Sheep Skin Heep Big Trouble

[Morren]

To start off, I'd just like to say you guys are nuts. Which is why I finally decided to register... You all make me look fairly sane.

Got a sheep skin in, oh 'bout a year ago, framed it with out mounting it, or stretching it, or glueing it... put it under a mat with clear acetate corners. It came back to visit me the other day. Warped & Wrinkled,(unlike myself), the owner of the skin just wasn't happy with it and wants it to lay flat.( I don't think it's all that bad ) We have brainstormed here at the shop and think we might try adding a piece of plexiglas between the mat and the document, and of course leaving the outside UV glass in place. My Questions are: Will this harm the skin? ; What other methods can I use that don't involve water? ; Should I just tell my customer to "get over it..."?
It seems to me that I have read something in the past about a way to mount it with out wetting it and stetching, but my feeble mind fails me.

HELP.....(please)

d. morren

p.s. Does anyone know where my valuable FrameDex points went to.......? Some of you old timers might help me out.

[Lance E]

Trusty old thread (http://thegrumble.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002762)
Check this thread out, JRB imparts some knowledge that will be of value.

Your Framedex points are still in the mail from Linda and Sue, that is of course if the aliens passed on the credit documentation...

Welcome

[Freda Framer]

Morren,
You might want to check a thread called "Sheepskin Diploma" from 6/6/02. There is some helpful advice there from Hugh Phibbs. Good Luck with this one!
Freda

[Alice Perritt, CPF]

We deal with a lot of sheepskin (the Citadel, College of Charleston, and many other Southern schools LOVE to give the real thing . . . couple that with extreme humidity . . . you get the picture). We have come up with our own method to get a perfectly flat document in a way that is almost completely reversable. WARNING: Only try this with a sheepskin in good condition to start with.

We started with instructions that came with a sheepskin from Oxford. It required cutting a plywood support and sealing it with marine varnish to seal the acids in. It worked great, but was way too time consuming.

Our current method is to cut a support out of plywood 1/2" or so smaller than the document. We use a lightweight plywood (1/4" Luan - I don't know how to spell it. It's pronounced loo on). I got Kyle at Lineco to send me a roll of white frame sealing tape 16" wide. (This is the product that is paper on one side and aluminum on the other. The wide width is a special order - it usually comes in 1" and 2" widths.) Completely wrap and seal the plywood with the frame sealing tape. Cut a piece of 4 ply board just smaller than the support and glue it to the face. Use a sandpaper block to bevel the cut edge of the rag board to eliminate the possibility of the sharp edge cutting into the document.

When you are ready to start, create a humidity chamber by placing a lite of glass on your work table. Next use a sheet of rag board as a blotter. Wet the blotter by spritzing well with distilled water. Next add a second dry blotter and top with a second lite of glass. (Glass should be bigger than blotter, blotter should be bigger than sheepskin.) Give the blotters time to absorb all the moisture. Only practice will tell you how long and how wet. Err on the side of caution! The blotters should be cool and damp to the touch. DO NOT have visible puddles of water. Sometimes, I spitz a second time if the blotters seem too dry.

When you have a good humidifier ready, place the document between the two blotters and ignore it for about a half hour. No peeking - you'll just let the moisture escape. No movement of the blotters either. If the ink has transferred slightly, moving the top blotter can cause a ghost image.

At this point, make sure someone else can catch the phone and talk to customers because time is of the essence. Open your chamber and test the document. It should have the feel of skin. When you tug slightly it will "give". It will also look a little puckery. That is normal. If it looks translucent, it's too wet. Transfer it to your prepared support. The document will start to dry out immediately, so you have to work fast. Staple the document to the edge of the support just as you would a painting to a stretcher. Staple the center of each side, tugging just slightly as you go. You're not really stretching it, just pulling it taut. Work from the center out to each corner. (Make hospital corners like making the bed.) Take care to stretch it so that the lines of type are still straight - it's possible to pull the writing out of square.

When you have the entire document stapled down, cut four strips of moisture activated linen tape the length of the four sides. Moisten the tape and apply to just the sides of the document and support, covering the staples and wrapping the excess around to the back. The linen tape makes a neat package and helps to ditribute the force of shrinkage from the staple holes so the document won't tear.

