Mounting tiles

We have been treating a Delftware tile panel consisting of 92 tiles
for our museum. We are now in the last phase trying to decide the
best way to remount the tiles. We have selected a suitable back
ground, in this case a plate of Aerolam of 2,5 cm. thick (formed by
a honeycomb aluminum structure between 2 layers of polyester fabric
coated with epoxy). The next problem is to fix the tiles on the
panel. Various adhesives are mentioned in the literature for this
purpose: epoxies, silicone adhesives, PVA glues. We are thinking of
using an epoxy applied on 2 or 3 spots at the back of each tile with
a layer of polyester felt of 3 mm in between to allow the
dismounting of the tiles in the future. The tiles could be detached
if necessary by simply cutting through the felt. We are also
thinking about the use of silicone adhesives but are concerned about
their stability and reversibility. Has anyone suggestions, comments
or experience with this problem?

Isabelle Garachon
Ceramic, glass, stone conservator.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Robert Parthesius
Pieter Borstraat 32
1065 AG Amsterdam
+31 20 6692405
Fax: +31 20 6697715

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:56
                Distributed: Tuesday, December 10, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-56-011
                                  ***