Remoistenable Tissue Preparation and its Practical Aspects

Remoistenable tissues are used to repair local tears and loss areas on moisture-sensitive objects, including those carrying copper green-containing pigments or iron gall ink. Gelatin, isinglass, cellulose ethers, starch ether and synthetic adhesives such as Aquazol (R) and Paraloid (TM) B72 were found to be suitable adhesives to prepare the remoistenable light-weight tissue repair paper. These remoistenable tissues are activated either with water, water/solvents or solely solvents. The choice for a suitable adhesive is influenced by its ability to form an adhesive film, by its concentration, by the flexibility of the tissue-adhesive preparation, by its transparency and by the adhesive swelling ability that enables its activation. Minimum and maximum adhesive concentrations, a range of light-weight tissues and activation methods are presented. A swelling test for adhesive films is discussed that allows evaluation of the activation process. The Berlin tissue was favored as tissue support, and a mixture of wheat starch paste and methylcellulose or gelatin were found to be suitable adhesives. Funori and JunFunori (R) did not evidence sufficient activation for this use.