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Date: | Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:06:23 +0200 |
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Please excuse me if this is common knowledge but I'm in an expansive
(less grumpy) mood. And I would like to hear other thoughts and
experiences.
I would still wash it to release any stretching or tensions of fibres
arising from weaving. Wash normally with detergent (just to be sure
that it really is clean -[imagine a 1960s TV radiant smile here]), a
hot temperature and the rinse in cold water to make sure it shrinks
(combination of fibres relaxing and shortened fabric caused by fibres
swelling and therefore compacting the weave) as much as it 'needs'.
Due to moisture regain, one would expect that the fibres will always
be slightly more swollen than before wetting (any proof?). You are
aiming for a structurally stable state with no more major tensions
that could be released after it has been used/applied.
For example. When I was learning fabric printing, we were taught not
to wash the fabric first (the finish was convenient for the printing
process), but simply to moisten it by spraying, then immediately
ironing it dry to pre-shrink it so that that would not happen when
the water based inks were applied. Some fabrics, cottons, would
shrink dramatically before your eyes, even causing dramatic local
distortions between adjoining wet and dry areas. After that
experience I always washed and ironed fabrics before making clothes
or furnishings and never again suffered a puckered seam after the
first wash.
How you let it dry also has an effect. To iron or not to iron?
Back in the old TCC days, Karen Finch would say that we should never
iron backing/support fabrics because it stretches them, so that in
damp situations the fibres could relax (shrink) and cause tensions in
the stitched construction. I'm not so sure that that is significantly
different than smoothing the just washed fabric out on a smooth
surface so that it dries perfectly flat, looking as if it has been
ironed but better (no shine). Does save electricity. The degree of
tension arising would obviously depend on the individual properties
of the fibre: more with cotton than with more crystalline silk or
linen. I guess that high temperature steam ironing may well 'fix'
fabrics in a slightly stretched state (glass transition temperature
etc.).
With a fine linen scrim I used for supporting tapestries, I let the
damp panels dry flat after firmly smoothing out by hand, but not so
much that they 'stuck' to the surface of the table. This resulted in
a slight 'crępey' look - not absolutely ironed flat but with a slight
bumpy relief. This I considered to be built in extra 'bag' to be
taken up by stitching and it worked well.
You could probably get the same effect in this way with muslin -
should that be desirable.
On 22 Oct 2009, at 23:28, diana zlatanovski wrote:
> I am guessing the answer is yes, but I wanted to
> doublecheck...unbleached and unsized muslin purchased from an
> archival supplier still needs to be washed before using it with
> objects, correct?
>
> Thanks,
> Diana
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