Sorry to be a little late jumping in on this discussion, but I recently came
back from a long trip including cataract surgery, and then work after being
gone for 6 weeks was... well, you can imagine.
First, Lyn--I confess that I
store my pillows either in cloth bags or in high-density polyethylene bags.
May be bad because of static, I know, but I'm much more concerned about
storing my antique laces than I am concerned about any of my own
laces/pillows. For the antique laces, I bought a quantity of large
(garment-sized) archival textile boxes, such as they use in museums, and a lot
of acid-free tissue paper (plus several of those pens that test pH to id
acceptable tissue paper among what I already had--lots of better white paper
goods are acid-free these days).
WRT the conversation about plastics for
storage, I asked my Dad (organic chemist and materials engineer who did a lot
of work with polymers and resins) about off-gassing from plastics and which
would be most stable. I can pass on some bits of info from him:
1) The most
stable "plastic" is polycarbonate--which is not really a plastic but a resin.
It would have the recycle number 7 on it ("other"), and would be clear and
rigid. Trade names include Lucite and Plexiglass in the Americas, and Perspex
in Europe. The best quality is totally clear with no cloudiness or
irregularities in the transmission of light.
2) Other plastic containers can
be polyethylene terephthalate (PET--recycle numbers 1 or 2, or 4 for ziploc
bags), or polyvinyl chloride (PVC--number 3), or polypropylene
(number 5), or polystyrene (styrofoam--number 6). All are reasonably stable
under normal room conditions, i.e., not exposed to high heat (cooking), but
there are some differences. Good quality polypropylene (meaning no cloudiness
or irregularity in translucency) is best, good-quality polyethylene (again no
cloudiness or irregular coloration) is next best, polyethylene acceptable if
you're not really fussy (again looking for even transmission of light in the
clear forms), and as you might guess, stay away from styrofoam. A big thing
to watch for in plastic containers such as your wreath containers is whether
or not they keep their shape without their lids. For example, if a square
container goes lopsided or out-of-square when the lid is removed, the
container wasn't
cured properly and would be especially prone to off-gassing the plasticizer
(and hence should be avoided for lace or lace-pillows).
3) Another clear
material I'm encountering in archival supplies is polyester films, which would
be very stable if of good quality, which clear would have to be--probably
better than any of the plastics listed in (2) above.
I think the biggest
concern about storing laces in plastic would be the dirt attracted by the
static, and the need for textiles to 'breathe'. I don't know about the latter
issue for pillows--I hope we have them out more often than in storage anyway,
but I know that I've impulsively/compulsively bought too many rather than
finish some of the pieces I had going so storage of lace pillows is in fact
something I'm doing more often than not.
Hopes this additional information
helps even if a little late.
Nancy
Connecticut, USA
From:
"[email protected]" <[email protected]>
>To: Nancy Neff
<[email protected]>
>Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 9:19 PM
>Subject: Re:
[lace] Pillow holder - conservation concerns - 3rd reply
>
>
>.... How do you
store your pillows? lrb
>
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