On May 8th, 2012, Camille headed off to Albuquerque, NM, for the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Institute for Conservation. Located along the historic Route 66, Albuquerque was the site of reunions with old friends and gathering of new knowledge.

The first thing Camille did upon arrival was hang the poster that she and Kate Smith co-authored, entitled "Crossing the Boundaries Between Conservation Disciplines in the Treatment of Asian Thangkas." This poster was a summary of our 2.5-year thangka project for the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College and our first opportunity to present our work to our other conservators. Judging by the verbal feedback and how quickly our handouts disappeared, our poster was very well received!

If you would like to read this poster, it is available in jpeg form in the Resources section of the MTS website at  http://www.museumtextiles.com/uploads/7/8/9/0/7890082/poster.jpg 

Visitors to our poster were able to view a short video about the thangka conservation project by scanning the QR code on our handout. This handout is also available on the MTS website at  http://www.weebly.comhttp://www.museumtextiles.com/uploads/7/8/9/0/7890082/thangka_recipe_handout_with_qr.pdf

Camille volunteered to live blog four sessions of the AIC Textile Specialty Group talks for the AIC Blog (www.conservators-converse.org/). Shortcuts to her posts can be found here:

“Recovery and Conservation of the Textile Collections at the National Museum of Music” (Cuba) by Alina Vazquez de Arazoza 

“Repair of 20th-Century Leavers Lace” by Annie-Beth Ellington 

“The Creation, Implementation and Safety of Digitally Printed Fabrics in Textile Conservation—Where Are We in 2012?” by Miriam Murphy 

“A Successful Treatment Method for Reducing Dye Bleed on a 19th-Century Sampler” by Katherine Sahmel and Laura Mina  

The biggest surprise of the conference came when Camille was invited to substitute for colleague Chris Stavroudis in the first ever Great Debate! Organized by Richard McCoy of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Great Debate pitted teams of three conservators against each other to argue a topic relating to art conservation. Camille's teammates were Vanessa Muros, Staff Research Associate at the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program (and former student of Camille's in Peru,) and Kristin Adsit, IFA-NYU fourth-year intern from Indianapolis Museum of Art. 

The best part about the Great Debate was giving conservators a chance to break out of our shells by acting loud and silly in front of our peers. Oh, and Camille's team won our debate! The debates were video taped and will appear soon on YouTube. 

Three lines of inscriptions read "Sarah R Hamilton born Oct 3rd 1825", "George L Hamilton born Dec 14th 1828," and the maker's inscription, "Sarah R. Hamilton aged 12." 

Close examination of these lines show several layers of intervention. Green silk thread had been used to go over parts of the two top lines. At an earlier time, all three lines were also traced in what appears to be pencil. Beneath these the original cross stitching appeared as a thin white silk thread. 

The reverse of the sampler shows the later green threads and original white threads below. 

We decided to remove the new green thread along with as much of the pencil as possible. This photo shows the front of the sampler after this has been done. 

In the closeup below-left you can see that green ink was also used at some point to touch up the lettering. Spot cleaning of the stitching with deionized water was successful in removing this green ink, seen on blotting paper below right. 

The reverse of the treated area held one additional surprise for conservators. By unspinning some of the original white embroidery threads it became clear that these letters were originally turquoise blue, a common color from the time period. Chemical processed had caused the silk thread to deteriorate and the dye to fail not only where it was exposed to light on the front, but everywhere except the core of the thread and at some knots. 

In light of this new evidence, we decided to restore the inscriptions to their original blue color. We carefully matched the original dye with a new blue mercerized cotton embroidery floss.  

New cross stitches were carefully placed over the deteriorated letters in these three lines as well as other places the same thread was used. The original thread was left in place and is now protected beneath the new stitches.

The final image below shows the sampler after it was humidified, mounted and framed by Conservation Assistant Cara Jordan. The restored lettering makes the sampler more legible and reminds us of the cheerful colors originally chosen by 12-year-old Sarah Hamilton for her sampler. 

The restoration of deteriorated lettering on the Sarah R Hamilton was an unusual treatment for Museum Textile Services. Having performed this treatment on an item in our study collection, we can now offer a similar restoration it to a client should the circumstances call for it. 

This sampler now hangs proudly in the Museum Textile Services conservation studio.

It's not usually a favorite topic of conversation, but conservators can always bend your ear about bugs. As spring approaches, dormant eggs hatch, larvae grow and then pupate, and mature adults emerge days or weeks later capable of mating and creating more eggs. And this is when some of our most important work is done.

Most insect infestations occur in dark and moist areas where plentiful food is available and there is little disturbance. Ideal places include closets, trunks, boxes, plastic bags, suitcases, cupboards, and beneath carpets. You may know you have an infestation because you see the insects or their larvae, but just as often you see only piles of fiber, droppings (frass), webbing, and holes in your textiles.  

Insects choose which textiles to infest based on what the material is. Most textiles fall into one of three categories. Protein fibers are made from animal products and include wool, silk, feather, fur, and leather. Cellulosic fibers come from plants and include cotton, linen, hemp, jute, and paper. Synthetic fibers are mostly man-made polymers, including rayon, a man-made cellulosic fiber.

The most common insect pest that causes damage to cellulosic textile fibers is the silverfish. Resembling a ½-inch-long shark, silverfish are attracted to starch found in food, building materials, paper, and textiles, as well as mold or fungi. They are often found in damp places, such as bathroom linen closets, and are mostly nocturnal. 

Most structures are home to the carpet beetle, which subsists on protein (keratin). Varied carpet beetles, measuring as little as ⅛-inch long, are the species most common to the US north east. They are oval with a brown and tan striped pattern on their scales. Both the carpet beetle larvae its casing are fluffy and brown. Carpet beetles thrive around dead insects, human and pet food, natural history and taxidermy specimens, carpets, furnishings, and wool or silk clothing. They can be found near warm windows and light fixtures, especially in spring. 

The two most common moths that infest household and museum collections are the webbing clothes moth and casemaking clothes moth. Both are frequent pests on wool and silk clothing, carpets, tapestries, upholstery, and craft supplies. Webbing clothes moths grow up to ⅜-inch long and are pale tan in color. They tend to avoid light, however they can be seen
flying around, especially in spring and summer.

Casemaking clothes moths are smaller, measuring only ¼-inch long, and may be browner and faintly speckled. The larvae create a silky case and carry it around with them, depositing fiber and frass on it as they graze. The larvae cannot live outside their case. Casemaking clothes moth larvae are just as voracious as webbing clothes moths and will leave holes and large areas of denuded threads.

Despite their similarities, webbing clothes moths and casemaking clothes moths have key differences. The larvae of the webbing clothes moth will eat for 68–87 days, however the casemaking clothes moth larvae can survive as long as 2.5 years before pupating. The adult case-making clothes moth lives a mere 4–6 days, but the webbing clothes moth has up to one month to mate and lay eggs before dying.  

If you believe you have an insect infestation, contact a conservator immediately. Do not use pesticides, such as bug spray, moth balls, or boric acid because they are potentially harmful to pets, people, and your textiles. You may carefully vacuum the effected textiles and surrounding areas to remove insects, larvae, and eggs only if you are certain you can do so without damaging fragile fabrics. Quarantine effected items in zip-top or garbage bags and contact a conservator. 

For a more detailed discussion of insect pests that affect textiles, download the latest MTS Handout, Identifying and Mitigating Insect Infestations, from our website.