Oil painting storage questions

[king2005]

My friend & I want to know how to properly store oil paintings. They are worth a lot of money & are family airlumes(sp). I was thinking of using a plastic tote & having some sort of sheet inbetween them. Then placing many bags of those silica packets into the bottom of the tote to keep out moisture.

Should they be stacked side by side with the special sheet, or is one on top of the other, with a special sheet safe? I hop one on top of the other is safe, means less totes to buy.


Thanks in advanced

[Laura's Babies]

I would research it on the web if I were you so that she can do it properly. If they are in frames, I know she should NOT stack them one on top of the other but stood UP on their side and I think she has to be careful what she wraps them in. If there are art galleries near where she lives, have her go talk to them and learn what she can before she ruins something valueable.

[king2005]

I would research it on the web if I were you so that she can do it properly. If they are in frames, I know she should NOT stack them one on top of the other but stood UP on their side and I think she has to be careful what she wraps them in. If there are art galleries near where she lives, have her go talk to them and learn what she can before she ruins something valueable.

I don't trust the net well enough for this. I was hoping someone with experience might be on PT. They aren't in frames, thats why we are storing them. Frames are going to be too costly all at once for 50+ paintings, esp. at the size they are. Even if we did frame them all, the walls are already covered in 50+ paintings lol The walls look like a gallery When her father officially moved out when he got married in Nov, he took 20 of his fav. paintings... Didn't even put a dent in the HUGE pile of paintings lol

When I was cleaning the basement, I found a pile of paintings under & behind the couch. They had gotten damp, torn & moldy. The paper frames were in the worst of shape, so I quickly peeled them off the paintings & tossed them out before the mold spread to the painting.

I'm hoping I can find a way to kill the mold without ruining those paintings further.. But for now, we wrapped them in saranrap, to stop the mold from spreading onto the other paintings.

As a suprise, I plan to take a photo of as many of the paintings as I can.. Get a Bio from her father of his mother (the painter), photos of her & make a lovely website dedicated to her.

I'm hoping I can find a photo or the owner of the paintings she did for the Winter Olympics way back (I think it was in Calgary). I tried googling the signature she used M Roberts... but had no luck... I need to to find her whole name :P

[catnapper]

Remove the saran wrap immediately. It will ruin the paintings. They need to breathe.

Store then standing on end like Laura said. Get some cheap frames to put around the to act as spacers or dividers. Nothing should be touching the fronts of these paintings. Go to the local art store (a REAL art store, not a craft store) and they sell document cleaning solutions that you can use to safely clean hte surface of these painintgs. I've done it many times in my life slowly and patiently with a small paintbrush dipped in the cleaner.

[king2005]

Remove the saran wrap immediately. It will ruin the paintings. They need to breathe.

Store then standing on end like Laura said. Get some cheap frames to put around the to act as spacers or dividers. Nothing should be touching the fronts of these paintings. Go to the local art store (a REAL art store, not a craft store) and they sell document cleaning solutions that you can use to safely clean hte surface of these painintgs. I've done it many times in my life slowly and patiently with a small paintbrush dipped in the cleaner.

Thank you & Laura for the good info. I emailed my friend the info, incase I forget to tell her (I'm on holidays going home tomorrow is gonna be stressful, so I my forget :P) even though I live with her lol

Thought...
We have a whole wack of that art & craft flat foam sheets. Do you think if we tape that to the back of the painting & then glue it thick to go past the front of the painting, so it touches the other foam on the other painting, that that'll be ok? & also line the bottom of the tote with the foam, so it acts as a shock obsorber.

Since you mentioned they need to breath, should I drill tiny holes at the top of the tote (under the lip, so if water falls ontop of the tote it cannot get in)???

We have to think cheap(we are quite poor), yet still save the paintings.

[catnapper]

cheap... are you handy with a saw? Go to the hardware store and buy lengths of thin flat wood, cut it so that it go around the outside of the painting and tack it with nails to the side of the canvas. You don't have to go crazy and make angled cuts for the edges of the makeshift frame, just cat flat pieces of wood and butt them up against each other. This way if all paintings are the same size then they can be standing next to each other and not touching each other because the wooden slats would be protecting the painting. Did that make sense?

[king2005]

cheap... are you handy with a saw? Go to the hardware store and buy lengths of thin flat wood, cut it so that it go around the outside of the painting and tack it with nails to the side of the canvas. You don't have to go crazy and make angled cuts for the edges of the makeshift frame, just cat flat pieces of wood and butt them up against each other. This way if all paintings are the same size then they can be standing next to each other and not touching each other because the wooden slats would be protecting the painting. Did that make sense?

That'll work. Once the kids go home, I'll start on that project. & at the same time I'll fix the antique dresser drawer (just needs to be reglued, I know how to do that properly)... My friend has loved all the handy work I have done in the house & on the cars so far.

[cyber-sibes]

Thought...
We have a whole wack of that art & craft flat foam sheets. Do you think if we tape that to the back of the painting & then glue it thick to go past the front of the painting, so it touches the other foam on the other painting, that that'll be ok? & also line the bottom of the tote with the foam, so it acts as a shock obsorber.

No, don't attach anything foam or plastic to the paintings. They contain & release chemicals that can be harmful to the paintings. Seriously, call your local art museum or a gallery and ask if they can direct you to someone for advice. There are a number of archival materials that are safe to use. I don't have enough experience with oil paintings to tell you anything more.
What you are doing sounds like a lovely idea, good luck.