Hi Chris,
We are working on a large project for your customer and as a nice consequence, we are able to fill out some documentation on the collection. As she works with you often for her framing needs, I was wondering if you could share with me what type of adhesive you use for her works? This would be valuable information to have in our files.
Many thanks, Your Inquirer
Hi Dear Inquirer,
I often state how frame design considerations are always a response to any given object/artwork. As a result there are a range of conservation adhesives and approaches which might be brought to bear depending on the media at hand, the condition of a given work, and other considerations.
Most commonly, though, for paper based works we are likely to use hand torn hinges made from various weights of Japanese papers, along with cooked starch paste. This is the most common museum/conservation standard for attaching works of art on paper into frames. But there are also other adhesives, including high quality, conservation grade PVA glues (white glues) that might also be used on their own, or cut into the starch paste (Jade-R being one of the most common we’d reach for but also another family of adhesives under the Lascaux brand). Additionally, acrylic or thermoplastic adhesives are used if the application involves dry mounting of photographs or other graphic works onto rigid substrates. And sometimes, we have call to use other techniques such as hand folded paper corners and other more creative attachments for unique works.
I am happy to go back and confirm what approaches we used for specific works, if you’d like to have that on file for those works. And I can share that we will be using paper/paste hinges to mount the current work in the shop (which is slated to be done at end of this week).
Let me know if you have additional questions! Yours–C.