Puerto Rico - One Year Later

I sit here comfortably in my home. The lights on, heat when I need it, and even water (this is sporadic due more to regional geographic issues than natural disasters). Even this year in the mid-west crazy events are happening on unusual scales - flooding and endless rainfalls, record numbers of days with tornadoes. Nationally, the incredible weather events this spring make one wonder if some of their underlying causes are related to climate change.

Lost siding from strong winds on the Museo de
Arte de Puerto Rico. 

It was only a year ago I found myself in Puerto Rico surveying collection damage for FEMA in the wake of Hurricane Maria. I was reminded of this fact by FEMA's countdown clock which announced next hurricane season begins June 1st.

Blue tarps on unprepared roofs.

A year later and Puerto Rico's recovery is far from complete. Perhaps a roof has been repaired on an university's library. Volunteers, like me, have come and gone. But I can't helping asking myself if the  the collections that library roof had once protected will ever be the same. Can students safely read the books without masks? Will the staff at the library every resume their jobs or health?

LIbrary at the Universidad de PR-Humacao.
The roof was completely lost.

Circulation dest at the library at the Universidad
de PR-Humacao.

Capuana Ceremonial Ball Courts site, Utuado.

Metal building in Caguas.

Museo Casa Antonio Roig, Humacao.

Moisture in the walls of Casa Alonso, Vega_Baja.

Mold is silent, till it is awakened
Waves of assistance come and go
No electricity or generators,
More mold grows

Am I safe?
Are my loved ones safe?
My home, my belongings?
Yet mold grows

Mixed with a humid climate, mold grows
Stone walls remain wet
Wind can slow it, if at the shore
More mold grows

Collections are disfigured
Collections are distorted
Collections are never the same
As more mold grows

What is the remedy?
Without assistance
More mold grows

A Low-Tech Treatment for Small Areas of Visible Mold

The humidity many of us have experienced this summer due to torrential rains and heat sweeping across the country can easily lead to mold growth. Now in the wake of Hurricane Florence mold will be rampant as the flooding recedes. (For more on freezing see our earlier post.) It's important to be vigilant by monitoring humidity levels throughout your institution or home to prevent excessive moisture levels. Mold is not only a hazard for objects, it's also a danger to people.

If you've got a big mold problem, first fix the source of it and then call in professionals to remediate it. Poor drainage, foundation or wall cracks, leaking roofs or plumbing, lack of sufficient ventilation or air-conditioning all contribute to the spread of damaging mold.

If you have visible mold in less than 10 continuous square feet, you may be able to remediate it yourself with dehumidification and a low-tech water trap attached to your vacuum to capture the spores.

The water trap can be made of any glass or jar. The one we use in the studio is in the image below. It is important to ensure that it is well sealed around the openings and the tubes. Ethafoam (a strong, resilient, medium-density, closed-cell, white polyethylene foam which is acceptable for use in the preservation of objects) is really helpful for this. Gwen even carved out a stand for the glass to ensure it would not fall over. The other critical aspect is the ends of the two tubes inside the glass are above the water line. It is the vacuum's suction that forces the mold spores into the water i.e. trap, while not traveling into the vacuum cleaner.

The above photo illustrates how the water trap is connected to a vacuum. The right hand hose (with the blue end on it) is the one used to suck up the mold.

When finished, thoroughly clean all of the associated tools, mark them and save them together, including brushes.

It's very important to contain the spores, not spread them around (which is what regular vacuuming will do). Here's a step-by-step guide to what to do next and don't forget to wear an approved N95 respirator, gloves, and eye protection!

Captured mold

Resources

Gwen Spicer. When Water Strikes, It's a Freezer to the Rescue! March 2018.
Ibid. Mold on Pastel Portraits, why it grows and how it can be prevented. January 2017.
Idid. Mold in museum collections is the environmental "canary in a coal mine". September 2014.

Beware “Fake” Dust Masks and Respirators

As part of a FEMA team deployed to Puerto Rico, Gwen is volunteering her conservation expertise this spring to cultural institutions that continue their recovery from last fall’s devastating hurricanes. She and her colleagues use dust masks and N95 particulate respirators on a daily basis to protect themselves from a range of non-oil based airborne particulates, including mold.

In the warm and humid environment of Puerto Rico, mold grows quickly. In addition to the damage it causes to objects, textiles, and paper-based materials, it has the potential to cause health problems. Allergic reactions are common and can be immediate or delayed. Respiratory protection is essential and the safest, most reliable gear is approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness.

The N95 respirator is the most common of the seven types of particulate filtering facepiece respirators and filters at least 95% of airborne particles but is not resistant to oil.

To their surprise, the team found that some of the dust masks in use are not approved by NIOSH. Rather, they are marketed as NISH-approved, which is not a legitimate designation.

