Old textiles need extreme care

Old textiles need extreme care

JAKARTA (JP): Puji Josep Subagyo, senior textile conservator of the National Museum, said that tropical weather conditions are not conducive to the conservation of old cloth. To store a rare piece of cloth, it should be kept in an airtight compartment and wrapped in acid free tissue where no pollution particles or dust can reach the cloth.

Room temperature should preferably be kept at around 25 degrees Celsius and 45 - 50 percent humidity.

Daily temperatures in Indonesia hover around 29 - 31 degrees Celsius with humidity of 80 - 95 percent. In less technical terms, all types of cloth should be air-dry stored and not be exposed to harsh light.

"Any textile will be ruined if exposed to weather conditions like ours," said Puji Josep.

Asked if old cloth could be cleaned, the textile conservator said that, depending on the condition of the cloth, dry cleaning would be recommended to remove spots. If the cloth is too frail for this, daubing with a solvent is recommended.

Among the standard cleansers Puji Josep mentioned were alcohol and acetone. Vinegar is also used, but one should exercise caution here. The acidity rate of vinegar should not be more than seven percent, he said.

To remove grease, oil and perspiration, Puji Josep recommended alkaline pH 6-8.

As to rescuing old cloth from further decline, two methods are applied at the National Museum in Central Jakarta to deal with this problem. They are thermo setting and re-weaving. With the first, a patching technique is applied using a transparent weave. Reweaving, the second method, is used to restore tapestry but the method is rarely applied in Indonesia.

-- Claudine Frederick