Yay!
New keyboard and everything! Woohoo!
Spent the day at York Minster library - I was meant to be going in just for the morning, to check out the Conservation Studio there where Mary works on all her stuff... but spent a fair chunk of the day helping them deal with a humidity problem. We were setting out plates of silica gel (you know that stuff that comes in those little packets in with your shoes that says "Do Not Eat"? Yup, that stuff) to absorb the moisture from the air. Interestingly enough, it changes colour and becomes lighter as it absorbs moisture, so every so often we'd take the old crap down, throw it in the oven to dry and become bright orange again, and replace. Unfortunately the efforts to date don't necessarily seem to have gone all that well - there were a couple of books that got mould on them anyway. Fortunately, the Minster seems to be willing to put a coating on the stone wall that will help keep moisture out. Hoepfully it won't rain this weekend... *knock wood*.
New keyboard and everything! Woohoo!
Spent the day at York Minster library - I was meant to be going in just for the morning, to check out the Conservation Studio there where Mary works on all her stuff... but spent a fair chunk of the day helping them deal with a humidity problem. We were setting out plates of silica gel (you know that stuff that comes in those little packets in with your shoes that says "Do Not Eat"? Yup, that stuff) to absorb the moisture from the air. Interestingly enough, it changes colour and becomes lighter as it absorbs moisture, so every so often we'd take the old crap down, throw it in the oven to dry and become bright orange again, and replace. Unfortunately the efforts to date don't necessarily seem to have gone all that well - there were a couple of books that got mould on them anyway. Fortunately, the Minster seems to be willing to put a coating on the stone wall that will help keep moisture out. Hoepfully it won't rain this weekend... *knock wood*.
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hey kate,
I don't think I've mentioned yet that I am very excited to see you in Cambridge. I'll be there (hopefully) on the 29th (if all goes well with my student visa nd they get my passport back to me in time). And if you need a couch to sleep on, I offer up mine (althought I don't think I'll have a couch, it will most likely be a small area of floor or a shared small bed).
And yay for your computer!
Will the coating go on the inside of the stone wall or the outside? What's the compound that makes it keep out the moisture? Will people take on silica gel baking duties until the coating goes up?
Crispy - YAY!!! So excited! I'm hopefully staying in a small flat with T and her boyfriend, so you won't have to give up precious floor space (and trust me, if your room ends up being anything like mine is, the floor space will indeed be precious!).
Genderist - From what I understand, the coating goes on the outside, and is somewhat 'breathable', like Gore Tex (or whatever that stuff is called) - letting moisture out, but not in. The problem this time around was that it had rained rather a lot over the weekend and the first few days of the week last week. Ideal temp and humidity for books is about 15 degrees C and 40%ish humidity. We were looking at temps of 26 in some spots in the upper hall and humidity of 70% on some shelves! I'm sure someone else will bake silica when I'm not there!