Gwen urges you to check your dust masks and respirators to ensure they are N95 NIOSH approved and discard those that are not.

Resources

NIOSH is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can learn more about NIOSH at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/about/default.html

Respiratory Protection for Residents Reentering and/or Cleaning Homes that Were Flooded  https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/disease/respiratory.html 

Training videos for respirators  (available in Spanish and English) https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/respiratoryprotection/training_videos.html 

Una Breve Guía para el Moho en el lugar de trabajo (available in Spanish and English) https://www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib101003.html 

https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/disease/respiratory.html 

Mold on Pastel Portraits, why it grows and how it can be prevented

by Gwen Spicer and Barbara Owens
At Spicer Art Conservation, we treat many pastel works of art. Commonly they are portraits, but sometimes the occasional landscape or still life appears.

With few exceptions, the treatment of pastels is focused on the removal of surface mold (Above: before treatment close-up of mold damage on left, at right, overall after treatment photo). For many clients the mold present on their artwork is disfiguring and distracts from the enjoyment of the viewer, but it also serves as a "canary in a coal mine" because mold often grows in a perfect environment where temperature, and relative humidity, along with surface debris or dust has formed the perfect habitat for mold to flourish. If mold has bloomed, the environment has supported it, and if mold has bloomed on one artifact it may happen on others. For museum collections this can be of particular concern as collection are housed together, in one room or space. (Keep in mind that mold loves organic materials and we often see it on artifacts composed of wood, leather, feather, etc.)

A pastel portrait after it has been removed from its frame.
Here you can see at the lower border edge that the blue pastel
particles had fallen behind the mat.  

Closeup image of the mold that has bloomed. 

After treatment, the mold has been neutralized and is not
disfiguring. Can it come back? Yes, given the right conditions
of temperature, relative humidity, and light, it could grow again.

After treatment and reframing. Pastels are always framed with
glass because the static charge present on plexiglas will have
an effect on the small loose particles of pastel dust.

The number of pastels with mold present far outnumbers any other works of art on paper with mold present. Why is this? The answer lays much in the inherent nature of pastels. Other colored works of art (whether they are paintings or watercolors) all have some portion of binding material that protect the colored pigment. The more binder, the more protection and the more "stable" the pigment vehicle. The more binder also means the more ability for an art conservator to clean the surface. If a large amount of binder is present, the pigment vehicle (oil paint for instance) is more solid. For more information on pigments and their binders see the information below about paint.

The above is a slide from a lecture given by Carl Plansky of Williamsburg Paint.

Unlike other pigment applications, pastels have almost completely unbounded pigment with the tiniest amount of binder. Mostly the pigment particles simply rest on the surface of the paper. The selection of the paper that some artists use also assists with the adherence of the pastel to the paper, as that there are special rough surfaced papers designed especially for pastels that help to "grab" the pastel particles. But these papers are not always what the artist has used.

George L. Stout of "Monuments Men" fame produced the most effective schematic of illustrating the various types of surfaces and the "tooth" of the media. His illustration, "Classes of Simple Paint Structure" was first produced in Technical Studies Volume VI, 1938, page 231 (Technical Studies later became Studies in Conservation). See below.

From the illustration above, pastel is classified along with chalk and charcoal as granular and loose. What might be harder to read is the arrows near the center of the page which show that as you move from left to right, the absorption and transmission of light is increasing. If you think of looking at a pastel it appears flat, whereas if you look at an oil painting, or even at acrylic paints with a glazed surface, it has reflective properties and might even be described as shiny.

The presence of binders around pigment particles creates different optical effects, and more or less saturation of color. One of the beauties of pastels is the full situation of the pigment, that it is only the pigment that one sees. It is these exposed pigment particles that become the surface from which the mold grows. According to Kit Gentry, "Mold loves pastel. Dense, fluffy, mineral-rich layers of pastel are basically like potting soil for mold". Well said.

Pastels cannot be easily cleaned for a number of reasons, but especially important to the growth of mold is that dirt is attracted to the rough surface (even when protected by a frame with glass or plexiglas). The dirt then becomes a food source for the mold. The challenge then becomes removing the mold without removing the small particles of pigment which are loosely held to the surface and can easily be dislodged from the surface.

Gwen Spicer, principal conservator at Spicer Art Conservation cleaning
mold from the surface of paper. Here the mold is being vacuumed using a
method to capture the mold in a water chamber. Gwen wears gloves, mask
and eye protection. This mold cleaning is a bit different in that the mold
here is growing on the paper board, no pastel is present in this particular
 area of the artwork.

Often mold follows a particular path on the pastel, or is isolated to one pastel color, or one particular area. This odd behavior can probably be explained in that mold follows the source of food, so while you may not be able to see it, the "food" is there. Mold can be fluffy, flat, green, white, blue, etc. the variety of colors shapes and configurations tells us that many species are present, and they are opportunistic.

