Ladies and gentlemen I need advice from the experts here.
I recently finished this crochet wall-hanging as part of an online display which you will see down below. I have it hanging on a wall but I'm concerned it will be ruined with dust etc. Would you recommend having it framed? It is 17 x 23 inches. I am not sure what to do.
Wow! That is wonderful. I love the crochet. I'm not sure if I'd frame it. I'm now in a phase of letting things breathe and be free and open. If it gets dusty etc. it is part of living. I know that you will want to preserve it. If you can't let it be out in the open, I would consider an archival framing. A deep box, museum quality glass. I'm not an expert in preserving anything, lol, so, that is a guess. alicia in Hawaii
I made a large stuffed cat in wool blanketing with the peculiar Australian crewel and silk and gold thread embroidery on it. It sat in a corner of my living room.
It is now ruined. Dust has taken its toll and I'm not able to clean it with a vacuum. There is a brick inside, so I would imagine taking it to the cleaners would be impossible.
Your piece is lovely. If it were mine, after having gone through the grief of my cat, I would frame it with a deep enough frame so that the crochet doesn't touch the glass. A good framer will know what to do. There are also tables with glass tops made especially to hold "treasures". I know a woman who has shown off her knitted lace and stumpwork embroidery in this type enclosure. Just a thought.
Dianne, did you try sprinkling your cat with 'powdered magnesia' (I'm not entirely sure what that is, chemically, but you can get it from most pharmacists')? I had a huge needlepoint that got ruined by smoke from an open fireplace and the powdered magnesia (Mum's idea) got most of the greasy, black yuck out of it. Sadly, the piece will never be the same again, but it was very, very dirty and is now reasonably clean. I tried using talcum powder first and the chemist said that was not helpful. Something about the talc makes it difficult to brush out again...
I keep a baby's hairbrush (very thick and extremely soft) for dusting my needlework pieces. Our house is just a street away from the depot of a large civil engineering company and so there are huge machines going past at all hours of the night and day. We get dreadful dust from the crud that blows off their tyres and the diesel that blows out of their exhausts. Most of my pieces are done on white linda cloth and so the dust shows quite clearly (when it's there), but a light once-over with the baby brush is very effective at keeping things clean.
Edna, if your crochet is washable, it'd probably be easy enough to give it a soak in some orvus or woolwash when it's grubby. You'd need to be very patient in allowing it to dry naturally on towels and then block it carefully while it's still dampish, but I think that would do the trick. I s'pose it all depends what kind of wool you used, really.
Trish the wall-hanging is a combination of different types of yarn, antique buttons, tiny wooden cotton reels with dyed thread, thread crochet, silk ribbon and more. I wouldn't want to try and wash it.
I forgot to say in the original message we live on a busy main road and everything gets really dusty.
Ah yes! I know about busy roads and dust! My kids were both entranced by your work (as was I) and want to know if it's meant to represent a garden. My son is a knitter but just can't get the gist of crochet - he envies your ability to translate your ideas into textiles like that and he's particularly drawn to the organic shapes and clever ways you've used texture.
We particularly liked the tiny mouse buttons! Years ago, when I had legs and a waist, I used to wear a pair of white denim bib and brace shorts. I embroidered a grandfather clock on the bib and used one of those exact mouse buttons for - well - the mouse who ran up the clock. I've still got a few of them and have always meant to do a 'Three Blind Mice' collage...
Anyway, I reckon a nice glass box will keep the work clean *and* accessible to all comers, so best of luck with it! ;-D
I was thinking along the same lines - a good quality shadow box and if you want, sew mount it to the backing (most decent ones are archival) and put it on the wall.
Just an FYI for everyone -- when you have some sort of textile hanging or laying about and easy way to get most of the dust off the piece is to vacuumn it! For smaller stuff, lay a piece of screen or netting on top of the textile and then vacuumn through that. This get the dust off the piece and the screen/netting keeps the surface of the piece safe especially if it has "bits" attached to it. For larger pieces, just attach the screen/netting to the end of the vacuumn hose. CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at
Trish Brown wrote: > Dianne, did you try sprinkling your cat with 'powdered magnesia' (I'm
I appreciate your suggestion and I am definitely going to try it because otherwise my gorgeous cat will bite the dust. It looks terrible. Like you and your living conditions, I live in a very sandy/loam area and the dust from this stuff is black and everywhere. I get tired of dusting!
So did I. The morning that Mom and Dad were coming, I dusted the whole place. By the time they arrived, Mom asked "when's the last time you dusted?" So the next morning, she "did it right" and by dinnertime found out she'd wasted her time. I suppose I would dust 5 minutes before the arrival of a head of state, but for the most part, I've decided to just let the dust win.
This neighborhood is surrounded by freeways, so I assume it's particulate matter from exhaust.
Cheryl Isaak wrote: > I've seen that somewhere recently; might have been at work. If I see it,
How thoughtful of you! I can get some around here, I'm sure. I'm afraid it can't be washed with ease(stuffed cat). As dirty as it is, it probably needs a scrubbing, which you can't do with wool. I'd have a felted cat. But you gave me a thought. Maybe if I could get that brick out, a professional cleaner might then be able to handle it.
I'm really sick about that cat. A lot of work went into making her.
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