Best support option to protect against high humidity?

[Paul Foxton]

Good news, decent service is hard to find. You're way ahead of me, I haven't even called them yet. Would be very interested to hear what you make of it.

[Margaret Port]

Hi Mary,
I also have problems with high humidity, mold, etc with my work. Mold loves fresh oil paint, it seems. Some years ago I painted quite a few oil on ply pieces. Sealed the support, dried the paint, even varnished the pieces. Finally had to discard them because the mold penetrated throughout.
I now paint only on stretched canvases and mostly don't have any problems.
The best recommendation you can make to your clients is that they hang the piece on an internal wall.
I have a beautiful watercolour under glass which some genius of a framer bonded to craftwood. I had no problems with it until we moved house and it was hung on a wall near a window. Every year I get a furry mold growth on it, as soon as the wet season starts, and I have major dramas having to take it out of the frame, sterilizing the glass, vacuuming the painting, drying it, etc etc..
I have recently found a varnish which is completely invisible, which is especially designed to retard mold growth on anything. I am about to experiment on my watercolour.
cheers Margaret

[Mary Jane Ansell]

Hi Paul

I'm mid-way through my first batch of work on the linen stretched Dibond - I opted to use acrylic gesso as the adhesive as, while the BEVA your link referred to sounds a really excellent option, I could only find it available in the US and due to a very tight deadline didnt have the time to wait for an order (nor the inclination to order the 27 x 5 ft rolls it seem to come in!!) Hopefully at some future point it will be very good to try it though.

I tested a number of methods of stretching linen onto it and in one instance noticed that on applying an iron (as the BEVA instructions would require) you may need to be reasonably careful, I seem to have managed to get a slight divet in the metal sheet which I could only put down to a reaction to too much localised heat from the iron.

I can't say enough that the service I got from the Robert Horne Group who supplied me with the Dibond was fantastic from start to finish. I phoned through my order and it was with me, perfectly cut down to my requirements within 24 hours. If only every company I deal with was like that!;-)

Margaret - sorry for such a delayed response - thanks for your suggestions. What a terrible pain that mold must have been!

Once the mold spores are settled into something I know they are nearly impossible to permanently remove and it makes much sense to that a stretched canvas will fair better as it should remain inherently dryer as good fresh air gets to it more easily - very likely the sealed panel and perhaps unfortunately even the craftwood your watercolour is bonded too may be harbouring those darn mold spores and off they bloom each wet season!

I'd love to hear if your mold retardent varnish helps - hope so! There is some theory that ozone kills mold so failing that you could give it a blast?! Not sure how you go about that though!!!

Best wishes
Mary Jane