Hi Nancy: There can be many reasons for spots to appear, including (but not limited to)
mildew & fungi growth decomposition of lignin chemical reactions with impurities from manufacture chemical reactions involving handling & other contamination It is impossible to tell just from looking at a spot exactly what caused it. You would have to sample each spot so it could be analysed, and that would wreck your lace anyway. Linen fibres are about 4% lignin; when lignin decomposes (due to things like light exposure) it darkens to a gold/amber colour. Mildew and fungi growth are from spores in the air; these flourish especially well when the textile is stored, as it is undisturbed for long periods so they get to really take hold. Mildew stains are usually greyish in tone. During manufacture of the thread, you can get small amounts of oil on the fibre, sweat from fingers handling the fibre, plus you can get dissolved impurities like iron and copper in the water used both in manufacturing the thread and in washing the lace after it is made. These impurities react with moisture in the air to create destructive acidic compounds that often appear as black or brownish stains. When you touch the lace you get lactic acid deposits from the sweat on your body, and these, too, will react over time to create stains and compounds destructive to the fibre. If a linen fabric is in normal use, it gets washed regularly. The lignin still decomposes, the chemicals still react, but the destructive compounds get washed out of the fabric before they build up to what you can see as a stain. The washing is, of course, destructive in itself, so although your lace may look cleaner it won’t necessarily last longer. Sigh. The fact is that natural products naturally degrade over time. What can you do? Well, washing the lace would be a good start, as it will help get rid of these stains, but washing (either in pure distilled water or pure distilled water with a little hydrogen peroxide added as a bleaching agent) won’t reverse the chemical reactions, though it may get rid of the stains. Make sure you store it in an acid-free manner, but also - take it out and air it now and again. There’s no point in saving a lace forever if that means nobody gets to see it. Just my 2 cents - hope they help. Adele West Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) > On Jun 28, 2017, at 5:45 AM, N.A. Neff <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello fellow spiders, > > Could someone explain to me what causes "age spots" on lace? the brown > spots? > > What is the actual chemical basis for them? > > Can they be removed? (I've been too chicken to try anything.) > > Can future ones be prevented from developing? > > Any other information I should be asking for? > > Thank you! > > Nancy > Connecticut, USA - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
