Tvyek Used for Furniture Conservation in Tiffany Exhibit at Shelburne Museum

Shelburne Museum in Shelburne Vermont will be having an exhibit “Louis Comfort Tiffany: Nature By Design” from June 20 – October 25, 2009. In our previous blog post about Protecting Outdoor Sculptures with Tyvek® Covers, Nancie Ravenel, Objects Conservator from Shelburne Museum commented:

Nice to see art conservation highlighted! I'm using Tyvek Soft Structure Type 14, purchased from Materials Concepts, as part of my treatment of the upholstery on suite of chairs designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. You guys sent me a fantastic sample pack when I was choosing what material to use.

Nancie also posted a link to some photos of the pieces she is working on for this Tiffany exhibit. The photos include a chair that is being restored using Tyvek, used by permission.
This is the chair near the beginning of the conservation work on the seat. Nancie describes the process: “To recreate the original profile, layers of polyester batting were laid on top of the layers of curled horsehair and burlap on the chair.”

This is the chair near the beginning of the conservation work on the seat. Nancie describes the process: “To recreate the original profile, layers of polyester batting were laid on top of the layers of curled horsehair and burlap on the chair.”



Nancie describes this photo below: “On the chair on the left, a cover made of Tyvek® Soft Structure Type 14 was sewn to the strips to cover the polyester batting.”


Here is the completed chair with yellow silk velvet seat covering.

The use of Tyvek® here is well suited to the application. The Tyvek® will protect the exterior covering from the interior materials with a strong, flexible, breathable separator. Its strength allows it to be fastened and sewn. And the soft structure Tyvek® 14 is fabric-like so it will function well, thought we don’t suspect that chair will be tested by visitors to the Tiffany Exhibit at Shelburne Museum!

Tyvek® has many using in art conservation and for archiving and storing art objects. Archival Quality Tyvek® is used to protect paintings, sculptures, sketches, documents, and as we see here, furniture, during shipping, storage and display. Black Tyvek® is a relatively new product that is used as a durable picture frame backing paper. Material Concepts sells and distributes Tyvek® archival art supplies to art dealers, museums, and conservators worldwide.
The “Louis Comfort Tiffany: Nature By Design” exhibit runs from June 20 to October 25, 2009. Here is part of the exhibit description from Shelburne Museum’s website:

Louis Comfort Tiffany: Nature by Design will explore the oeuvres of Louis Comfort Tiffany within the context of Art Nouveau style and the Aesthetic Movement focusing on nature in his designs. Tiffany was the foremost proponent of the use of natural motifs in furniture, ceramics, metalwork and jewelry in America.

“Many of the works included in this exhibit have never before been on public display, including a furniture suite from Shelburne Museum’s permanent collection that has recently been restored and will be exhibited together for the first time,” said Senior Curator Jean Burks, who is organizing the exhibit.

The exhibition will feature over 75 works on loan from museums and private collections including lamps, stained glass, jewelry, ceramics and glass vessels. A catalogue will accompany the exhibit.

Thanks to Nancie Ravenel and Shelburne Museum for allowing us to post about this project!

Protecting Outdoor Sculptures with Tyvek® Covers

The American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works has a network blog for Emerging Conservation Professionals. This AIC blog started in May 2008 is "a forum for professionals entering the field of conservation."

Richard McCoy from the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) has a recent post about using Tyvek® covers to protect outdoor scuptures at the Oldfields-Lilly House & Gardens, a National Historic Landmark and 26-acre estate and historic house museum located at IMA. (Sources: IMA, Wikipedia).

Here are a couple sets of the before and after photos:

Photos courtesy of Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), taken by Richard McCoy. Click photos to enlarge. Additional photos, videos and slide show about protecting these sculptures available at: AIC: Emerging Conservation Professionals Network Blog

On these grouds there are a number of stone sculptures that are almost 100 years old. During the winter, the museum staff wants to protect the sculptures from the elements. McCoy describes:

Historically, sculptures like these would have been covered during the winter months. The reason? Freeze-thaw-action. [T]he problem is that moisture seeps into the interstices of the stone, stays there and then after the temperature drops the water becomes ice, expands and then the little (or sometimes big) pieces of the stone get pushed apart. In short it's not good for the sculptures and we try to reduce the chances of this happening.

Why use Tyvek® for covering the sculptures? McCoy says, "The thinking was if cars could be live all year long under Tyvek covers, then our sculptures could live a good winter life under them. Of course, Tyvek is clever in that it is water resistant, yet breathable, so moisture doesn't get trapped inside the covers."

The covers were custom made and sewn to cover 9 or 10 of these outdoor sculptures. If you are thinking about doing something like this, or sewing any Tyvek® material, please refer to our Tyvek® sewing instructions.

For more information about related uses of Tyvek®, visit the Tyvek® Archival Art page of our website.

For conservators or museum staff who want to use Tyvek®, you can buy archival quality Tyvek® style 14M rolls or other types of Tyvek® rolls or sheets online from Material Concepts, an authorized Tyvek® distributor, or you can call Material Concepts to place an order: 215-338-6515 or toll free in the US: 1-800-372-3366.