THE USE OF THE VACUUM OR SUCTION TABLE IN TEXTILE CONSERVATION

Maj Ringgaard The National Museum of Denmark Textile Conservation Department Brede DK-2800 Lyngby Denmark Abstract Various textile conservation uses of vacuum or suction tables are described, such as laminating weak textiles to support fabrics, washing fragile and fugitive colour textiles, stain and spot removal, drying textiles, crease and fold removal. Keywords Textiles, vacuum table, suction table, spot removal, cleaning, crease/fold removal Introduction The vacuum or suction table today is widely used in painting conservation, but is still not common in textile conservation laboratories, although it offers many different possibilities in textile conservation work. It can be used not only to laminate support fabrics to fragile textiles , but also to facilitate spot removal, to flatten or smooth textiles ironing, to speed up drying processes, to hold fragmented textiles in position during conservation, and when washing painted textiles or textiles with fugitive colours. Lamination The most common use of the vacuum table is for lamination treatments, e.g. the adhesion of very fragile silk textiles such as banners to a support fabric. Silk or polyester crepeline, Stabilitex, is adhesive coated on one side with a 2-20% solution of either polyvinyl acetate, acrylic polymer or ethylene vinyl acetate co-polymer. The vacuum table is covered with smooth felt or soft filterpaper. The adhesive coated fabric is placed with the adhesive upwards and care is taken that the fabric is placed correct. The fragile textile is carefully placed on top and adjustments of the fragment and loose threads positions can be made. Each section is then secured, using gentle finger pressure or a hand held spatula iron. The hot table is covered with melinex (polyester foil) and the suction switched on, and the temperature set at approx. 60 C. The final adhesion is achieved by a combination of the negative pressure and the

elevated temperature.

Note: the textile should be surface cleaned before treatment as adhesion is better to a non-dusty textile.

Washing on a Vacuum / Suction Table If used in combination with a water trap or a wet vacuum cleaner it is possible to use the suction table to wash very fragile flat textiles or painted textiles e.g. banners where there is a risk of paint cracking or loss, or even paint dissolving with normal washing methods. When washing on a suction table the textile can be washed in sections, thus preventing moisture from penetrating into the painted areas, and avoiding the paint loss that seems to be normal during the washing of banners (Yates, 1987). If painted, printed or multicolour textiles have colours which are not 100% water stable, the vertical suction minimises the risk of colourbleeding during washing and drying. Very fragile textiles with many splits or those where large areas of the warp or weft are missing can be held securely in place by the suction during cleaning. The Preparation for Vacuum / Suction Table Washing Absorbent blotters are placed on the area to be covered by the textile, to help move the moisture away from the textile. A polyester non-woven fabric is placed on top, as a dry barrier between the wet blotter and the textile. The suction table is covered with Melinex (polyesterfilm). The outline of the textile is marked and the Melinex within the marked outline is cut away. The Melinex is fastened to the table with adhesive tape. A piece of Melinex a bit bigger than the cut out hole is placed on it leaving a small area of the fibercloth visible. The textile is put on top and the suction is switched on, resulting in suction only on the small area. By gently pulling the lose piece of Melinex under the textile it is possible to enlarge the area, and by covering with another piece of Melinex on top of the textile one can wash the textile bit by bit, and keep the airflow more or less constant. The washing solution can be applied by damp/wet sponging but better results are obtained by spraying, and the most effective is a constant fine mist of washing solution and rinsing water. It is important that the speed of applying the solution or water matches the rate of removal. There must be a parallel flow of air across the under surface of the suction table surface for drying the liquid from the blotter, or the evaporation will only take place from the textile surface.

