Help Newspaper with Charcoal Art

[MaJa]

Hey guys! Here's a new one to me. A newspaper from 1998 with charcoal art and an older photograph "pasted" on it. It was sold hinged with a rag mat ATG'ed to it in a frame with no glass. The customer had it in a closet on the very moist Oregon Coast. It has swelled and cockled. Any ideas on how to mount it that will flatten it at all? I would do DCO if it wasn't charcoal.

Thanks!

 

[Shayla]

So it has both ATG and hinges on the back?
Can you see what sort of hinges they are?
Is the ATG in long strips or just a few spots?

 

[MaJa]

Oh sorry, guess I didn't explain well. The mat was ATD'ed and I got that off. The art was stuck in a few places to the ATG, but the customer carefully freed it (I cringed). The hinges on top were a pressure sensitive adhesive that peeled right of the foamcore (I didn't try to take them off the art obviously). So Susan B. is free, lol. (If you can't tell it's a portrait of Susan B. Anthony.)

 

[Shayla]

Does the paper seem too weak to be supported by hinges?
If so, I can understand your hesitancy to do so. If not, what
about using rice/wheat paste with Japanese hinging paper to
do several all around behind it? You probably already know
how to position them, but I learned from the great directions
on the Frametek website. Do they want that little picture to
keep sticking up in the air? If not, I wonder if you could put
a microdot of something behind it to get it lower. That would
allow for greater latitude in frame choices.

 

[Rick Granick]

Sounds like a job for a paper conservator. It's inherently unstable already, and now condition-challenged. Plus, you have multiple media, with unknown substance attaching the photo. I wouldn't want to do anything other than re-hinging, but that wouldn't solve the cockling issue. Hinging probably isn't the best solution anyway, since the newsprint is going to get more and more brittle with age, weakening the capacity of the hinge points to hold the weight of the piece.

Calling Rebecca!

:kaffeetrinker_2: Rick

 

[Jim Miller]

I think Rick's advice is spot-on.

 

[Rebecca]

It looks like there are two photos on it, one of which is curling? If it is possible, the strategy would be to remove the collage elements, flatten, and maybe back, the primary newspaper support with Japanese paper (if it were backed the edges of the backing paper could be used to attach the newspaper to 8-ply...),figure out a way to flatten and keep flat the curled photo, and maybe the other collage piece too, and reattach to the primary support in original positions. It would be an interesting project for some conservator...

 

[MaJa]

Thanks guys! Yes, (paper) "conservator" was the first word out of my mouth, but it is more decorative to them then valuable, so I do not see that happening. It is a fun piece and a shame the shape it's in.

shayla - I Love Fremetek's articles/pictures, they come in handy.

Rebecca - Yes, that sounds like fun for someone else, lol. I know where to draw the line. When I am not comfortable and people will not listen I default to, "Oh sorry, my insurance will not allow me to do that." For some reason people don't really argue with that one.

If they are set on framing it we will set it back in something deep and tell them that the cockles give it character!

Thanks for all your ideas!!