Birchbark Purse

This object is a birchbark purse decorated with porcupine quills that have been dyed various colors and embroidered in a floral pattern. It is from Maine and was made by someone in the Wabanaki Confederacy. The purse is made up of seven individual birchbark panels, which were edged with a black silk textile and then sewn together. The original joins had become weak and at some point were covered with a black tape, which was also failing. The black tape greatly affected the aesthetic quality of the object.

The black tape was adhered to the surface with large quantities of a dark brown adhesive. The adhesive fluoresced yellow under ultraviolet light and was soluble in ethanol and acetone, leading me to believe it was most likely cellulose nitrate. Using acetone to solubilize the adhesive, the black tape was easily removed from the object. In order to remove the remaining adhesive, Evolon CR was used to poultice acetone.

To stabilize a loose fragment of the silk border, I used a piece of Japanese paper to back the silk and adhere it to the bark using a mixture of Lascaux 303 and 498. The paper was then toned using Golden acrylic paints. To prevent any further loss of the textile, an overlay was placed on all the remaining silk. The overlay was made of a dark brown silk crepeline coated with a mixture of Lascaux 303 and 498 and water. The adhesive was heat-activated with a tacking iron in order to secure the overlay to the surface.

The joins between the panels of birch bark, in both the body and the lid, were significantly weakened due to the deterioration of the silk. To keep the joins in alignment and reattach the lid, I reinforced the joins with bridges made from Japanese Kozo paper coated again in a mixture of Lascaux 303 and 498. Finally, an insert made of archival board and Volara foam wrapped in Tyvek was created to ensure the purse keeps its shape.