RE: linen

["Margaret Geiss-Mooney" <mgmooney@moonware.net>]

Good afternoon, PACINers - As a textile conservator, I never recommend nor
encourage the use of linen in any situation that has objects in contact with
the fabric. There is no affordable method to determine the amount of lignin
still present in the linen after the process of turning retted flax into
linen fabric (inherent vice problem with linen). The testing would have to
be repeated for every new batch as well. I highly recommend the use of
cotton fabrics as the cotton fibre contains no lignin from the start. Plus
cotton fabric is usually much more affordable here in the States anyway. It
is possible to obtain cotton fabrics that are woven to look like linen.
Testfabrics also offers for sale some of the Creation Baumann products
('Ultra' and 'Unisono') as well as vat-dyed cotton upholstery fabrics.
Regards,
Margaret (Meg) Geiss-Mooney
Textile/Costume Conservator in Private Practice
Professional Associate, AIC
mgmooney@moonware.net

...fabric from Creation/Baumann, a Swiss company with offices in New
York (tel 516=764-7431) All cotton with dyes vetted for us by museum
conservators. ...

...current use of linens in the exhibit cases. Do you purchase airplane
linen to cover surfaces? What kinds of linen do you opt to purchase?
Different weights?...

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