Saving Your Treasures: Textiles
Saving Your Treasures
Types of Materials
TEXTILES
Most historic textiles are made of organic fibers, including wool, cotton, linen, and silk. Modern textiles are made of natural and synthetic fibers, such as nylon and polyester.
Antique silk from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries must be handled very carefully. The silk may be chemically unstable due to a process called “weighting.” Metallic salts were added to the silk in order to add weight and body to the fabric because the fabric was sold by weight not length. The addition of the metallic salts accelerated the degradation of weighted silk, leaving it brittle and fraying.
Textiles can be made using many different technologies, such as weaving, knitting, and stitching. They can be decorated using embroidery, appliqué, beading, and dying.
Animal Materials:
Skin & Leather
Animal Materials:
Hair, Hooves, Etc.
Animal Materials:
Bones, Shells, Etc.
Animal Materials:
Deterioration
Animal Materials:
Preventative Care
TYPES OF MATERIALS
Ceramics Glass Metals Wood Textiles Paper Paintings Other
Types of Materials
TEXTILES
Most historic textiles are made of organic fibers, including wool, cotton, linen, and silk. Modern textiles are made of natural and synthetic fibers, such as nylon and polyester.
Antique silk from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries must be handled very carefully. The silk may be chemically unstable due to a process called “weighting.” Metallic salts were added to the silk in order to add weight and body to the fabric because the fabric was sold by weight not length. The addition of the metallic salts accelerated the degradation of weighted silk, leaving it brittle and fraying.
Textiles can be made using many different technologies, such as weaving, knitting, and stitching. They can be decorated using embroidery, appliqué, beading, and dying.
Plant Materials:
Plant Materials:
Plant Materials:
Plant Materials:
Plant Materials: Deterioration -
Plant Materials: Deterioration -
Plant Materials:
| Animal Materials: Skin & Leather | Animal Materials: Hair, Hooves, Etc. | Animal Materials: Bones, Shells, Etc. |
| Animal Materials: Deterioration | Animal Materials: Preventative Care |
TYPES OF MATERIALS
| Ceramics | Glass | Metals | Wood | Textiles | Paper | Paintings | Other |
