Needlework Textile Conservation - March 31, 2020

March 31, 2020

I was recently asked how to handle an heirloom cross stitch that was shipped to a friend in Canada from a family member in Scotland.  It had always been stored behind glass in a fire screen but was removed and rolled into a tube for shipping via the local postal service.  I was told it is in relatively good shape but there was concern on how to handle it, preserve it and display it over the longer term.

I can suggest the following ways to ensure that this family heirloom and other needlework textiles will see many more years of enjoyment.  When in doubt please contact a textile conservator for advice.  The Canadian Association of Professional Conservators has a way to search for a conservator in your area.  See References below for a link to their site.  The Museum of Natural History in Halifax Nova Scotia can also assist.  A call to their general number asking for help will likely get some answers for you.

The following is general information based on a needlework textile of moderate size such as a sampler, small cross stitch, small hooked rug, or needlework textile of most kinds.  This information is also based on simple and low cost materials that might be available in community museums with minimal funding available for professional services.

• keep it flat - originally intended to lie flat then it should remain so.  For example, if shipped in a tube then once unrolled store it flat in a protected area.  Rolling or folding textiles can break fibres which could cause unravelling.  There are some textiles that can be rolled if done properly.  For example, rugs with heavy fibres.  See link below under References for a discussion of this from the Canadian Conservation Institute.
• minimize handling - use gloves to avoid oils or other contaminants on your hands from coming in contact.  Handle it as little as possible.
• don't clean it - unless done by a professional such as a textile conservator.  Different fibres require different cleaning methods and chemicals used in cleaning.  The conservator will determine the type of fibres, the nature of the dirt and come up with a cleaning method.
• storage - between acid free papers in a flat box or in an acid free envelope.  Depending on the size you can likely get this type of paper in the size needed at most comic book stores.  I can also recommend archival supplies on this web page by this Canadian company Carr McLean - Archival Supplies.  Although normally for archival documents, this works well for smaller textiles and they do have map sized storage for the larger ones.
• display - one option to show your textile is to put it on an acid free backing paper or matboard and frame it along with a UV protectant glass.  Do not attach the textile to the backing or glass.  Simply lay it flat and tighten it in the frame so that it is held in place.  It is okay if it touches the glass but, you should wash the glass and make sure it is thoroughly dry first, but tighten the frame only until it keeps the textile in place.  Do not over tighten.  See References below for detailed information on mounting flat textiles.
• environmental issues - do not store or keep it in direct sunlight or harsh lighting, fading will happen over time.  Avoid high humidity (can promote mould) and extremes in temperature.  See this post for more detailed discussion these issues: Environmental Considerations
• insects - always carefully check over the textile for any evidence of insects.  Watch for holes, eggs, insect parts, etc. and if in doubt contact a textile conservator for advice and treatment.

References

Caring For Textiles- American Conservation Institute
Canadian Association of Professional Conservators - Can search for a textiles conservator
Flat Storage For Textiles - Canadian Conservation Institute

Mounting Small, Light, Flat Textiles - Canadian Conservation Institute
Textile Mounting - Minnesota Historical Society - using a fabric covered board for mounting

Carr McLean - Home page for Canadian with archival and conservation supplies

Silver Artifacts Conservation - April 17, 2014

April 17, 2014

Small trophy - full view - before

Tarnish is formed on the surface of silver when it is subject to high humidity, moisture or air pollution.  The silver combines with sulphur in the air or moisture to form silver sulfide (AgS) which is black in colour.  Removing this black material is usually done by polishing with a soft cloth.  Silver is easily scratched when polished.  In fact, no matter what you use to polish it there will be minute bits of silver worn away each time you polish often only visible by using a microscope.  Over time this will become a critical issue with silver laminates since the silver itself can be worn down to the base metal.  Not only do the scratches become unsightly but then you may have the brass colour showing through in some other parts of the artifact.  Often the base metal is a copper alloy such as brass but can be many other types of metal.  This photograph shows a trophy with a black sheen of tarnish, silver laminate on a copper alloy base, dust on the wooden base, and a strip of scotch tape.  The tape was loosely attached at the top back edge (reason unknown).

