Conservators are not generally involved with digitisation, but after 9 years of experience in digitisating archival materials, my path to conservation has been a little bit back-to-front and I am now in a very fortunate situation to have the skills to both conserve an original archival object and to digitise it.

The digitisation of materials is at the forefront for many collections, and plays a big part in not only extending the lives of materials by reducing handling but also by opening collections to wider audiences when a visit is not feasable – this is of course making a general assumption that access to the internet is available.

The Design Archives have a long and successfull history in digitisation. Posters and larger materials that do not fit into our scanners are photographed instead. For photographing large pieces, myself and my colleague Barbara Taylor use the photographic studio here at Grand Parade. For acquiring the best possible results, we use a Mamiya RZ medium format camera with a digital Imacon back attached and a set of flashes for even lighting.

The issue with digital photography and scanning of materials is that despite the advances in digital equipment over the years, details can still get ‘lost in translation’. With the Max Gill ‘sample poster’, the issue became the finely detailed black ink images lined along the bottom of the piece. The digital elements of the camera were not able to handle the thin black lines so close together and created a colour effect on the image that is not present in the original.

The only way to get around this phenomenon was in the post-photography production of the image. By isolating the affected areas and adjusting colour casts and contrast in Photoshop, I could lessen the effect of the colour and bring the digitised version of the poster closer to what the original looks like.

Since the ‘sample poster’ was digitised with the goal of possibly creating a facsimile for the forthcoming exhibition, the file size, pixel count and focus needed extra attention. The plan is for the reproduction to be printed out the same size as the original. For optimising the results, this means that the pixel count needed to be high and the dimensions of the digital file the same as the original dimensions of the poster. Colour matching will also prove a challenge, as the way in which colours are represented are as numerous as there are computer screen calibrations in the world. For any final printing, the printers would ideally need access to the original to be able to match the facsimile colours as closely as possible with the original colours on the poster.

To figure out the best way forward with the Max Gill collection’s conservation processes, the holders have kindly delivered a ‘sample poster’ to work on. The purpose of this is to not only try and estimate the time for conservation needs for budgetary reasons, but to also test out a possibility of using facsimiles in the exhibition to spare some of the more delicate originals the exposure. This suggestion was made in case the exhibition is to tour other venues after the University Gallery.

Prior to getting the poster delivered, I thought about the options for flattening processes and the large dimensions of most of the Gill objects would also have to be taken into careful consideration when handling. The inks used on the ‘sample poster’ needed to be tested for fugitivity if any aqueous flattening methods were to be used. Fugitivity testing is required to determine if the inks on a piece of work are likely to run when in contact with water and is essential before deciding on any aqueous treatments. This testing is done by using a small brush dipped in water and wetting a very small spot on a piece of work, letting the water seep into the paper and pressing a piece of blotter on top to see if there is any ink transferral. The process of wetting a spot is usually repeated a few times to make sure the paper fibres have taken the water in sufficiently enough for the ink fugitivity test to be conclusive. Usually all colours also need to be tested separately, as two inks won’t necessarily behave in a similar manner when wet.

Anytime any actual conservation takes place, a pre-conservation record is filled. In this, the most common points that are recorded are type of paper (machine or hand made, laid or wove), dimensions, gsm (the weight of the paper), tears, dirt, folds, holes, print type and other materials used on it. The item is also measured, sketched and photographed.

After doing this, I began the conservation of this poster entitled ‘Post-Office Radio-Telephone Services’ from 1935. The item came to me rolled up and I had not seen it prior to unrolling it at the conservation studios, and you can imagine my joy in seeing all these beautiful bright colours! The poster itself was in very good condition – apart from the obvious flattening issues I concluded that it only had minor surface dirt on both recto and verso of the piece.

Along the left edge there were also areas of ingrained stains, where the dirt had embedded itself into the paper fibres. Since this poster was acting as the ‘test piece’, after a general surface cleaning with grated Mars Staedler rubber, I decided to attempt removing these stains.

With the stains I only used cold water, a thin brush to wet the affected area and the capillary action of blotter with pressure from a bone folder to reduce the stain. Most of the stains along the edge were water soluble. The general misconception about washing items is that after washing the stains will have disappeared entirely. More often than not, this is not the case. Conservation is still a relatively young profession and in the past, bleaching has been used as a conservation treatment – thankfully these days this is not considered good practice.

After I was satisfied with the stain removal, I made a decision that the paper and inks used were strong and stable for dry heat pressing to flatten it. This meant I didn’t need to wet the object but instead after placing it under silicone pieces, it was flattened in quarter sections under a heated press. This worked wonderfully well and I am very pleased with the final result. A melinex sleeve was then made to size and the poster is being transported back to base for the next step in the process.

Welcome to my conservation diary! I thought I would begin by writing briefly about my background and how I’ve come to be here.

I started working at the University of Brighton Design Archives as a Digitisation Technician in 2002 in the midst of the ‘Designing Britain’ project. At the time I was on the second year of the BA Editorial Photography course here at Brighton, from which I graduated with Honours in 2003.

Continuing to work in the Archives as a Digital Imaging and Media Technician after graduation, my interest in archives and museum environments took off. I was so inspired by a visit to the conservation studios at the Tate whilst on an ARLIS organised conference I attended through work, that a few years later when the opportunity presented itself I applied to get on the PgDip Conservation course at the University of the Arts, London at Camberwell. My application was successful and I graduated in June 2010.

Since then I have not only continued working in the Archives, but have also been enhancing and refreshing my conservation skills by working one day a week with paper conservator Melissa Williams, who has years of priceless experience in the field and has provided me with new challenges on a weekly basis.

So that’s me in a nutshell. This diary’s aim is to talk you through any thoughts and ideas I may have while working on the Macdonald Gill exhibition and any conservation related issues that we come across here in the Archives – and I sincerely welcome any questions and/or comments.