Tape Is Ruining Priceless Art. This New Gel Can Fix It.
The common trick to fix a tear has plagued art conservators, but chemists are developing newer and safer methods to restore old art.
See a tear on a piece of paper? Stick some tape on it. It's a common sense quick fix to keep important paper in one piece. But for people in charge of priceless works of art, tape is a nightmare.
Unwitting conservators of the past used standard sticky tape to try and hold together famous but fragile treasures, such as the Dead Sea scrolls and drawings by filmmaker Federico Fellini. The trouble is that, in addition to ruining the aesthetic integrity of a piece of art, the adhesive on tape can cause discoloration over time. Certain types of tape can even bleed past where they were placed and alter the visual appearance of the work.
Modern art restorers have