Small trophy - close-up - before

Conservation of silver involves several steps but the intent is to avoid  or at least minimize scratching the surface.  This is accomplished by using the softest materials readily available and a few simple techniques.  There are many commercial silver polishes available that are widely used and certainly perform the polishing quite readily.  However, what many conservators use is precipitated calcium carbonate which is a more pure form of chalk that is very gentle in the polishing process.  This material can be purchased relatively cheaply at most pharmacies.  You need very little every time perhaps only a tablespoon which you mix with distilled water to make a paste.  So the combination of the chalk with no impurities and a pure form of water will combine to make a polishing substance with very limited chance of scratching.

Small trophy - close-up - after

Small trophy - full view - after

Always use nitrile gloves to handle the silver to reduce contact with the oils, salts, and ammonia found on skin.  With every artifact the first step is to gently wipe the surface with a soft cloth to remove dust or any other grainy substances that may be present.  Moistening the cloth with distilled water may be done as well.  The polishing paste is then applied to the silver artifact with a soft cloth.  I apply it gently in a circular motion over the area to be polished.  I usually do this twice and find that in most cases there is still a bit more tarnish removed a second time. The polishing process is finished by a gentle wiping with a clean soft cloth. Again, the cloth can be moistened with distilled water.  

Lastly, the best way to store silver is wrapped in acid free paper within a tightly sealed polyethylene bag and at a relative humidity of 40% or less.  There are some conservation grade treatments that can be applied as a layer to the surface.  Also, there are anti-tarnish strips that can be stored in the bag with the artifact wrapped in the acid-free paper so it does not come in contact with the strips.

These photographs are of a trophy that was conserved in this manner.  This trophy dates from 1950 and was awarded during the Apple Blossom Festival in Kentville Nova Scotia Canada.

Roundhouse Objects Conservation - Dec. 11 2012

December 13 2013

Metal Object Cleaning....Continued

One of the larger metal objects found at the railway roundhouse site in Kentville Nova Scotia is a wheel that was likely used to open and close a valve.  Perhaps, even, as part of a piece of steam equipment.  It came to the museum labelled as a brake wheel but the diameter is 22.5 centimetres which makes it quite a bit smaller than most brake wheels I have seen in photographs.  There are other clues to its possible usage that I will point out later.  It was heavily crusted with corrosion products (rust) so my effort was, as with other metal objects, to remove any loose material in preparation for applying a layer of wax to seal off the surface from moisture.  All material removed was saved in a sealed glass container.  Also, as before, the hope was to make clear any makers or other marks on the object.  There are some raised, embossed material possibly letters near the centre.  Of particular interest is what appears to be some small pieces of textiles (cloth) on the outside of the wheel and around the nut on one side of the short, threaded shaft running through the middle.  The opposite end of this shaft appears to be broken with a crack visible.  Was a cloth used to turn the wheel and torn or was the object thrown away along with some cloth?  We will likely never know.  Below are photographs of both sides of this object:

Wheel before cleaning with cracked bolt in centre

Wheel before cleaning with rusted nut in centre

Wheel material cleaned off and tools used.

The surface of the wheel had a sheen of grey and red corrosion some of which was very soft and easily came off with a toothbrush with hard bristles.  Quite a lot of larger crusted material was easily pried off with a scalpel.  There were a couple of bead shaped bumps to the right of the nut in the centre which were not removed.  They are reminiscent of material sprayed about during arc welding which I have observed in the past while helping my father with some of his welding projects.  The photograph to the right shows the tools and the material removed.  The textile (cloth) pieces can clearly be seen.

Wheel centre close-up showing faint lettering.

One of the benefits to this type of cleaning is the ability to bring out any marks found on the object.  In this case I was able to show the word Crane which is a maker of all sorts of equipment and tools plus the word Open with what looks like a line with a very faint arrow at the end.  The photograph to the right shows these faint marks.  Certainly, these marks imply it is a valve wheel rather than a brake wheel since some brake wheels usually have the words ON and OFF in different points along the wheel.

