its past use, the way it has been displayed or stored, and how much light it has been exposed to over time.

The hat below is an officer's foraging cap from the American Civil War, featuring a quatrefoil design applied with soutache braiding. The hat features a variety of materials including, leather, wool, silk, brass, metallic thread, and velvet pile fabric.

When a hat is composed of many different fabrics and materials, each piece must be considered individually when approaching the overall treatment of the hat and its needs for stabilization. For example, the close-up of the foraging cap (see below) shows where the crown, composed of wool, meets a decorative hat band of velvet, which is further embellished with a leather hat band with brass buttons. On the inside, it is stitched to a sweatband made of tanned leather.

A hat like this with its various parts must be mounted to support all of the pieces of the crown, but the mount must support the heavy but fragile brim. Below, the underside of the supported hat can be seen. Here the brim support, was mad using Vivak and then covered in black cotton fabric, is attached to the base of the mount. It is positioned just under the brim of the hat to provide stability and support (while always using only archival materials).

Hat brims, whether they are just at the front of the hat (like a baseball style hat), or if they extend outward around the entire circumference of the hat (like a cowboy hat, or a sombrero) must have stability provided to this overhanging area. Without stability, the area of attachment of the brim to the hat grows weaker or in some cases separates from the hat entirely, such was the case with the leather shako hat below (see image below).

The shako and its brim; here in two pieces that needed reattachment
and increased stability. There are times when treatment alone is not sufficient.  

The 200+ year old leather shako and its leather brim required a reunion. But how to keep them together in a more supportive way? The shako had been mended before, but the weight of hat and brim and their precarious intersection were factors that would lead ultimately to a possible failure in the repair, especially if the hat was improperly supported during handling. The answer once again, was in creating custom formed full brim support of Vivak covered with black cotton fabric, and placing it under the brim, directly attached to the internal support materials (see photo below):

The leather shako, circa 1810, the crown of the hat is fitted with a custom made
archival support to give dimension to the inside of the hat. The brim support is
made of Vivak, shaped to allow the brim sit as it naturally would, while relieving
 any pressure to the repair.

THINK HOLISTICALLY:
Remember that hats are 3-dimensional, and keep in mind that they can only achieve 3-dimensionality with support and must be properly mounted to maintain their shape. At Spicer Art Conservation we constantly strive to provide the best conservation of an artifact, which includes the repair or stabilization of the item, the best way to allow the item to be fully understood, studied or displayed, while keeping handling to a minimum. Our mounting methods, whether for storage or for display are holistically considered to provide full support of the artifact, enable minimal handling, and when possible enable seamless transition from storage to exhibit.

Read more about choosing the right filling materials for your hat in our former blog post "Supporting textile artifacts without tissue paper - save a tree!", where we discuss the downfalls of stuffing hats (and other 3-D artifacts) with tissue paper.

Make sure you visit Brigid Mountmaking's website to see the amazing work that they do.

Are there hats in your collection that need care?  Contact us by phone or email, we are happy to help.

______________________________________
Gwen Spicer is a conservator in private practice who is a recognized expert in the care of textiles, object, paper and upholstered artifacts.

The conservation and stabilization of a 19th century collection of children's leather shoes

by Barbara Owens, SAC staff

Recently, a large group of children's shoes (and one very small leather glove), many from the late 1800's, arrived at the studio to be conserved and prepared for archival storage or display.  The shoes had been stored in an area where they were exposed to water.  Many of them, constructed entirely of leather, or featuring leather components, showed liquid tide lines. In addition, the shoes were misshapen and several had evidence of insect activity.

The collection as it arrived at the studio. 

The private collection represented shoes for the very small child or toddler to a child of perhaps six or seven years old.  Several of the shoes had been padded or filled with old newspaper or other material that had compressed, yellowed, and ultimately provided a filling of acidic materials to the shoes in which they were placed.

Newspaper as a filling is a common material used to give shape to leather shoes and boots. Leather shoes that show signs of use and wear are more pliable, making the area at the ankle, or above it, more weak. This is particularly an issue for boot style shoes with laces or straps; and especially for shoes with a taller height, which are prone to slouching under their own weight.

The stabilization of these small shoes therefore required the construction of some very small inserts.  The inserts are each custom made for the individual shoe or boot. Each insert is made from archival materials and is intended to give stability and support of the entire shoe, but especially for the weak and vulnerable components.

The shoe outline and the ethafoam to be covered
in needle punched cotton batting and cotton fabric. 