The mold covering this pastel covered the entire
surface, it is more noticeable on the dress of
the subject because of the dark color.

The question of why some older pastels do not have the same number of mold outbreaks has been discussed. Some experts believe that the copper, lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals and elements used in the early production of pastels are what keeps mold at bay on these very old drawing and paintings. Apparently these elements are naturally mold resistant, but of course poisonous to humans, and so are not used in the formulation of pastels the way they were in centuries past (that is not to say that pastels no longer contain hazardous materials).

There are important things to know about mold. There are 1,000's of known mold species. Mold is often dormant, not dead. Mold is omnipresent, therefore you will never be without; mold spores are airborne and therefore are in the air we breathe. Mold species have diverse lifestyles and can vary significantly in their tolerance to temperature and humidity.

We have heard from clients with mold affected pastels who say, "but my house is dry, there is no way mold should grow there". Remember, mold can certainly be kept in check, but it can generally bloom (or re-bloom) if relative humidity increases to 50% or higher, and if temperatures increase above 70   degrees F (this environment most certainly describes anyones home). However, we know that mold grows above 39 degrees F (hence is why food is refrigerated below this temperature) AND we know that mold also grows in our refrigerator which is often below 39 degrees F. The point is that mold is opportunistic and some form of it can grow nearly anywhere under any conditions.

The chart above shows the zone for "optimal mold growth" in blue. Also shown is the ideal conditions
for artifacts as well as human comfort zone.

The lesson here for keeping mold away is that pastels must be kept as clean as possible. This might mean reframing a pastel before dirt enters an unsealed frame and therefore before mold even gets the chance to grow. Any torn or broken dust paper at the back of an old frame is an entry point for dirt and debris to find its way into the frame package. Conservators have in the last few years made tremendous progress on methods of framing, creating a sealed archival package around the matted artifact, and then sealing the frame as well. This is really now made possible with truly archival materials. Once created, the sealed package is then secured into the frame (either a new frame or into the original frame). With this method, it is no longer necessary to secure dust papers to the back of the frame (see image below).

The sealing of a package of archival mounting materials with conservation
approved sealing tape. This sealed inner package will be placed into a frame
with archival materials, the frame will then be sealed (see image below).

The reverse side of a framed pastel, the pastel is framed with archival materials,
including acid free board and framers tape to seal the edges to prevent debris, dust,
or insects from entering the frame. Inside of the frame is the sealed package of
glazing and the art work (see image above).

Be warned. There are some amazingly frightening suggestions to be found online to offer assistance with getting rid of mold. Including baking your pastel in an oven along with a potato, or spraying it with liquid moth balls, YIKES. A professional art conservator is once again the way to go. Seriously, don't mess around with crazy methods or those which use toxins. Seriously.

Lastly, placing a pastel with mold on it in direct sunlight as a method to deter or disable any mold is not a good idea. While it might disable the mold that is susceptible to light, the light damage to the pigment of the pastel are both cumulative and permanent.

For further reading, The Pastel Society of America has an informative website about everything you want to know about pastels. If you own a pre-1800's pastel, Neil Jeffares book, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800, talks about everything pastel before the 19th century, including conservation. You can also check out our "Inside the Conservator's Studio" blog posts about Mold in Collections, also our post on Environmental Conditions. Both are informative, but if you have concerns about a pastel and need a conservator to help, please contact us.

_____________________________
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.

Mold in museum collections is the environmental "canary in a coal mine"

A common issue found in collection storage is the presence of mold. Mold can unfortunately be found on collections, but also at times on the layers that are to protect collections. Museum professionals strive to keep their environment stable, their storage areas clean with good housekeeping practices, and surround their collections with archival materials. Yet mold out-breaks still can occur. So why does this happen, particularly if the protective layers are archival, and the environment is being monitored?

ABOVE: Mold growth on a military jacket. The jacket
was displayed on a mannequin form under glass bonnet.

It turns out that mold is a tricky organism, and it wants to live. And given a chance, live it will. And of course, museums have in their collections the perfect materials for those tenacious spores to live and set-up house.

"Microscopic molds are both very beautiful and absorbingly interesting. The rapid growth of their spores, the way they live on each other, the manner in which the different forms come and go, is so amazing and varied that I believe a man could spend his life and not exhaust the forms or problems. 

— David Fairchild

The World Was My Garden (1938, 1941), 55.

All organic materials (and even some inorganic materials) will support mold, with natural fibers being the most susceptible. Mold is a microorganism that produces enzymes that convert the cellulose in fibers to soluble sugar that is metabolized as food. Proteins are generally less susceptible, but keratinophilic fungi will feed on, and damage, these fibers as well. Mold is found first on soiled areas, but also on materials that are starched, sized, have brightens, or have in the past been treated or exposed to some substance that is still present. And sadly, all mold growth creates a permanent, irreversible stain. (See below).