Roundhouse Objects Conservation - Dec. 4, 2012

December 7, 2012

Glass, and Ceramics Cleaning......continued

Butter dishes with maker's marks

I continued the cleaning process on mixed objects of different materials this week.  The ceramics consisted of 5 butter dishes which just needed wiping with a soft cloth and Orvus soap mixed with distilled water followed by rinsing with distilled water and a different soft cloth.  The photograph to the right shows all five dishes displaying the makers marks. These objects are in relatively good shape but with some red, rust like staining patches and a few scratches.  The rust patches are clearly visible on the dish in the lower left of the photograph.  The flip side of these dishes have no markings.  Although they appear to be very simple and of little importance, they, in fact, give us a glimpse into the purchasing practices of the railway at the time and into the manufacturer.   All show that they were made in England and two show that they were supplied by Nerlich & Co. This is an import company founded in 1858 in Toronto by a German immigrant to Canada.  My research shows that they imported goods from Germany originally but expanded to include goods from England after 1908 and wholesaling throughout the maritimes and most of Canada after 1891.  We can see several different makers marks with four showing the company name "Grindley England",  "W.H.Grindley & Co" and "Grindley Hotel Ware" while one other simply says "Made in England".  These different marks represent different batches very likely purchased at different times. W.H. Grindley & Co (Ltd) was established in 1880 at Tunstall in Stoke-on-Trent England and remained in business until 1991 when they went into receivership and were bought out by Woodlands Pottery.

Bottle main body with crack

Bottle top with material deposit

Bottle interior material removed

I cleaned a large brown bottle which had some material deposited inside.  The first photograph above shows the main body of the bottle with a large crack in the middle before it was cleaned.  The second photograph above shows the top of the bottle before it was cleaned with material deposited along the neck and top of the main body.  The photograph to the right shows the material removed.  Again, I carefully removed whatever would come loose inside by using a shish-kabob stick and Q-tips attached to the end of it.  I then rinsed the inside and out with Orvus soap and distilled water followed by rinsing with distilled water.  I used several Q-tips to wipe off any leftover material from the inside.  The outside was wiped with the soap mixture and a soft cloth and then rinsed with distilled water and a different cloth.  I decided to keep the material removed in a separate, sealed container because it appears to have some material that may give a clue to what it originally contained. By keeping this material it would be possible to do testing to determine what it is at a later date if needed.  There are no makers marks or copyright marks of any kind on this bottle.  It is likely that it held alcohol of some kind, possibly wine.

Conservation Tip:  Material cleaned (removed) from an object should be stored in a sealed container made of inert material such as glass to preserve the contents in as original condition as possible.  In the example above I used a glass container with a glass top and a rubber washer to hold the glass stopper in place.  The rubber washer is not exposed to the material inside.  It was purchased at a local dollar store and cleaned with the soap mixture, rinsed with distilled water, and dried before use.

Roundhouse Objects Conservation - Nov. 27, 2012

November 27, 2012

Metal Objects Cleaning

Metal objects are challenging to clean.  There are several examples as part of the railway roundhouse collection that I can prepare for long term storage and display.  Two of them at least at first appear particularly difficult but in the end are not so hard to do.  In this post I will show you how this can be done.  There are two steps to this process: 1) cleaning and 2) preventive maintenance.  I will concentrate on the cleaning in this post and discuss the second step in a later post.  The metal objects all have some corrosion products (rust) in various degrees.  When I say difficult I mean that they are heavily corroded.  Why clean them at all?  It is to reveal any markings such as makers marks, copyright marks, registration numbers and so on.  All of which will help us to date them and determine how they were made and used.

Keep in mind that I will avoid the use of chemicals in the cleaning process and prefer to use mechanical means.  Therefore, the tools I use in cleaning these are as follows:

• brushes: usually a toothbrush with stiff bristles for removing dust and smaller material,
• picks: usually toothpicks and shish-kabob sticks for scraping (to avoid scratching),
• scalpel: usually used to pry off loose material

Padlock - before cleaning

Padlock - after cleaning, closeup

The object on the left is a padlock used by the railroad. We know from other examples in much better shape that there is usually embossed lettering on the key hole cover which runs vertically down the centre of the main body of the lock. It is obscured and unreadable in the photograph on the left. By using a scalpel I was able to carefully remove large chunks of corrosion material to reveal the marking as shown on the right in a close-up photograph. I used the toothbrush to remove dust and other smaller, loose material to make the lettering even more visible. The embossed letters "CPR" vertically down the key hole cover can clearly be seen.

Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) on November 13, 1911 leased the operations of the Dominion Atlantic Railway (DAR, incorporated on October 1, 1894) effectively taking ownership, although DAR maintained its own identity for most of its existence.  Therefore we can date this padlock to sometime after 1911.  Eventually all (or most) padlocks with the letters DAR were replaced with CPR lettering.  There is also a registration number on the back of the hasp (not shown here).

