DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED COMPATIBLE MATERIALS FOR THE RESTORATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE ASSETS (MYTHOS): ARTIFICIAL AGEING OF BAST FIBRES

摘要

For the restoration and preservation of textile cultural heritage objects it is essential to use similar or identical materials for e.g. testing cleaning or restoration processes before treating the unique and irreplaceable originals. Main focus of the MYTHOS project is to develop such reference materials for enhanced restoration and conservation of hemp and linen based ancient arts. The project work started with development of adapted analysis scheme. Due to the nature of the samples analysis methods have to be either non-destructive or restricted to minimal sample amounts. Consequently only small subsamples of the textiles have been taken, e.g. yarn pieces from the hem. Fibre tenacity and elongation have been analysed in a single-element test (dia-stron). The fibre width distribution has been assessed by Fibreshape. In parallel a genetic analysis of original samples was performed to identify actual hemp and flax species close to the ancient varieties. This presentation reports the results obtained from selected original textiles and based on these the development of a scheme for defined artificial ageing for new fibre materials by use of enzymatic treatment. The results are compared to data of actual hemp and flax fibres and differences are discussed.