shoes&pattens9

139

Appendix 2

cess was discontinued - both because shrinkage was found to be less if the plasticiser was added before the water was removed and the leather was therefore never in a dry, unplasticised State, and because the materials used might confuse sub-seąuent analyses. Since 1980 all leather has been soaked in an aąueous solution of glycerol and/or polyethylene glycol 400 as recommended by several laboratories (David 1981; Watson 1981) before either method of drying. These are less likely to interfere with analyses.

Neither drying method will harm most associ-ated materials, with the exception of wood, which should not be solvent-dried. If it can be carried out without damage, objects may be dismantled and

Table 22 Shrinkage of freeze-dried and acetone-dried leather (shoes and other objects) from London sites. Each bar represents the rangę of shrinkage in one batch of leather.

the different materials conserved separately. Reconstruction

Although most objects could be studied ade-ąuately without being reconstructed, it was essential to assemble a few for the purposes of photography and public display. The methods used were those recommended by the York Archaeological Trust (Peacock 1983). Only inert materials were used. Cellulose nitrate (HMG) and polyacrylate (PL1ANTEX) were used as adhesives. Dyed and waxed linen thread, dyed crepeline and brown felt were used for stitching, backing and gap-filling.

< >

2%    4%    6%    8%    10%    12%    14%    16%

% Shrinkage < >Freeze Dried ^^Acetone Dried