The photograph below shows the material removed, the tools used (toothpicks and shish-kabob stick not shown), and the end result - a cleaned up padlock.

Conservation Tips: Be very careful when using sharp tools such as a scalpel (besides the ever present safety issue) by keeping in mind that it is very easy to scratch the metal object.  I carefully used the scalpel to pry material loose not to scrape it.  That is, I insert the sharp edge in cracks and pry it up, leveraging the blunt edge.  The photograph above shows several very large pieces that came loose.  Certainly, it is more time consuming to do it this way but I find that a combination of prying carefully followed by brushing with the toothbrush works best and alternating this back and forth as many times as needed for the desired result. The wooden picks can be used for scraping but again, be careful.  In this example, the corrosion was generally very loose and relatively easy to remove.  Consult a conservator to determine how far to go with the removal of corrosion who will remind you that scratches may result if you go too far.  The next step is to coat the object with museum grade wax to prevent further corrosion by sealing it off from contact with moisture.

Roundhouse Objects Conservation - Nov. 20, 2012

November 20, 2012

Glass Objects Cleaning

There were several bottles recovered from the railway roundhouse demolition that required cleaning to remove soil and sand deposits both inside and out.  I show an example in this post of what can be done to prepare these for storage and display.  The photograph below, on the left is of a Watkins bottle with the phrase "Container Made in USA" on the bottom underside and "Watkins" in raised letters vertically on one side.  There is a lot of soil and sand mostly on the inside in hard to reach places but also on the outside around the neck, bottom, and raised lettering.  The challenge was to clean up as much of that material as possible.  This prepares the bottle for storage so loose material will no longer fall off due to handling and makes it more presentable for display purposes since the raised lettering and any other embossed marks become more visible.  The following is a list of tools and materials used in the cleaning process:

• several wooden toothpicks and a shish-kabob stick
• one tooth brush with soft bristles
• several Q-tips
• two soft cloths, cotton
• one nail file
• 1/4 teaspoon Orvus soap paste
• one cup distilled water

Watkins bottle before cleaning

Watkins bottle after cleaning

I used toothpicks to gently pry all the loose soil and sand around any crevices such as at the neck, the bottom and around the raised lettering.  Toothpicks are used because they will not scratch the surface of the glass and the sharp points can reach into very small crevices.  I used Orvus soap and distilled water (discussed in previous posts) with a soft cloth to wipe off the exterior followed by a rinse with distilled water and a different soft cloth.  To get the material from the inside I first used a wooden sish-kabob stick to get into as many of the interior cracks and corners to loosen up the soil and sand.  I then used q-tips attached to the end of the stick to reach the hard to reach sloped parts just inside the top.  The q-tips are cut in half in the middle, attached to the stick and bent back so that when you push them through the neck they will open up enough to rub around the inside loosening the material found there.  The loose material is dumped out of the bottle and then the inside is rinsed with distilled water.  The last step is to rub all around the interior with more q-tips to remove any sheen of dirt or other bits left behind.  I did not use a bottle brush for the simple reason that this is a square shaped bottle.  Bottle brushes are more effective with round bottles.  The photograph below shows the end result of the cleaning.



The photograph below illustrates the tools used in this example and the material removed.  You can see the brown stains on the Q-tips and the pile of sandy soil removed is in the middle.


Bottle cleaning tools, nail file at bottom.

Conservation Tips: I do not use metal tools or abrasive materials of any kind to clean glass objects.  There is a chance that the metal or abrasives could scratch the glass surface.  The wooden picks will not scratch the glass and the nail file is used to sharpen the ends of the wooden picks (they will get dull over time) to reach into crevices to dislodge dirt and to make them easier to fit the picks into the Q-tip ends. 

Roundhouse Objects Conservation - Nov. 6, 2012

November 6, 2012

Ceramics and Glass Cleaning

Cleaned up the last of the ceramics in the collection and started in with the bottles and other glass objects.  One of the ceramics was a plate that had some interesting characteristics.  It had been broken and repaired with a large crack essentially down the middle.  There are patches of glue that squeezed out of the crack and dried.  This same plate had an interesting wear pattern in the middle which can be seen at an angle with a bright light.  The pattern suggests to me that it was likely used as a tray for a milk or water jug which stood in the centre.  Perhaps the person repairing it decided that it could remain useful even with the effort to repair it.  This is conjecture on my part.  Can you think of another explanation?

