Conservation and Repair

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The currency trees have been through a great deal during their construction and transportation. They are resistant, tough, as well as vulnerable and delicate. This is a good view of the reverse side of an early piece where wheat starch paste and japanese mending tissue was used to join each bill to the other. The texture or cockling of the bills is a result of the way the glueing process expands and contracts the thin paper currency. At first, I did all I could to decrease the effect, but then I had to give in and let it do what it wanted to do. A mono filament line (hardly visible) runs the length of each vertical seam and forms a loop at the top of each seam. A hanging bar can be slipped through the loops, but to bring this piece up to date, an 1/8 strip of velcro is necessary for the newer method of display and for securing the piece into it’s storage/shipping container.