Our third, new subject bibliography has just been posted on the use of woven fabrics in the conservation of books.
The bibliography has been produced by two of the Oxford Conservation Consortium’s own conservators, Celia Bockmuehl and Nikki Tomkins (pictured above). It emerged from a collaborative research project undertaken by OCC with Bodleian Conservation and Collection Care and material scientists at Cranfield University. The project was prompted by the main supplier of fabrics for conservation ceasing production in 2007. Its purpose was to test the material properties of the fabrics used for book conservation.
The research investigated the strength and durability of aerolinen and aerocotton, comparing different suppliers, warp weft and bias orientation of the fabric, and the effect of laundering on the fabric. Tests conducted measured mass per unit area, thickness, sett, tensile strength, folding endurance, and dimensional change.

The project’s findings were presented at the Icon Conference 2019, the International IADA Conference 2019 in Warsaw, and more locally for Oxford Conservators’ Group. More details can be found in the full project write up, which will appear in a forthcoming number of Studies in conservation, and has already been published online at this DOI: 10.1080/00393630.2019.1672442
You can find Celia and Nikki’s bibliography by following this link.