The glass bottles are especially challenging because most have small openings at the top and were buried in soil so they often have small patches of soil right up underneath the top.  I used a shish-kabob stick with a cut off Q-tip bent back on itself to reach the difficult spots at the base and the top.  In some cases the bottles were rinsed inside only if they did not appear to hold any special remnants of what may have been the original contents.  It is important to keep any  material which may be original content for future testing.  It is not critically important at this time to determine the contents but we cannot be sure if this might be important perhaps 50 or 100 years from now.  Certainly, the testing if done now would be expensive and would not normally be done by a community museum with limited funding for such procedures.

The following photograph gives an example what should be done with material to be kept.  The dark material removed had flakes of lighter shiny material intermixed.  These were not separated out but just carefully kept and stored together.

Material removed from inside bottle with container and label.

Conservation Tip:  When cleaning any object be sure to keep any material removed which may be important for future research.  It must be stored in a container that can be sealed to remain uncontaminated.  The container must be labelled to clearly identify the object it was removed from and any other relevant information.  Some examples of materials which should be kept:

• the contents of a bottle,
• flakes and/or pieces of an object which fall off when handled,
• threads or cloth pieces from textiles,
• plant material found on exterior or interior,
• paint flakes.

Roundhouse Objects Conservation - Oct. 30, 2012

October 30, 2012

Cleaning Ceramics

With the assessment of the roundhouse objects completed and approval from the curator to proceed the next step is to do the cleaning.  I have concentrated on ceramics in the first phase of cleaning.  In general the ceramics are part of the railway dining car sets that were broken or disfigured and then thrown away.  The cleaning is done in several steps as follows by using:

1. a stiff brush such as a smaller art painting brush to brush away the loose material,
2. a wooden pick with a sharp point such as a shish-kabob stick to dislodge dirt from crevices,
3. a tooth brush to dislodge any more stubborn material,
4. a soft cloth dipped in soapy, distilled water to wipe off stains, soil,
5. a second soft cloth to rinse with distilled water.

Conservation Tip:  Be very careful when cleaning to avoid any damage to the makers mark or a registration number often found on the bottom of ceramics such as cups, bowls or plates.  It is best to avoid these to ensure that they will remain readable.  This is also true for all historical objects with any identifying marks such as the owner's initials, signature, and so on which can be found in paper, cloth, leather, glass, and so on.  Any loss of readability is to be avoided since the marks often assist in determining dates, history of use, owner, and/or maker of an object.  The ceramics we cleaned had identifying marks which we left alone as shown in the photograph below.  The makers mark in this case was applied before it was glazed and fired so it is stable but the registration number was added later and is somewhat fragile.

Makers mark in the centre
Registration number in black ink below it

Photographs are taken of all objects before and after with a scale and a label to record the removal of material.  All work is done using gloves and on a base of plastic to control moisture.  The soap is the same one used to clean mouldy textiles - Orvus.  In all cases we were able to remove most of the soil and what looked like rust stains.  Some would not come off with minor amount of pressure so were left as is.  Below are photographs showing before and after with this type of cleaning.  Please note that only a small amount of material was removed in this example as found around the outside edge of the base and around the handle while some of the red marks also came off.

Ceramic cup before cleaning

Ceramic cup after cleaning with
soil bits removed shown on lower right

The following photograph shows three cups that were part of a package that came together.  It shows the tools and materials used to do the cleaning and they show what is an interesting progression of deterioration from the worst to the best.  The coloured band around the upper part of the cup is the best illustration of this - if you look closely at this band in the line up of cups at the top of the photograph you will see how the colour goes from almost completely faded on the left hand cup to bright, vibrant colours on the right.  This begs many questions in terms of the amount of time these objects spent exposed to the elements: whether they were exposed to more or less sun, the effects of soil on the coloured parts, and so on.    Was it exposure to sunlight that faded the colours or exposure to soil or a combination of both?

