Decor Tips
Fragile: Handle with Care!
by Nancy Muldowney
If your walls could talk, would they sigh with contentment or would they writhe in anguish? Do they feel well dressed or more like the Goodwill Store. What you put on your walls should be a reflection of who you are and what interests you. You choose things that will be pleasing to you and to those whom you do business with or entertain.
You create an inviting environment by what you put on your walls. Sometimes you have spent a great deal of time deciding what to put there and sometimes the perfect thing just jumps out and grabs you. Either way, there is a part of you on display.
So, it should be important to you to take care of that which you have spent time so carefully choosing. Our interiors are not the most perfect climates at any time of year for protecting artwork from deterioration. But because they are on our walls, we forget that we need to keep aware of how they look close up not just as a backdrop daily lives.
However, people who don‘t move either their offices or homes very often tend to take for granted the pieces that they have displayed. We have seen, many times, pieces that have been on the wall for 20 or 30 years and never taken down to be cleaned or refurbished. Backing papers on pieces that have glazing on them turn brittle after a number of years and they rip when moved around thus allowing dust to get inside. The glass can be quite dirty after many years. In some cases the piece can be a home to bugs.
I have also seen during the 18 years that I have been a professional picture framer many changes in the materials that framers use. Today we have more access to conservation materials that will protect your artwork. This is another reason to look at your artwork on the walls, because if it was framed before 1985 and maybe even more recently than that, the materials used may not be the best for the preservation of the work. Materials that are acidic in content can eat away and cause burn marks on works on paper.
There are so many elements out there that are destructive to works of art whether they are valuable or inexpensive. Light is hard on paint pigments and inks and they can lose their intensity. The air is filled with dust and warm moist air, like we have here, creates mildew that clings to the glass and any of the paper products in or around your art. Just like anything else, mildew can eventually be destructive to your pictures.
Just as you need to repaint your ceilings and walls after a period of time, you also should take a good look at your pictures and maybe get them cleaned up by your framer.