The two-piece shoe insert, custom created for an individual shoe

The foot outlines and heal outlines with conservators double-sided tape to provide
conservation approved adhesion of the ethafoam foot support

A custom made insert and the very small leather boot it was created for.

When a collection is to be displayed, the artifacts require the best possible support to allow them to be seen fully. When possible, we design mounts or internal structural supports to also be used for storage of the object. This dual purpose allows for the best possible care of the artifact, while minimizing any handling of the object as the inserts never need to be removed for storage.

Many times we are asked about constructing supports and mounts and what materials are best. Conservators only use archival materials, which are supplies that have been tested and proven to be inert and to not cause harm to an artifact.

For a list of materials and to better understand what exactly is meant by "Acid Free", please see our blog entry, "What is Acid Free". For a list of archival materials, see our blog entry,  "Glossary for Safe Storage Materials" - here you can review a lengthy list of materials that are used for artifact storage and mount making.

_____________________________
Gwen Spicer is a textile conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of flags and textiles is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.

The Conservation of Baskets

by Barbara Owens, SAC staff

At Spicer Art Conservation we specialize in textiles, paper and objects. "Objects" is a broad category, but for us it is typically an object made of organic material that is difficult to treat, and so we are contacted for its conservation. We treat objects made of uncommon organic items, like: bone, skin, feather, hair, porcupine quill, horn, bark and a variety of species of grass, to name a few. Baskets, of course, are typically constructed of grass, but are also often embellished with additional items (feathers, glass beads, quills) making them a compound object, which could make them particularly complicated.

A basket surrounded with tools to clean, conserve, and create safe storage for it.

Baskets are often not alone in a collection, instead they exist in groups, sometimes very large groups.
A few years ago, Spicer Art Conservation and other conservators had a great opportunity to clean, rehouse, and condition a very large group of baskets. The collection of over 700 baskets were owned by the United States Department of the Interior.

A small sampling of some of the baskets in the US Department of
the Interior collection.

The first portion of the DOI collection was gathered in the 1930's by the first Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Harold Ickes, who then gave them to the people of the United States. It is a little known collection, but with the now improved access and storage, more research on the collection will be made. What is evident is that within the collection are great examples of all types of baskets from North America.  Read more: http://www.doi.gov/museum/upload/Interior_Shelves_newsletter_2010_issue1.pdf

Baskets have been used by humans for 1000's of years and they have many characteristics: they are vessels, sometimes with a lid. Baskets are woven, coiled, stitched, braided, knotted or put together in creative ways which make them come together in a specific shape. Baskets are purposeful or decorative, exchanged in trade or tourism. Each of these qualities are what determines the conservation of the object.

The before and after conservation photos of a sweetgrass basket with glass bead decoration.
LEFT: The basket's lid had fallen into the top, the handles were insecure, threads were loose and the basket was quite dirty.
RIGHT: The basket's form is more readable, it has its shape and the entire surface of the sweetgrass and glass beads
have been cleaned of the accumulated dirt.

Many baskets come to us embedded with dirt. This is not surprising as baskets are incredibly dimensional with surfaces of "nooks and crannies". Baskets can loose their shape over time, slouching or warping below their own weight. These two concerns are addressed during the conservation treatment of a basket. First the basket is vacuumed with low suction and a brush attachment to release any loose dirt on the surface both inside and out. Next the basket is cleaned with swabs and a mild enzymatic cleaner. Stabilization occurs as the basket requires it; this can be in the form of a full internal support or refastening loose embellishments or handles.

The glass beads on this basket were encrusted, both in and outside
 with dirt. Custom-made fine cotton swabs were used to gently
remove the embedded dirt from each individual bead.

Swabbing the lip of a basket to remove dirt. The swabs are created from
cotton batting to  custom-produce the best size and shaped swab for the job.

Some baskets come in very small sizes, but this makes them no less complex.
 The outside surface of this basket is completely covered in tiny glass beads.
While the inside is a tightly woven, and features a simple step design.  

Read more about basket conservation and how to create storage supports in a National Park Service "Consev-o-gram": Storage Supports for Basket Collections

Read all about SAC's conservation of an enormously large basket in our previous blog: "The After Life of an Enormously Large Basket", where we discuss the store and support of a basket on a very large scale.

The "enormously large basket"

We are happy to help you with your basket or your collection of baskets.  Examples of basket conservation can be found on our website: spicerart.com, or on our Pinterest page devoted to basket conservation.

_____________________________
Gwen Spicer is a textile conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of flags and textiles is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.

Great work Historic Woodstock!

