The Framers Forum

For some reason everywhere seems to have stopped stocking the hinging tape I always used.

I ordered a couple of different rolls and they both are like this. To me this seems like faulty tape? Yes?

What's your preferred hinging tape?

What is it?

For non-conservation work I used FP-90 or FP-90 plus, burnished on.

For conservation work I believe there is no suitable tape. I made my own hinges and adhesive.

My preferred tape is an acid free white gummed paper tape. I will never use a self adhesive again for hinging, after I had two pieces back in, one hung in a sunny place and one above a radiator...
There's a cotton gummed tape I use from UK Industrial Tapes too. For conservation work you need mulberry paper or japanese rice paper hinges and a suitable adhesive like methyl cellulose or starch paste.

Asian papers made from Kozo, Gampi, or Mitzumata fibers can be called "rice" paper. True rice paper is something more like papyrus and not good for making hinges.

Methyl cellulose can be mixed with wheat starch paste (and klucel G, which I have no experience of) but by itself it's quite weak.

Here's how it worked for me - as in levels

1. No adhesive - so platform mount, edge mounting strips, possibly corner pockets but not self adhesive ones, encapsulation and overlay
2. The best hinges with the best adhesive - so wet torn tissue made from 100% kozo (inner bark fibres of the mulberry tree) with freshly cooked starch paste,
3. FP-90

BUT - we cooked wheat paste most days and the hinges were pre-torn in long strips ready to be wet torn to size as required and this was used for most things "nice" that maybe could not be classed as a conservation job because the glass was not conservation grade, plus it was used whenever we thought FP-90 may not suit for any reason - eg float mounting - and also used because we'd made it and wanted to waste as little as possible. Most tissues, which we bought in packs of 5 sheets from PEL, worked out cheaper than lineco hayaku tape or FP-90 - and seeing as it was always at hand, was just as convenient while blowing them away in conservation spec.

Also the platform mount plus other non adhesive methods were used as problem-solvers as well as conservation jobs - e.g 50 aperture multi platform mount for sets of cards - makes the tedious process of mounting simple and fast - as long as you have a CMC!

Gummed tape was used only for hinging mount to undermount and it would normally be the linen gummed tape.

Thanks folks, appreciate the input!

Definitive answers can be found in the recently updated Study Guide available from https://www.fineart.co.uk/shop/Default. ... tegory=134

we cooked wheat paste most days

Did it make any difference to the quality of the paste, which flour you used?
You can buy plain flour from as little as 53p/kg to £1.80/kg for a 'branded' flour.
There is even a 'strong' plain flour grade.
Makes me wonder why the cheapest is so cheap.

Sorry, I missed the word “starch” out. Wheat starch paste - I wouldn’t use flour although wheat starch is the same stuff with more processing - and I wouldn’t use cornflour, which is called cornstarch across the pond.

This stuff is regarded as the best

https://www.preservationequipment.com/C ... -P996-8000

Thanks for that reply.
The wheat starch you recommended is definitely the one to go for. I notice that it too requires cooking.
Going further into the subject, you can buy Dextrin which is a further refined derivative of wheat starch but can be used without cooking.
It is a well-recognised paper adhesive - just add warm water and stir.
Does anyone have any thoughts on its use as an alternative to wheat starch paste.
I use Dextin as a water-soluble varnish and coating on gilding.

I have heard of it being used in some applications.

If you get adept at cooking wheat starch paste to any desired consistency an alternative isn’t a thing - but I’ve never looked in to it. PEL don’t sell it!

Put the word in to a grumble search with author as “preservator”
There’s plenty on it - eg

https://www.thegrumble.com/threads/yupo-paper.26381/

Yes, there's a useful amount of discussion on the grumble where they at least recognise dextrin as an adhesive.
So far no-one has given any comparison of use against wheat-starch, from which it is actually derived.
So, without being too presumptuous, I wonder is it OK to use instead of wheat-starch.
I know PEL don't do it but it is a lot cheaper and much quicker to use.
You can buy a 1kg quantity of good white grade Dextin on E-bay for about £15 delivered.
But if anyone feels more confident cooking up wheat-starch, then that's OK too.

I’ve now read more of Hugh Phibbs posts on dextrin and he makes it quite clear that it is not suitable for contact with artwork - not at the same levels of framing where you would use wheat starch paste anyway.

I mentioned that PEL don’t sell it because they specialise and if it was a good conservation adhesive, they surely would.
Conservation by design don’t sell it and across the pond, nor does the equivalent supplier - Talas.

A teaspoonful or two of wheat starch makes enough to last a day (some keep it for a few days - I never did) and although a kilo of it costs whatever if costs - it’s a negligible cost per day or per job
It’s also great for bonding mount boards together to make 8 ply, plus repair ……. and more.

I'm still none the wiser on this.
Preservator on Grumble says he wouldn't use a dextrin laced tape on artwork. But is he talking about the tape, which is paper tape or the adhesive?
And why not?
Then when I look up more academic descriptions of Dextin, it is described as a modified or purified starch which dissolves more readily than its source material, ie wheat-starch.
Nobody is saying why you shouldn't be using it.
The same academic paper describes how many of the museum conservation depts. almost compete with each other in their esoteric recipes for cooking wheat starch.
That's a bit worrying, as i reminds me of the same B.S. being talked about when it comes to making traditional gesso.

But I'm not really bothered.
If someone gives me another valuable paper artwork to hinge, I'll probably be looking to cook up some wheat-starch just to be sure.
I notice PEL sell some pre-cooked wheat-starch as well.
Just add water.

Have you done the search I suggested?

I’m sure there will be elaboration and then if you just search for dextrin without specifying an author, there may be more. A topic asking your question could be started too.

Hugh doesn’t post there any more unfortunately but he does have his own Facebook group “preservation chemistry”.

As far as I and all other grumblers are concerned though - elaboration whether there or not, is unnecessary, the guy’s word is gospel.

To reply to a few of your points anyway - he wouldn’t use a factory produced pre-gummed tape regardless of the type of adhesive and nor would I

If you do get valuable artwork to mount - try starting with a non adhesive method, regardless of how fabulous any adhesive may be, hinging does SOMETHING to it, why do that when there is an option of doing nothing?

I'll take your suggestion and post a new topic on the Grumble.
Let's see what comes back.
I've tried looking at all the topics where dextrin in mentioned in relation to wheat-starch but the conversation gets bounced around too much and becomes difficult to follow.

Your instruction to try doing nothing to a piece of artwork is duly noted and in an ideal world, I think we all try to follow that.
Some art looks good inside a window mount and some art looks good when float mounted.
If hinging is the best way to present the art aesthetically and to its owner's taste, then that's the way I'll do it.
As long as the treatment is fully reversible, I'm happy to let my intervention become part of its history.

I agree - like I said when (and if) the option is there it should be taken - and it can’t be taken if the customer insists on something that won’t allow it

I’m afraid we don’t all follow that though.

If it's any use to anyone, here's what I ended up ordering and they both work a treat.

Nothing wrong with those.

I raised my game after this conversation. I've been putting it off and putting it off, not wanting to be cooking paste in the studio, until Dermot pointed out the pre-cooked variety. I think I have gone over the top with 1.5kgs of paste, though it will probably last my framing career. Here's my shopping delivery.