Colored Pencil On Cotton Sheeting

[Shayla]

We have two original drawings in ink and colored pencil that a man hopes to frame.
They were done between forty and eighty years ago, and the cotton seems to be in
good shape, but because it's actual bedsheet material, it's fairly thin. One is only about
24 x 30, but the other is 38 x 54. They were done by an artist well-known enough
(and a relative of the customer) that they could be worth thousands of dollars each,
and we want to frame them well.

I can imagine stretching and lacing them like needleworks, over a bit of batting and a
substrate, but am wondering how the sheeting will respond over time. That's a pretty
large area to not have sag. I mentioned that some people use direct contact overlays,
but aside from the expense, it seems that a friable medium might not work well this
way.

We plan to use spacers, and he's open to having them matted, but I'm wondering
if there might be some extra ideas here. :kaffeetrinker_2:

 

[preservator]

Muslin

Your idea of using a solid backing board is a good one, since stretching this like a canvas could set up tensions that could challenge the strength of the cloth. If you add two or four ply to either side of the stiff board (foam-centered or conservation auality corrugated) it will make it more rigid and stable .



Hugh

 

[Ylva]

Are they very wrinkly? Do they need to be stretched at all?

It's hard to advise anything without seeing it in front of me, but I might just sew it at the top, few stitches, have it 'free hanging', maybe with a mat (floating maybe?) and leave it as is.

Not sure if stretching, even as gently as possible, would cause more problems.