The document will still be puckery looking and you'll think you've totally screwed up. Put it in a safe place to air dry, go home, drink a glass of wine and get a good night's sleep. In the morning, the sheepskin will have dried out completely and shrunk enough to eliminate all the puckers.

In about one out of fifty cases, I've had to redo the stretching. Simply remove the linen tape, pull out the staples and start over with the humidity chamber. If the tape has damaged the "seal", apply a second layer of frame sealing tape.

Frame it using a sink mat under the mats and an acid free faom backing. Use a frame deep enough to accomodate the extra thickness - at least 3/4".

Citadel diplomas come with a ribbon and pressure sensitive gold foil seal. We gently peel these off and reattach them after stretching.

The beauty of this method is that the body of the document is completely unaffected - no glues or pastes come in contact with it. You WILL be putting a series of holes around the perimeter from the staples and the linen tape may leave a residue. The method works extremely well. All of our clients have been very pleased and the perfectly flat documents can survive even a South Carolina summer with no ill effects.

[Jim Miller]

Alice's second sentence said:
We have come up with our own method to get a perfectly flat document in a way that is almost completely reversable.

Alice:

Your method of mounting an animal skin may indeed make it perfectly flat, and keep it that way. Effective? Yes. A good alternative for those who insist on flat documents? Yes. Removable? Yes. "Almost completely reversible"? Not by my dictionary.

"Reversible" to me means that the item can be returned to its original condition. Those staple holes are absolutely completely permanent, and maybe the creases, as well.

That's not to say your mounting method isn't a good way to deal with wrinkled diplomas, which can be replaced if necessary. And your materials are fairly non-invasive. However, I wouldn't recommend it for any animal skin that has high monetary or sentimental value and deserves a reversible mount.

Our difference of perception about the term "reversible" is not uncommon in our industry. To wit: "acid free", "archival", "conservation", and "museum" also are fuzzy terms which mean different things to different framers. And that makes confusion for consumers who hear conflicting definitions.

One more good reason for FACTS: Consistent, standardized terminology.

[Jack Cee]

We have been closed for a week and just picked up on your posting. Question: Is the sheep skin tanned; is it a whole skin or partial; is it a diploma; is it dried and not tanned; makes a difference in my reply?

If tanned, you can experience some outgassing from the tanning agents but it would be fairly easy to mount. The outgassing will condense on the glazing and cloud it in a short period of time.

Jack Cee
Expressive Surroundings

[Morren]

THANKS FOR ALL THE POSTS...

We at the shop put the project off long enough and talked about it and prayed about it for so long that our customer took the ball and caled the school and is having a certificate sent on PAPER to be framed...
Great info for the future, but the Lord took care of this one. :D :D :D

Thanks again
morren

[JRB]

It's a shame that doing something so simple has turned into such a project. In the old days, most serious institutions gave out animal skin diplomas. Frame shops mounted them as a matter of course, it was no big deal. It has now turned into an almost mystical project with everyone either refusing to do it ot thanking God that they don't have to, or wringing their hands with worry about the prospect of doing it.

I've written about how to do it several times on The Grumble. Alice's method pretty much explains how it used to be done, although some of her instructions seemed a bit cumbersome, making it seem more complicated than it actualy is.

I would suggest to framers wanting to experiment with this problem, to go to thrift shops or flea markets and try and find a few of these to try it on.

Mounting animal skin diplomas is easy and should not strike fear in the hearts of any framers.

John

[Less]

I think if I spent a lot of money on an education that I would want my diploma printed on a more stable substrate. How about a heavy rag paper? If these institutions are so smart at educating our kids then maybe it's time to educate them about their out dated way of printing these valuable documents.

Thanks for the tips.

[JRB]

Lessafinger, animal skin diplomas and manuscripts have been around for centuries. I'm sure you have seen old manuscripts that date back to the 1200s and earlier. Sheepskin is one tough surface and will out last most papers, rag or not. How many papers can survive countless wars, floods, revolutions, and centuries in damp old castles in Europe?

John

[Jim Miller]

Right on, John.

A sheepskin might wrinkle, but it is a very durable substrate for documents. Conditions that do a little harm to animal skins would often destroy paper. In the grand scheme of things, a few wrinkles are no big deal -- a conservator can usually fix them.

Animal skins are the superior choice for diplomas.