OT: What sort of varnish type material is used to attach artifact labels by museums?

[J Tiers]

Usually the tag or direct ink marking is covered by some varnish-type material. It presumably is durable, sticks to most anything, is non-damaging to the artifact, and does not seem to dissolve inks or cause any blurring.

I was recently reminded of this, looking at a glass artifact. It had a thick-looking varnish coating the article number label.

I sometimes need to label things in a durable way, and the material seems ideal.

[Noitoen]

Used to make decals from magazine printed logos by coating the required part with several coats of regular clear spray and then soaking in water to remove the paper from the rear. Final result was a thin film decal. Used to be very durable.

[macona]

Also clear nail polish

[boslab]

Was told it was shellac so it could be removed but recently silicone looked to be present, I’d ring a museum conservator if it’s important, better safe than sorry
mark

[Noitoen]

Was told it was shellac so it could be removed but recently silicone looked to be present, I’d ring a museum conservator if it’s important, better safe than sorry
mark

From what I understand, this is not for museum use but like the museum uses

[Doozer]

Conservators mounting wax.

-D

[JRouche]

I have heard of shellac also due to the ease of removable. It does discolor over time though. JR

[J Tiers]

Shellac is good, but dissolves some inks

[Paul Alciatore]

I have made a number of labels for shop-made equipment. The approach I finally settled on was to purchase adhesive labels that I could use in a laser printer. I liked to get a fairly heavy weight paper and adhesive backed labels come with two types or adhesive: removable and permanent. I used the permanent adhesive variety but the removable adhesive, to state the obvious, would be easier to remove.

The laser printing was not easily removed with solvents so that took care of that worry. Krylon and other spray paint makers have clear coatings (Krylon "Crystal Clear" for one) that are designed to protect labels like this. I liked to spray them with several coats before applying them to the equipment. One of my latest projects was made this way (with ink jet instead of laser as I do not have a laser printer).



Something I heard about recently but have not tried yet is to print the label on a plastic print media. You then need to spray your own adhesive on the back before applying them. 3M makes a good spray adhesive for this. 3M 77 is very good and I have used it. 3M 90 is even stronger but I have not used it. Of course a clear coat for protection would still be needed.

OR you could print backwards on the clear media and let the media itself be the protection. But remember that a laser print will be less subject to problems from the adhesive dissolving the ink.

[reggie_obe]

B-72 was the go to adhesive and protective coating.
A video of acceptable and unacceptable methods for marking collections.:https://www.sustainableheritagenetwo...museum-objects

[Lee Cordochorea]

The simple answer is "it's complicated." Have a peek: https://saskmuseums.org/files/How_to..._Artifacts.pdf

[old mart]

I wouldn't think that the varnish that museums used to use was ever scientifically evaluated for its qualities, probably just whatever was common those days. The varnish used to protect the part numbers on aircraft parts, however, has to be to rigid specifications as is the ink used so as to not be detrimental to the parts.

[Tobias-B]

Things like shellac are favored because they've
been around a loooonnnnggg time, and their characteristics are well- known.

Modern chemicals, not so much.

My favorite librarian has reverted to paper, full stop- 'if it's not in print,
it's probably not even worth bringing it in here to store.'

t

[J Tiers]

The simple answer is "it's complicated." Have a peek: https://saskmuseums.org/files/How_to..._Artifacts.pdf

Actually, that was fairly simple and direct. Thank you.