The Framers Forum

Ok here we go

100 or so banknotes to go in a double sided frame. Frame will be aluminium. No mount.

I've done mylar encapsulation before for stamp sheets but this frame is going to by 60x120cm and I'm thinking the mylar alone won't hold em.

I'm thinking....
Thick acrylic?
And/or What can I use to secure them in place?

They were previously fixed with blutac to board so while I'm usually conservation minded, there's room here for a bit of some kind of fixative

I don't see how you can do it without a 100 windowed mount. Mylar encapsulating 100 notes individually sounds fun...
Aluminium double sided frame sounds like a headache too.
I think you'll need some good old fashioned magic!
Tell them to save their money!! Get it?

If they have had bluetac used on them and you're not too worried about top draw conservation, then you could use a couple of bits or say 3mm acrylic, with these from Lion to attach notes too the rear piece of acrylic , at the top corners
https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/41771/Nesch ... 25mm-x-50m
Just a thought

Thanks both

Re double sided, I'm thinking just two sheets of thick acrylic with the notes sandwiched in between. Customer is happy to see the inside of the alu frame from the front, so should be easy. Unless I'm missing something obvious, which is always possible!

Thanks Steve, I like the rolly dots idea, didn't know they existed.

Is there anything else I could use tiny dots of to hold them? Paste? Silicone? Something else I don't know exists?

Sticking 100 banknotes to acrylic and getting them all in line? Good luck with that.

The adhesive on post it stickers will a clear wax based adhesive and it is removable if require at a later date. Wax based adhesives are at least a thousand years old and probably amoung the oldest adhesive mediums known to man. One of the 3M's spray adhesives is the same adhesive as used on their post it stickers, I'm not sure these days which one it is, but it is completely clear and a very light spray in the middle of each banknote will hold the banknote in position while they are sandwiched between the two layer of glazing. Aerosol clear wax adhesives are normally allowed to dry, before they are pressed in place onto their support backing. Removal at a later date is very easy. you just lift the edge of each banknote, where it was not been fxed all the way to the edge of the banknote and gently warm the banknote with a hair drier and carefully peel the banknote away from the glazing. There is also a company in Oxford called "Conservation Resources", who probably have something else to recommend and to offer you. There are conservation safe removal preperations which are suitable to harmlessly remove all traces of any remaining wax if it is neccesary to later remove the banknotes in the same pristine condition as when the were mounted. It will take a bit of care to minimise any visual effect of where the wax is contacting the glazing, so it needs to be the lightess possible apllication of wax.

I would suggest that you lay the rear piece of glazing on top of a piece of mountboard marked out in pencil with the banknote positions and use this as a guide to enable correct alignment of the banknotes and I would also recomment that you only fix the banknotes in place to the glasing on one side only, whch will really help if they later need to be removed. Alternatively a small amount of a suitable amount of a conservation type wax gently watered down in a conservation safe solvent will help to achieve a very thin leyer which only has the minimum residual wax content to retain the invisiblity of the wax when viewed through the gazing. There is another company which markets a well respected conservation wax and the company is called "Picreator" and they are the makers of "Heritage wax" I would recommend using Uv protective glazing as I am not really sure what long term exposure to UV does to the wax. Whatever products you end up using, I would recommend that you obtain and read the technical data sheets in full. Talk to the various suppliers for advice and don't use anything, without seeing the technical dats sheet first. You also need to know about the safe reversal options as well. This job will not be particularly quick and easy to do and will require a great deal of care while handling in order not to disturb already positioned banknotes.

I have only every used this technique for temporay display mounting on to museum white display boards, I know the theory, but I have never mounted on to double sided glazings, museum curators and paper conservators never usually mount anything of to glass. I was a bookbinder and paper conservator working for a specialist bookshop and antiquite prints and documents dealer in Southsea, for a while.

Golden rule for conservation work - Always obtain the technical data sheets for you conservation material and to fully read and understand the data!