Curly Plans

[Custard]

I got a great job today.

A local man spent eight years restoring an Uffa Fox designed yawl, he has the original plans from the 1930's and wants them framed, he said he'd thought about having them framed earlier but was worried it would "jinx" the project, so promised himself this would be the final job after every last lick of varnish was dry!

These plans are truly beautiful, but they've spent 70 odd years rolled tight and are now curly as a spring. Plus some of them are pretty big, about 5' x 3'. Mounting them isn't something he wants to consider.

Any suggestions?

[Bill Henry]

We recently had two old photos which had been rolled up and stored in an attic for nearly 70 years.

Trying to unroll it was like nailing Jell-O to a wall. Even with weights the curl kept pulling them up like a berserk window shade. Because of its age, I was afraid that the emulsion would crack if I tried to straighten it out by simply plopping in the dry mount press.

For such occasions, we use a "humidity chamber". We place about 1/2” of room temperature water into a cheap, plastic, wall paper trough (~32” x 5 x 4), float some plastic (not metal) ice cube trays on top of the water then prop the rolled up photos/posters/documents on top of the ice cube trays so that it is not in direct contact with the water.

We then cover the entire package with shrink wrap film and seal the open end with a bulldog clip or a few clothespins. In two or three days the paper absorbs enough moisture in this humid environment so that it can be unrolled without fear of cracking the emulsion.

We used to place a sheet of acrylic on top of the wall paper trough, but as the rolled up piece began to relax, it expanded a bit and touched the acrylic which had collected condensation on it. The shrink wrap film is baggy enough so that this doesn’t happen anymore.

Once the document is supple enough, place it between a photo drying blotter “booklet” under weight, or if it is too large, sandwiched between two sheets of white “museum” cotton rag mat (mount) board.

When it is dry enough, usually after another day or two, it is generally flat enough to work with.

[Custard]

Thanks Bill, so increase moisture content via humidity, unroll, then press flat. Amongst the plans he gave me for framing are a couple of smaller ones that he doesn't want framing, so i'll try one of these first.

[Not your average framer]

Hi Custard & Bill,

Custard, before you jump in at the deep end, can you tell us more about the nature and composition of these plans? Such information may affect the advice given. Are they indeed photographs like bill has mentioned, or if not what are they?

[framemaker]

I would also be cautious about trying to flatten out your customers plans, especially if you are testing out a technique for the first time.
About the most I would be happy to do is unroll, cover in silicone release paper and then weight under sheet board and leave for sometime. But even then, given the age and not knowing the actual material and condition I would probably just give them all to a paper conservator!

If the customer does not want to consider mounting them, are they being put straight in a frame/spacer, or slip?
I've read about mounting large posters onto a substrate or additional material which allows them to be held under slight tension, I can't find the article in mind but here is a similar one, I think this link was originally posted by someone on the forum once before:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/res_cons/conservat ... index.html

Along a similar idea I have had very wavy parchments which had linen tags secured around the edges,the work was put on a piece of 3mm mountboard which was about 1" bigger all round, this mountboard had slits cut which the tags went through, these could be gently pulled until the parchment was as flat as possible. A mount was then used to cover the tags/excess mountboard.