Treating Mouldy Objects - Cleaning - October 18, 2012

October 18, 2012

Carefully cleaning the objects to remove any additional mould spores after hanging outside in the sun involves using a soap such as Orvus (similar to Woolite) mixed with distilled water to wash the objects and then rinsing at least twice with distilled water alone.  Washing and rinsing should remove the rest of the mould spores that could be lurking in the materials of the objects.  Damp wiping with a natural sponge dipped in the soapy solution and squeezed to remove most of the moisture will ensure the object is not overly wet.  Do the same when rinsing but use different sponges: a soap sponge and a rinse sponge.  I was very careful with the one object that had several different coloured materials on the inside by using a separate, smaller sponge for each colour.  Testing for colour fastness showed some removal of the colour when rubbed aggressively in non-obvious location with a Q-tip soaked in distilled water.  Being very gentle with the sponge and using different sponges for each colour showed no colour removal.

One of the hats treated has an inside silk insert that was cleaned and rinsed by dabbing with a damp cotton ball.  Since silk is very fragile a wiping motion may have been harmful to the material.  In this case the silk is sown onto a page from a newspaper so I avoided getting it wet.  Excess moisture has the potential to stain the paper.

The first photograph below shows the damp wiping and rinsing in progress.  You can see some of the white mould concentrations on the hat that were removed in this process.  The second photograph below shows the dabbing of the silk insert.

Damp wiping off mould spores with natural sponge

Dabbing silk insert with a cotton ball

Conservation Tips: 1) It is best to immediately hang up the objects again in the sun to dry them out as soon as possible.  Since moisture can reactivate dormant mould spores it is best to thoroughly dry them out right away.  2) Soaps such as Orvus are used because they are more pure than regular soap meaning they are less likely to react negatively with the materials you are washing.  3) Test for colour fastness before washing.  4) In this case (hats) damp wipe instead of immersing them fully in the soapy solution.  There are some cases where a full immersion is warranted.  5) Use natural sponges because they are less likely to have impurities that might affect the materials you are washing.  6) Always wear gloves and a mask plus clean all the tools, containers, and brushes with bleach right after you are done.   The gloves and sponges were thrown away.

Treating Mouldy Objects - Brushing - October 17, 2012

October 17, 2012

Sadly, two of the hats were in very bad shape with a lot of mould visible.  After careful consideration, advice, and discussion it was decided to deaccession them and concentrate on saving the rest of the objects.  These were from the second world war and would have been very difficult to clean.  Some of the reasons why they were removed is: 

1) there are already examples of these within the museum's collection,
2) it is especially difficult to remove large concentrations of mould without damage to the object,
3) the mould has already caused damage,
4) fur on the hat at the bottom is difficult to clean.  

Below is a photograph of these showing their complex nature and the heavy concentration of mould.

Hats deaccessioned (thrown away) due to mould damage

The objects to be treated consist of the following:

1. Kentville Police Chief's hat circa 1950-1960's
2. Kings Canadian Hussars dress cap circa 1900
3. Junior Officer's service cap circa 1972
4. Kings Canadian Hussars wool service cap 1904 - 1939
5. Royal Canadian Navy sailor's cap 1941 -1945
6. Swagger Stick 1950
7. Black leather gloves circa 1920's   

The first step in treating mouldy objects is to put them into direct sunlight preferrably on a windy day.  The sunlight will help to kill the mould spores while the wind will help to dislodge and carry away the loose mould spores.  The second step is to brush the objects with a small paint brush that has medium soft bristles to help dislodge the mould spores.  Mould spores naturally occur in our environment and are normally all around us so all we are doing is removing concentrations of them on these objects.  It is the concentration of it that cause harm to the objects especially fragile textiles.  In the photograph below this hat and the long leather gloves were the only objects that had visible concentrations of mould spores but we treated all of the objects stored together with them.

Conservation Tips: 1) Do not put silk objects or any part of an object that is silk into direct sunlight.  Sunlight and many other sources of light has a cumulative effect on silk and will accelerate its breakdown over time. 2) As shown in the photograph below wear a mask, gloves (latex or rubber), and do not put objects anywhere near air vents or open windows into a building.  3) Clean all objects in any group stored together where one or more show evidence of mould spores.

All the objects were carefully hung up on a line in sunlight for the whole time that the museum was open and were brushed a second time later in the day.  The line with objects had to be moved along to follow the sun due to shade produced by trees.  Here is a photograph of the objects being hung up with clothes pins.