In response to Fiona McLees's question about pH-induced color shifts in organic colorants on paper. I have seen the leaching of blue colorant from Japanese woodblock prints into buffered matboards. It's been difficult to photograph as it has been very subtle but I could try to send pictures off-line. Since I wasn't monitoring the prints over time I have no way of knowing if there was an actual color shift in the original prints, but there was certainly some sort of reaction. I have saved the matboard but have not had the opportunity to analyze nor research. One of my questions would be whether problems are due to contact with buffered materials (I'm assuming this) or off-gassing from buffered materials (would like info on this) and would like some clarity.
Because of this, and all the other anecdotal recommendations about using unbuffered mounting and housing materials with organic colored materials, we keep all of our Japanese woodblock prints in unbuffered folders and mat in unbuffered matboard. A side issue is that unbuffered matboard is getting difficult to find in any colors other than bright white (for photographs). I think this is a really important area of study and hope to hear, Fiona, that you are taking this up as a project! Emily Klayman Jacobson Paper & Photographs Conservator Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Smithsonian Institution [email protected] 202.633.0374 __________________________________________________________ Message: 11 Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2019 08:04:47 +0000 From: Fiona Mclees <[email protected]> Subject: [Consdistlist] pH-induced colour shifts in organic dyes and pigments on paper Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" There are many studies concerning light-induced fading of organic dyes and pigments on paper, but does anyone know of any research regarding the risk of pH-induced colour shifts in organic colourants on paper? The internet offers some recommendations that unbuffered mounting and housing materials should be used in proximity to watercolours and hand-tinted prints (for example, see https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nps.gov%2Fmuseum%2Fpublications%2Fconserveogram%2F04-09.pdf&data=02%7C01%7Cjacobsone%40si.edu%7C3062bb20ff0b41ca7e4308d6b9b649dd%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C1%7C1%7C636900589922278280&sdata=Ko5pUudKR9bf%2BAiEGWWhv7iOHDQ4sQvkWQpvQWCerG8%3D&reserved=0) but has anyone conducted research in this area, or observed colour change occurring due to alkaline-buffered storage materials? Fiona McLees, ACR Paper Conservator Conservation & Collection Care Weston Library The Bodleian Libraries Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG Tel: +44 (0) 1865 277080 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [email protected] Searchable archives: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/
