[NHCOLL-L:5148] RE: fixing yoda figurine

[Pellegrini, Rodrigo]

Malcolm,

The dryness and brittleness are probably the result of the Vinyl's plasticizer having migrated out.
>From what I've read (I do not research plastic conservation myself, but since I collect plastic toys at home I've read a lot about it), this doesn't really have a fix. If anybody here knows different, I'd be very interested in hearing it... I'm certainly not an authority on this.

Most museum literature recommends controlling the storage and display environment in which plastic objects are stored, to minimize problems. Of course, plasticizer migration could happen anyway, since it has to do with the plastic's formulation and how compatible the plasticizer and plastic are. Once the plasticizer has migrated (which usually oozes out as a sticky material, but sometimes evaporates), I don't think there is any way to restore it at this time, although if I recall correctly research may be underway to stop an ongoing migration (a great reference is Yvonne Shashoua's book, "Conservation of Plastics: Materials science, degradation and preservation.")

As far as active treatments (something not often done by museums, but that private collectors are more willing to try), there are products to clean stains, remove oozing plasticizer, remove odors, and more, developed by a plastic chemist, and available from Twin Pines of Maine (http://www.twinpines.com/), but nothing to restore plasticizer once it has migrated out.

Hope that helps, and if there is anyone else who has any information to add (or correct mine, if wrong) I'd love to hear it,

Rod

Rodrigo Pellegrini
Registrar, Natural History Bureau
New Jersey State Museum
PO Box 530
Trenton, NJ 08625-0530
USA
 
Rodrigo.Pellegrini at sos.state.nj.us

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of malcolm McCallum
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2010 7:55 PM
To: nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5147] fixing yoda figurine

Since many of you deal with this sort of thing, My wife has a life-sized Yoda figurine.  The face is made out of some kind of vinyl which is dried and near cracking.  Is there anything we can do to "save" or "restore" the little bugger?

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