Conservation Treatment of the Silk Wall Coverings in the Boudoir

at Arlington Court in Devon by May Berkouwer Textile Conservation

Bulletin 2: Work carried out during April and May 2019 The conservation treatment of the silk wall covering started in April. In preparation, the furniture conservators from Tankerdale Workshop had removed the gilt fillets, cornices, decorative frieze and skirting boards in March 2019. Cleaning We started, as is usual in conservation, with surface cleaning to remove the loose dust which had settled on all surfaces. For this we used a museum vacuum cleaner set on a low suction, aided by soft brushes. In the weakest areas the vacuum cleaning was carried out through the existing layer of protective net. Removal of the stretched conservation net Then the protective layer of net, dating from the early 1990’s, was removed:

2 May Berkouwer Textile Conservation: National Trust, Arlington Court, Conservation of the silk in the Boudoir

Further Cleaning Along the upper and lower edges thicker layers of dust had collected which were removed with the help of fine foam sponges:

Stain removal, or reduction In a few places, the silk fabric had long ago been repaired by pasting onto the wall behind with a form of animal glue, and this had now darkened leaving some large stains. Using Industrial Methylated Spirits (a pure form of alcohol) and blotting paper, it was possible to remove some of this material and reduce the staining a little.

3 May Berkouwer Textile Conservation: National Trust, Arlington Court, Conservation of the silk in the Boudoir

Supporting damaged areas of silk Years of exposure to light have caused the colours to fade and the silk fibres to degrade. In some places the fabric was reduced to a thin, papery layer of brittle silk fibres. During previous conservation treatment, adhesive support patches of pink silk had been inserted, which had begun to fail. The pink infill colour now also made interpreting the design a little difficult:

Ineffective or unattractive support patches were removed and the delicate remains were supported with a fine silk crèpeline fabric, dyed to match and coated with a thin layer of conservation adhesive; this is secured with a small spatula iron. This time the gaps were infilled with a silk fabric matching the faded surroundings, inserted behind the silk and fixed onto the wall behind by conservation adhesive strips; these were also secured by heat setting.

4 May Berkouwer Textile Conservation: National Trust, Arlington Court, Conservation of the silk in the Boudoir

Example of such repairs in one small area on the right hand wall:

Before Treatment with pink infill patch Supported with silk crèpeline adhered.

The same area supported with the new silk infill, awaiting finishing with pink net overlay

In the next Bulletin I will tell you about the application of the net overlay. May Berkouwer ACR May 2019