Digitally Printed Paper In-fills for Compensation
tion for historic wallpapers (McClintock, 2003).
In 2012, Melody Chen presented a case of digital in-fills as used for Japanese Prints (Chen, 2012).
A digital image of another impression from the Japanese print collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston was printed on the Hahnemuehle Rice Paper (‘Digital FineArt’, n.d.). This is another successful example of how a digital image was used for in-filling when there exists an authenti-cated reference.
After reviewing these cases, compelling rea-sons for compensating losses to the fold-dyed paper of Munakata Shiko’s folding screens with digital in-fills were determined. They were:
1. The digital reproduction has enough reference from the original. The image of patterns could be captured from undamaged fold-dyed areas by photography.
2. The losses to the fold-dyed papers are located on the folding screen’s reverse. The fold-dyed papers present a style of craft-art but not the fine art created by the artist. Reproducing partial patterns would not change the context and character of these fold-dyed papers.
3. The digital reproduction is less time-consum-ing and creates a more satisfactory method of creating a visual in-fill than other possibili-ties, such as using basic toned in-fills,
remak-ing fold-dyed paper usremak-ing traditional tech-niques for in-fills or hand painted in-fills.
4. The digital in-fills are printed in a lighter color than the original, so that they would be clearly visible at a close distance. The authen-ticity of the original would still be distinguish-able from the repairs.
Digital in-filling treatment
After examining and documenting the condi-tion, the folding screens were photographed be-fore and after treatment to document their con-dition. Wooden trims were removed; each panel was separated and the fold-dyed papers were removed from the panels. The papers attached to the back of the fold-dyed papers were removed using Gore-tex to humidify them; followed by pressing between Reemay, blotting paper and thick Plexiglas.
Of the twelve fold-dyed papers, three had con-siderable losses and needed large digital in-fills.
Since fold-dyed papers were going to be pasted onto the new under-cores, the papers for in-fills had to be similar or slightly thinner in thickness than the fold-dyed papers, so that the in-fills and the original would have similar expansion and shrinkage during mounting. Japanese handmade Sekishu paper was chosen for printing the image
Fig. 3: The reverse of left screen overall before treatment. Large losses and punctures are clearly visible. The hinges were split, with soiling in the lower portions and fother damage and tears in the upper portion.
onto it for in-filling. The image was taken from another area of fold-dyed paper with fair condi-tion and a clear pattern. Photoshop® was used for adjusting the image by color balance and brightness/contrast functions. Several trials were carried out for comparing the color of the repro-duction to the original. An Epson Stylus Pro 4900 printer was used for printing and its ink tested and shown to have great light resistance (‘Epson Stylus Pro4900-Print’, 2010). Trials showed that there was no migration of ink after the lining treatment. In addition, the trials passed the Oddy test carried out by the preventive conserva-tion specialist at the MFA (Chen, 2012).
Unfortunately, the Sekishu paper was not com-patible with the printer. After discussing this with the photography/printing expert, we found the irregular surface and the thinness of the Sekishu paper might cause the paper to jam in the printer. Therefore, one layer of a temporary lining of Japanese paper and thin wheat starch paste was added to the back of the Sekishu paper so it could be properly printed. The lined Sekishu paper was accepted by the printer and was able to receive the required image successfully (Fig. 1).
A coating was not necessary in this case, because the patterns on the fold-dyed papers are irregu-lar and slightly blurred in character.
After printing out the digital in-fills, sizing was applied on the surface and the temporary lining was removed by humidification then the printed papers air-dried on felts. The sizing application was undertaken for fixing the fibers on the digi-tal in-fills since the printing actually only stayed on the surface and could be lost or diminished if fibers lifted or were to be abraded through han-dling. Additionally, sizing aided the application of toning washes with Japanese colorant sticks.
Digital in-fills were toned in slightly different levels to blend into individual panels. However, they could be easily distinguished at a close-up distance once the losses were filled in. Before in-filling, the digital in-fills were positioned to match the patterns and the losses were traced roughly with pencil marks in transmitted light (Fig. 2). This helped to find the position right away after wetting the fold-dyed papers.
The fold-dyed papers were humidified overall using a sprayer and placed on the top of Rayon paper for protection. Once the fold-dyed papers were moist, they were brushed out from the center to reduce creases and to realign tears. The digital in-fills were set into place with a slight overlap using wheat starch paste. One layer of lining was added and then paper strips were pasted into place for reinforcing tears and
sup-Fig. 4: The reverse of left screen overall after treatment. The large losses located in the first and last panels have been filled with digital in-fills. The hinge covers have been replaced with digital printings also.