I am a picture framer, fairly new to the business. A customer brought in several framed documents that have turned black. It did not have conservation/UV protective glass on it but it did have acid free matboard on it. I've been doing this for about 3 years and I've never seen paper like this turn BLACK! Will sunlight or flourescent light do that? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
2007-03-14 08:31:06 · 3 answers · asked by avityinc 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Other - Visual Arts
Underneath the matboard the paper was fine. If it was mold, wouldn't that get under the matboard also?
2007-03-14 09:04:12 · update #1
I wonder if the document was printed on that hateful heat-sensitive paper that they use for credit card receipts... years ago we had a fax machine / photocopier that used that paper, and any exposure to heat (a fingerprint, or especially a heat press!) would turn the area black. Over time, sunlight would do the same thing.
If the paper surface feels kind of shiny in an icky way (makes your skin crawl) then that's your bad puppy. Compare it to a store receipt that uses the heat sensitive paper and see if they're the same.
bummer... if that's it, nothing on this planet will bring that image back, sorry.
(If it was mildew, you'd be able to smell it a mile away, and it would be spotty, not overall black).
2007-03-14 13:26:34 · answer #1 · answered by joyfulpaints 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it would probably be mold that turned it black. You dont know where the documents were kept before they were framed.
2007-03-14 08:36:02 · answer #2 · answered by dragonrider707 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the paper got old and meldewed with paper being cheap.
2007-03-14 08:55:55 · answer #3 · answered by JoJoBa 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