AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

Lascaux Acrylkleber adhesives have been in use in paper conservation for over a decade. The combination of the working properties of elastic acrylic film and its ability to be both heat- and solvent- activated--as well as dilutable with water and alcohol—makes it a unique resource in the realm of conservation. It provides all the benefits of using acrylic adhesive in treatment with more control and less risk than PVA, all while being significantly more reversible.

In a pursuit to delve deeper into the interactions of Lascaux Acrylkleber with other traditional conservation adhesives favored for their reversibility, conservators at the University of Illinois undertook a series of experiments. To begin with, we were curious about Lascaux 303HV’s performance in terms of changing the mechanical characteristics of paper fibers, as well as its behavior when used with other types of reversible adhesives, such as wheat starch paste. Experimentation with varying the concentration of each adhesive, as well as testing the best methodology for the preparation of mending tissue with combined adhesives were also areas of research interest. Once we arrived at a promising formulation, we created additional testing protocols to better understand the working characteristics of Lascaux in combination with wheat starch paste applied over historic papers—including different paper stocks with test mends applied at different points in the simulated treatment process.

After early success in creating extremely fine, elastic, strong, tonable and versatile remoistenable tissues for mending and lining applications, the authors decided to test the aging characteristics of this new Lascaux/paste combination. This presentation discusses the experimental procedure and ultimate data from attempting to ascertain to what extent Lascaux might prove suitable for further applications within the domain of book and paper conservation.