ABOVE: Before treatment

ABOVE: After treatment

The photos on the left and right show mold on paper. While the mold has been reduced substantially, the permanent stains it has left behind are now part of the object.

RH = Relative humidity is a measure of the capacity of air to hold water. This amount varies as temperatures increase or decrease

Mold is omni-present and if mold is not actively growing, its spores are always in the air waiting for the ideal conditions so that they may grow. Ideal conditions for mold growth are relative humidity (above 65% with a temperature of 75 F or above (25 C). Humidity is by far the most important factor in facilitating mold growth, and if the you have an 80% RH you can be certain that mold is actively growing and it is spreading.  However, keep your temperature below 65 degrees F and your relative humidity below 50% and your collection will be quite safe.

ABOVE: this printout shows a 7 day record of temperature (in red) and the RH (in blue).

However, even at moderate conditions, an outbreak can start in a surprisingly short time. Ideal conditions for mold growth are slightly different for each mold species but mainly within this "sweet spot" of above 65% RH/75 degrees F. But remember that mold is tricky, in fact, mold growth has been noted as low as 50% RH. How can this be? Mold shouldn't grow at 50% RH!  Well, because mold is everywhere and it is a survivor, and the typical museum can not create/afford a "clean room" like those used in hospitals or high tech industry. Therefore, museums rely on creating an environment that is not conducive to growth. Key to this is keeping the relative humidity down. However, it must be noted that if a collection or an artifact has already been affected by active mold in the past, there is an increased chance of a breakout at a lower relative humidity. Think of the later mold moving into an already furnished apartment, everything they need is already there, they just need to move in where their "roots" had successfully taken hold in the past.

ABOVE: Sneaky mold. Here are three of the same types of artifacts, same material
(wood), same time period, same storage area. Yet, the artifact in the middle is almost
entirely untouched by mold while its sandwiching neighbors are nearly covered.   

Determining an actual set point for ones storage environment can be difficult as that there are many factors that are in play. One might even read conflicting recommendations. One of the issues is the amount of ventilation that an area receives. As that storage rooms are broken up by all sorts of cabinetry and shelving units, both open and closed, micro-climates can easily be created. This can especially be the case in historic structures with older HVAC systems of any kind.

The other issue, is how dirty artifacts are in the collection. The artifacts, especially in historic collections, have had an earlier life that includes the acculmative soiling and embedding dirt. All of which, mold spores love! So, even with good and regular housekeeping mold can still appear. 

As stated earlier, mold is tricky and sneaky. Perhaps you have done all of the right things and there is still a persistent out break. Well, there could be inherent issues of moisture that are beyond the specific room. A roof leak nearby, a damp basement, a leaky pipe, etc. Do not over look these seemingly small or large problems that are outside of the immediate vicinity of a mold outbreak. I have frequently come to an institution because of a mold out-break, only to find that it is the canary telling them that something else is going on.

Historical structures come with historical foundations. This
particular historical property experienced water in their basement
causing the RH to rise, causing…you guessed it, a mold outbreak in
the rooms and floors above. Did we mention that mold is sneaky?

Therefore, take any presence of mold seriously, keep your relative humidity down as low as possible, learn how the air moves in your storage space, be diligent in housekeeping, and know the "food" mold likes to eat.

Food sources for mold:

• soiling and dirt on the surface of the artifact.
• starch or other finishes that have not been washed out. Pre-washing muslin and even the twill tape has been found to be critical to remove these finishes.

ABOVE (top and bottom photos) Muslin wrapped, rolled textiles with mold on the surface of the wrapping.

LEFT: Image of detection of mold on unwashed muslin. UV light shows the mold is quite pervasive. So while the museum has done a great job of housekeeping and their storage is thoughtfully organized, the muslin coverings of their carpet/rug collection was at risk for a pervasive mold outbreak simply because the muslin was not washed prior to being used.

RIGHT: Another image of UV light to detect mold growth. This mold is growing on the twill tape straps. The twill tape was not washed prior to being used to tie the ends of the items in rolled storage.

Several years ago, the National Park Service produced a conserve-o-gram that focused on mold. Read it here. And the Smithsonian talks about mold here, which is also good reading to know more about the fungus among us. Lastly, Alaska State Museum's (ASM) experience with mold, or what they affectionately term, "white stuff", has been well documented and researched. ASM has experience and know-how about mold and how sneaky it can be - read about their battle with mold and the vigilance with which they maintain their collection here.

Do you have a mold success story? Do you have a mold challenge that seems unmeetable? The options for treatment and the factors to consider when determining how best to treat objects, textiles, or paper are numerous and often case specific. If in doubt about how a moldy artifact should be treated, call a conservator. We are always here to help!
_____________________________
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.