House Grooming

How to Keep Kids Ertwork Effectively?

Artwork on paper comprises a variety of items like watercolour paintings, posters, prints and drawings, including your child's artwork and there are a range of media used such as coloured inks, watercolour, graphite or pencil, pastels, charcoal, and even markers and crayons. Whether artworks decorate your walls or are stored away, it is important to take basic safety measures to protect them. By doing so you will not only prolong your enjoyment, but will also help guarantee their prolonged existence. Preserving your child's artwork is necessary as it would be a major part of his or her childhood memory. Paper is formed of fibrous material, such as straw, rags, wood or bark and all these fibre types contain cellulose, the basic component of paper. Normally, plant types that yield the highest cellulose content and the fewest impurities make the best quality paper. All paper, nonetheless, is susceptible to damage from a range of sources.

One of the most common cause of damage is its handling. Paper is easily torn, creased, or stained and the best handling method is to handle paper as little as possible. To avoid damage from oils and salts on hands, it is wise to wear white cotton gloves. At the time you are lifting your artwork, slide a stiff paper or matboard below it before moving it. Keep away from drinking, eating, or smoking near the paper and keep pens and markers away. Contact to light (both natural and artificial) causes colours to fade and the paper to discolor and, in some cases, become fragile. Art work on paper, such as watercolour paintings, Japanese prints with coloured inks, and drawings executed in iron gall inks or felt tip markers, are susceptible to fading. Even a slight damage cannot be reversed. Therefore, avoid hanging your artwork where it may be exposed to sunlight from windows or skylights. Always use curtains, blinds, or shutters in rooms where you hang your artwork. Try to frame artwork behind glazing material (plastic or glass) that filters ultraviolet light.

Try to stay away from storing or displaying your works of art on paper in either basements or attics where temperatures and humidity levels fluctuate. Always keep in mind the fact that paper absorbs moisture quickly and high relative humidity causes paper to swell and expand and like this the paper will come out wavy or, in the worst cases, wrinkled. Normally, when works on paper are exposed to delayed periods of high relative humidity, they are susceptible to increased rates of chemical degradation and to mould growth. Many conditions like foxing (reddish brown spots on the surface of the paper), may become more distinct and in such situations low and fluctuating levels of relative humidity may be harmful to vulnerable media.

Infact there are many rodents and insects that like to feed on paper and one of the most common insect enemies of paper are bookworms, silverfish and book lice. These insects get easily attracted not only towards the paper but also to certain media such as pastels. Therefore, an extra care is needed to protect your and your kid's artwork which forms a strong source of the beautiful remnants of your and your child's past.