Paper based art and document conservator

 

Suzanne Louw is a Paper Conservator based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa providing professional conservation services for artistic and historic works on paper. Suzanne has experience in art restoration as well as document restoration and have restored various valuable and sentimental pieces.

 

Paper is a very delicate material and extremely vulnerable to damage and deterioration. The causes of degradation can reside in the paper itself or in the environment. The most damaging internal causes are found in paper made from wood (lignin, alum, rosin, chlorine) as well as inks and metallo-acids.

External degradation can be mechanical, environmental, chemical or biological. There are three environmental factors that affect the conservation of paper: humidity, temperature and light. Sudden and frequent changes in temperature and humidity subject paper to great strains that may rupture its fabric. The most dangerous radiations to which paper can be exposed are ultra-violet rays.

The most patent destroyers of paper are rodents, insects and micro-organisms. Micro-organisms (fungi and bacteria) soften paper in the areas they invade, break up the surface sizing, and release pigments in the course of their metabolic cycle.

Other causes of deterioration are careless handling of documents, trial-and-error attempts at restoration.

Paper Conservators are trained to identify deterioration in objects and identify anything that may cause deterioration in an object.  They can also treat the deterioration and thus improve the condition of the object.

Conservation is often associated with restoration and while there is a restoration element to conservation they are different. Restoration is improving the appearance whereas conservation is improving the overall condition of the object, primarily concentrating on halting deterioration and stabilizing the object. 
 

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