Generally with laces, as with other fragile items, you donât want to put too much force on one particular spot, so I think tweezers or tongs are really the wrong thing to use; I donât remember having heard of someone using them. You want to always have as much of the fabric supported as possible. So you might lay a piece of lace gently over the back of your cotton-gloved hand, or you might hold it with your palm up but your fingers splayed out, to provide as much support as you can.
However: The 80s are an interesting time in conservation, because the knowledge of the amount of damage caused by acidity and skin oils and light was in its infancy. When I first went to the Victoria & Alberta Museum Textile Room in 1987, it was brightly lit and there was no limit to how long you could keep the sample boards out, or how many pictures you took. I studied some of the boards for hours. When I went again four years later, everything was in low light and you couldnât pull out the boards and examine them close up. That was in a highly respected museum, so depending on when in the 1980s your book is set, and where it is set, you would different concerns about gloves and light. Adele West Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) > On May 13, 2018, at 3:05 PM, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi <[email protected]> wrote: > > Also: how would the extremely rare items be handled when showing them? > Would they be picked up with cotton-gloved hands, or with rubber-tipped > tweezers? When being inspected would they be placed onto some kind of > special viewing stand or cloth? Would a goose-necked lamp be allowed to > shine light on the lace or would this be considered too strong? - 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/
