I do have some challenging items brought in by customers from time to time and none more so then this large piece of War Art dating from 1938. The image, a cartoon of my customer’s father leaving his mounted regiment in Palestine to join the newly formed tank regiment in Europe. The large picture was unusual as it had been painted on paper used to line ammunition boxes and as such had a central core of tar impregnated coconut fibres. It was extremely brittle and had been stored rolled up in various attics over the years. Still the artwork remained very clear and the customer now required it framed to hand onto the next generation.
Due to its delicate nature I decided to seek some advice from a couple of experts one in paper conservation the other in painting restoration. Both agreed it was a lovely piece of artwork and offered me advice and materials to consolidate the worst bits of the paper surface. This completed I set about framing it with a complimentary deep rebate frame in a subtle colour very similar to the serge army uniform. It was backed by black conservation mountboard cut just large enough to feature the ragged fibre edges. Museum quality Tru Vue acrylic was ordered cut to size due to requiring specialist cutting equipment. Optium acrylic gives crystal clear clarity, is anti reflective, anti-static, abrasion resistant, 99% UV protective and importantly for this piece lighter then glass.