Sport Removal A similar technique can be used for removing spots from textiles, which cannot or may not be washed. The suction table is prepared as described above with blotters, nonwoven polyester and Melinex. A hole the size of the stain or spot is cut out, and the textile is placed with the spot directly over the hole in the Melinex. The prepared cleaning solution is sprayed on, dabbed on with a cotton swab or slowly dripped from a pipette, as are the rinsing solutions. Again it is important that the speed of applying the solution matches the removal rate or the stain will spread outwards leaving a tide -mark. While working one can pull the Melinex and the textile together so that the hole is over a fresh dry piece of the blotter. Remember to use a piece of Melinex large enough so all the textile apart from the area under treatment is covered, thus avoiding any leaks around the edges. A vacuum probe can be used instead of the suction table, if the stain or spot is very small. The vacuum probe is placed on the spot, the cleaning and rinsing solutions are applied from the back and are drawn through the fabric, preventing the solvent and the dissolved stain from spreading into the surrounding fabric (Lennard, 1989). Drying Textiles Air drying very degraded textiles can result in hard , brittle fibres caused by the damaging effects of surface tension and capillary action of the liquid water, which can result in shrinking, bulking, and for cellulosic textiles a browning of the edges and the thicker areas. The staining is caused both by a chemical modification in the aircellulose-water interface and by an accumulation of chemicals or pigments in the last-to-dry areas. These damaging effects can be reduced by drying flat textiles on a cold suction table because the extraction of the moisture is vertical to the textile-fibres (Peacock, 1992). The textile must be covered with a fibercloth, a fine woven polyester fabric or similar, so that the textile does not act as a filter for the dust in the room with the suction table! If the textile is covered with Melinex the drying process will be very slow unless the suction table has a built-in transverse air flow, as the drying rate depends upon the airflow through the textile. Transverse airflow movement on the suction table allows for faster drying with less air contamination (Thomsen, 1984). Crease Removal from Textiles The suction table can be a useful tool for removing creases from textiles in a more gentle way than ironing. e.g. from heavily embroidered large linen cloth. Instead of using a small spatula iron

to iron around the embroidery the following method can be used. The suction table is covered with Melinex, a hole is cut out in the shape of the textile, and if the suction table has built in humidity control the humidification is set for 85%. The textile is placed on the table, covered with Melinex and the humidity switched on. After some hours the textile will have reached the desired equilibrium, relaxed but not wet. The Melinex is then removed from the textile in sections. The textile is smoothed gently into position with small natural sponges or using the fingertips, after which the textile is covered with Melinex and the suction is connected. The whole textile is smoothed section by section. When this process is complete the temperature can be elevated slightly to 35 C and the textile dried . If the suction table has no humidity control the humidification can be achieved by covering the textile with a damp cloth or blotters. The suction table has also been used for flattening textiles made of metal threads, synthetic fibres and PVC raincoats, as the combination of slightly elevated temperatures and suction for longer periods is more successful and less damaging than using a hot iron. Conclusion The vacuum or suction table, with or without the heat function, is a very useful tool in textile conservation. The examples given are only those applications which have been used by the author. Other uses will probably be found for these tables as textiles conservators become more familiar with them. References Lennard, F., 1989. The Conservation of the United Tin Plate Workers Society Banner of 1821. In The Conservator number 13. Maes, Y., 1995. Die Reinigung van Tapisserien nach dem Aerosolverfahren. Ein Wandteppich aus der Reihe Die taten der Apostel nach einem Karton van Raffael. Restauro Vol 101, No 4, 248-251. Michalski, S., 1984. The suction table: A Physical Model. Preprints of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic work. Thomsen, F. G., An Old Adhesive-Starch Paste. A New Technique The Suction Table Offers New Horizons in the Treatment of Brittle Textiles. Paris Congress Preprints, 74-77. Peacock, E., 1992. Drying Archaeological Textiles. NESAT 4 in Tidens Tand 5, Copenhagen. Yates, N. S., 1987. Results from a Questionnaire on the Conservation Treatment of Painted Flags and Banners. In Preprints of the Eighth Triennial Meeting of the ICOM - CC, Sydney.