{"id":9909,"date":"2015-08-07T01:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T05:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=9909"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:47:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T19:47:31","slug":"conservation-conversations-so-many-papers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/07\/conservation-conversations-so-many-papers\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Choosing the Right Repair Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my last post<\/a> I talked about how many papers are out there for conservators to choose from. It\u2019s great to have so many options, but picking the right one for your situation can be a challenge, the options are often overwhelming.<\/p>\n

When making a mend, there are several considerations to take into account. How thick is the paper? How strong is it? Is it very brittle? What color\u00a0is it? The goal is to create a repair that blends in with the paper, does not obscure any text or image, and successfully stabilizes the piece.<\/p>\n

\"Different<\/a>

Different colors of Japanese tissue<\/p><\/div>\n

A subtle mend can be achieved by using a slightly colored tissue. You can buy pre-toned tissue, or to get the perfect match sometimes you need to tone your own paper with watercolors or acrylic paints. A thinner tissue often does better at blending into its background, and it may also be semi transparent so text can be read through it. Often times color is less important than transparency. A white tissue that is very thin and transparent will usually blend in well with tan or acid-burned papers without any toning whatsoever.<\/p>\n

\"Toning<\/a>

Toning tissue<\/p><\/div>\n

Perhaps the most tricky of all of these factors is choosing the correct weight and strength of the tissue. A repair paper should be chosen that is as thin as possible to stabilize the paper \u2013 usually something slightly weaker than the paper being repaired. This is so that if the paper is ever put into a situation where it is overly stressed, any future tears will occur at the mend rather than somewhere new on the sheet. If a very strong tissue is used to repair a very weak paper then there is a high likelihood that the paper will crack or tear on either side of the new mend since that area is supported while the rest of the page is not. That is why, in the hopes of creating no further damage, a weaker tissue should be chosen. On occasions where the paper is extremely brittle I sometimes choose to line the entire sheet with a piece of thin tissue to create even support.<\/p>\n

\"Tengucho<\/a>

Tengucho paper is very thin and semi transparent<\/p><\/div>\n

If a piece of paper has a hole, or loss, the paper chosen to fill in this area will go through different considerations. Typically a paper should be chosen that is the same weight as the paper being mended or something slightly thinner. This is so the original piece will move smoothly and stay supported around the loss. This is especially important in the case of very large losses in a book where pages will be turned and handled regularly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last post I talked about how many papers are out there for conservators to choose from. It\u2019s great to have so many options, but picking the right one for your situation can be a challenge, the options are often overwhelming. When making a mend, there are several considerations to take into account. How […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1353],"tags":[1495,1884],"class_list":["post-9909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation","tag-becky-koch","tag-conservation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-2zP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9054,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/18\/conservation-conversations-a-bit-on-paper-mends\/","url_meta":{"origin":9909,"position":0},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ A Bit on Paper Mends","author":"Marianna Brotherton","date":"January 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Book conservation is a field much like any other; the more we know, the more we learn just how much we don't know. Specialization is our\u00a0attempt to foil this conundrum by focusing\u00a0our view, and therefore narrowing\u00a0the\u00a0range of potential \"know-ables.\" In conservation this can come in the form of \"parchment specialist\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_2785","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_2785-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9855,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/28\/conservation-conversations-japanese-papers-and-tissues\/","url_meta":{"origin":9909,"position":1},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Japanese Papers and Tissues","author":"Becky Koch","date":"July 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Japanese papers and tissues are used extensively in book and paper conservation; they are used to mend tears, fill losses, back or line weak or brittle papers, line spines and perform innumerable other conservation repairs. These papers originated in Japan (as I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve guessed) and are mostly made from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3687.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3687.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3687.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3687.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9945,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/28\/adhesives-for-paper-mends-conservation-conversations\/","url_meta":{"origin":9909,"position":2},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Adhesives for Paper Mends","author":"Becky Koch","date":"August 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Adhesives are an essential part of book and paper conservation. If you want to repair a paper tear you have to use some sort of adhesive, and it\u2019s important to choose an archival adhesive. Archival adhesives won\u2019t turn yellow or become brittle over time, and most importantly they\u2019re reversible. Reversibility\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_3811-2-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_3811-2-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_3811-2-300x225.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8781,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/15\/conservation-conversations-another-look-at-su-su\/","url_meta":{"origin":9909,"position":3},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Another Look at Su-Su","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year, as part of the Conservation Conversations column, Lauren Schott wrote an article on su-su, which highlighted the steps to creating this alternative matter for toning materials as part of the conservation treatment. Also referred to as paper dirt or paper extract, I was first introduced to this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9525,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/22\/conservation-conversations-adhesive-pre-coated-repair-materials\/","url_meta":{"origin":9909,"position":4},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Adhesive Pre-Coated Repair Materials","author":"Athena Moore","date":"April 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Mending tears is a treatment that book and paper conservators utilize\u00a0nearly every day.\u00a0\u00a0For this reason, wheat starch paste is one of our best friends at the bench - a dependable go-to, especially when paired with an appropriate eastern paper. Unfortunately, this reliable standard\u00a0is is not always an option - the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_86231.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_86231.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_86231.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_86231.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10109,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/28\/conservation-conversations-the-continuum\/","url_meta":{"origin":9909,"position":5},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ The Continuum","author":"Henry Hebert","date":"October 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Typically very few of the items that come through a research library conservation lab are in their original or unaltered state. While library and archives conservation, as a field, is relatively young, many universities have had some form of bindery or mending division in operation for decades. We often find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Newton's Opticks","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/opticks_before01-1024x351.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/opticks_before01-1024x351.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/opticks_before01-1024x351.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9909"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9914,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9909\/revisions\/9914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}