Old ‘n’ Dusty

• May 28th, 2005 • 0 Comments • framing, how-to •

I’ve been doing a lot of archival and restoration work this week. My family has many old photos in frames which have suffered at the hands of neglect: foxing, acid burns, cockling, water stains etc. By no means am I a professional, but I think I have figured out how to re-frame most of these pieces so that they are protected a bit better than before. (Putting glass on one of the frames probably helped it a great deal!)

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Admittedly, I purchase cheaper frames and modify them. My process has consisted of:

1) Clean the glass with ammonia-based glass cleaner. (Yes, I would use UV-plexi if it wasn’t cost-prohibitive. Besides, MOST of these photos are hung in dark hallways.)

2) Seal the glass into the frame with silicone sealant. Why? I don’t like how most frames have glass that wobbles around. It usually seems to settle back in the frame to rest on the art/photo. Glazier’s points are used if the frame is antique or old and the picture has become coupled with the frame. I’ve read about how pictures need “air flow” but I feel like the silicone seal helps to protect the front of the frame, where it’s most-likely to get hit by water, bugs, dirt etc.

3) Either: mat art, mount art (in archival photo corners, no glue) or fit art back into frame. I never thought about keeping the art/photo from touching the edge of the frame before, but after removing an old photo with a mat around it from a frame, I noticed that there was an acid burn the size of the frame on the perimeter. Use spacers or extra glazier’s points to keep art from touching wood/frame.

4) Fit art into frame; if it needs more fill space, put in a piece of foam board or davy board. Fit with glazier’s points.

5) If I have a scan of the photo, I affix a CD in a paper sleeve to the back of the foam/davy board.

6) For neatness, I put dust paper on the back of the frame. This is done by lining the entire outside edge with mounting tape, and rolling out brown paper or butcher paper over the tape border. Trim off the edges, and the back of the frame looks tidy and has a breathable barrier against dust ‘n’ bugs.

7) Attach desired method of hanging. NO I never use those awful “alligator” hooks most frames are provided with. Typically I use some kind of eye loop with regular picture-hanging wire.

My personal experience has been that the frame should be a safe display box for art or a photo to exist in. Moisture cannot be protected against; but I’m sure someday a vacuum-sealed frame home kit will be available.

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Searching the Internet for information hasn’t returned me much on how to conserve/identify old photographs, though I did find a few good sites: Cyndi’s List has a good section on photographs, as well as other old items of geneological importance. Guidelines For Preserving Your Photographic Heritage provides a hefty manual for photographic preservation. But what about identifying ages and types of photographs? That information has been lacking. I suspect that I could best find answers by scouring a college bookstore. Based on what information I have on family members in the photos I can guess an aproximate age, but being the printmaker that I am, I want to know about how they were made.

 

Graphic Design Bitterness and Rambling

• May 23rd, 2005 • 0 Comments • graphic design, meandering •

A few years back, before I became a printmaker, I was on the road to being a graphic designer. That semester in college was one of the worst times in my life. On average, I got about two hours of sleep a night. My tolerance for caffeine was killed by the twelve-pack-of-Dr.-Pepper-a-week habit on top of the Red Bull and No-Doz. The professors were no help, demanding an inordinate amount of work to be produced in such a small amount of time: 200 thumbnails in one night, each one to be more creative and astonishing than the next. Friends I knew in the program who were very creative dropped out because of unreasonable work demands. (I don’t exaggerate; one of the guys I knew? The profs begged him to stay. He oozed creative juice wherever he went.) Eventually I developed a strong “Screw You!” (that’s the polite version) attitude and stopped caring. Our final portfolios were to be laid out on a black cloth, everything neatly matted and positioned in an orderly manner on an assigned table; I tromped in and unceremoniously hucked my piles of notebooks and whatnot on a bare, ugly table and left.

Needless to say after that ordeal, I floated home, gleeful of no longer having to produce 8 billion thumbnails for an imaginary company, only to be told by a cold voice, “You need to learn how to draw. How did you get this far without knowing how to draw?”

That was about three, four years ago? I still have all of my unceremonious piles of sketches, thumbnails and a CD full of work. These piles have not been sorted through or looked at; they just follow me in a bitter collection. Four residences later, and I can’t bring myself to throw them out!

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Don’t misunderstand; I love graphic design. It influences my printmaking body of work very much. It behaves the way lines in a coloring book do: they keep the color and pattern from making an utter mess about the page. In some ways I cannot understand the proverbial divide between art and design. Even with all of the obvious baggage I have attatched to design, it steadfastly remains a “must” in my art. Most of the influcence however, stems from readings on graphic design rather than the hours of toil on design-y thumbnails.

Now really, I wonder why I can’t outright burn that pile of graphic design molding away in my closet…

 

Blogger Test Post

• May 17th, 2005 • 2 Comments • Uncategorized •

Just moved in!

Archived everything today from LJ. *whew* I will re-design everything in a bit.

 

Picture Time!

• May 6th, 2005 • 0 Comments • papermaking, photo, studio 4A •

What I wouldn’t give for a good ventilation system.

Gahh, there was a minor oopsy when I came in this evening; I forgot I hadn’t fixed a leg on that desk, so the weight of my pulp bin seems to have slooowly pulled it down. I’m surprised it didn’t fall over entirely, which would have left dried paper pulp everywhere. How precarious!

Shellac-ing the paper I’ve been making. This sheet has a hole in it that the shellac has frozen in time. It’s quite beautiful the way it moves in the light, especially with fresh shellac on it. This is the third coat being applied to this sheet.

This sheet is receiving a brand new coat of shellac, as it finished drying a few days ago. Uncoated paper is amazingly absorbent. I need to buy a beater.

Satisfying more of my own photoegotism with a self-portrait. To the left you can see Spindle; behind me is my wiener dog screen I can’t bring myself to wash out. I’m getting too much milage out of it!