It is at times like this that I truly love my job. 

I just returned from a visit to an amazing collection in a museum located in Woodstock, NY. Woodstock is known for many things, but less so for this incredible collection of artists' work consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, film/sound recordings, antique tools, and an extensive archives of all the other arts organizations in the community.  This group had an early connection to the inclusion of artists into the WPA during the New Deal years. The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics and local citizens. The Society maintains its link to the community of artists who are still at work in this community.

Over the years I have visited the museum many times. As early as 2008 they had already begun the project of renovating and modernizing their historic structure, the Eames House. At this time, their collection had mostly been moved to a secure location where organization and data recording was done. 

No large project like this is simple or straightforward. Always there are many moving parts. However, this dedicated group sought funding from local groups throughout New York State; NYSCA, Get Set, Ready, Go in 2009; and on the federal level, from the Federal Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) in 2010; and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2016. Each assessment was used as a building block that allowed them to fulfill the promise of earlier recommendations.

I want to share the great work they have done by showing a few before and after images.

Temporary secured space in 2008 and 2017, east view. Now this section is used for town archives.

Temporary secured space in 2008 and 2017, west view. Now used only for painting storage.
 Love these chrome-coated steel wire shelving!

Notice the clip boards hanging on the shelves. From the beginning they were keeping track of collection locations.
In 2008 inventory lists were handwritten and now computer generated in 2017.

One of the very early painting storage that had been used in the Eames House. In 2008, only the wooden racks were present.
The same corner is now used for boxed archival storage (2017).

Eames House storage room in 2008 and 2010. Between the visits the walls were
insulated and painted. Now there are new insulated windows and light blocking shades.

At each visit there was always noticeable progress. 

Eames House, home of the Historic Society of Woodstock, in 2009 and 2017. The
addition positioned in a vulnerable corner provided a handicap bath room and a small kitchen.

 Eames House suffered water damage at this corner due to the sloping of the landscape,
adding to the high humidity levels inside. With the new addition, french drains were installed. 

The CAP was performed with Tilly Architects who gave them great guidance for how to improve the historic building while keeping its integrity. 

The dedicated group who did so much!  What a team.

_____________________________
Gwen Spicer is a conservator in private practice. Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  To contact Gwen, please visit her website or send an email.

How to make a longer storage tube for large textiles, especially oversized flags

Rolled storage is a great method for storing oversized textiles, especially large flags. Rolling is a method that precludes the textile from being folded, therefore eliminating fold lines and areas of weakness caused by folding. Oversized textiles, especially very large flags, require special accommodations so that they may be rolled. Since flags and large textiles come in a wide range of sizes, standardizing a rolled storage system can be challenging. First, there must be enough storage space for a large rolled flag to be housed. The second (and maybe biggest) challenge is that the supplies for rolling very large flags and textiles do not exist, they must be created.

This post is about how to create a custom sized/oversized acid-free tube by adding length.  It is not intended to teach about rolling of textiles, however that information can be found in part three of our previous posts about flag storage: "How to Store Your Flag: Part 3 - Rolling".

While I was doing the survey of a large collection of flags at the State Historical Museum of Iowa we found that the standard 8 foot long tube would not accommodate several of the flags; in fact the longest of the tubes needed for Iowa's collection was 16 feet. So what to do? What follows are images and even a video (above) that explains one method to create a lengthened tube. The process of creating that very long tube is demonstrated by Pete Sixbey, conservator and Kay Coats, collection manager, both of the State Historical Museum of Iowa.

Measuring the cut of tube for the extension and the insert.

Making the cut.

On the table saw, slicing out lengthwise a 1" channel. This width
is basically the distance of the thickness of two walls of the tube

The cut out channel. This width of the channel is critical
to insure that the  insert is tight inside both halves of the tube.

Now squeezing the insert down to fit inside of the tube.

A vise-grip and clamp provide pressure on four sides.

Positioning one side of the tube.

Fitting the smaller tube inside of the larger. A mallet might be needed. 

And now for the other side! Above you can see the sliced tube
fitting inside of two 8 foot tubes, therefore creating a 16 foot tube.

Iowa's larger flags are now rolled using archival materials and can be safely stored until they require conservation treatment or are ready to be prepared for exhibit or mounting.

Happy Flag Day from all of us at Spicer Art Conservation. The preservation and conservation of historic flags and banners is our expertise and it has been out great pleasure to assist institutions, museums, state houses and private collectors with flag collections both great and small.  

_____________________________
Gwen Spicer is a textile conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of flags and textiles is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.