Cleaning the Tsukamaki

[drbvac]

Is it considered OK to carefully remove stains and coloring on Tsukamaki and the menuki?  What would anyone suggest as the most gentle way - ?

[drbvac]

Well as no one answered I assumed it would be on line and it was in many variations - all similar - mild detergent like Woolite, hot water, toothbrush, gentle and - all better !!

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[vajo]

Hot or warm water is posion for the same. Like all natural dryed fishskin (it's not leather) it will become weak and shrink and you could loose the pearls. 

[ROKUJURO]

SAME expands if immersed in water - warm or cold - but if the TSUKA-ITO is intact, there shouldn't occur a problem. All depends on the amount of water used for cleaning. 
In case of old silk TSUKA-ITO, hot water and brushes might be problematic, so I would give it a try with benzene.

[drbvac]

16 hours ago, vajo said:

Hot or warm water is posion for the same. Like all natural dryed fishskin (it's not leather) it will become weak and shrink and you could loose the pearls. 

 

15 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

SAME expands if immersed in water - warm or cold - but if the TSUKA-ITO is intact, there shouldn't occur a problem. All depends on the amount of water used for cleaning. 
In case of old silk TSUKA-ITO, hot water and brushes might be problematic, so I would give it a try with benzene.

I certainly didn't suggest or recommend that the Tsuka be immersed in water and they cleaning solution would not have been in contact with the same for more than 20 seconds and considering how long it has been dried it would take hours to soak up enough liquid to affect its composition. Benzene or any other chemical that is used in dry cleaning could be used on the Tsuka-ito even if silk and yes brushing roughly would break up the fibres.  Gentle is as always the way to go. 

[Ford Hallam]

I hesitate to get involved but I do have a little bit of museum based experience in this area...

 

Firstly it's really important to remember that a big part of silk's strength and beauty lies in the oils inherent in the structure of the fibres. Therefore solvents should ideally be avoided as they tend to strip off these important oils. Once lost the fibre becomes brittle and very friable. 

 

The safest way to clean off localised stains and soil would be to use very lightly dampened cotton buds, in a gentle rolling motion over the fabric/tape etc. No rubbing at all on old fabric as the risk of breaking fine threads is too high.

I'd suggest just luke warm water initially because the vegetable dye on old silk may no longer be fixed and may be too quickly removed. As you roll the clean white bud you can periodically check to see what's coming off, dirt and grime or silk dye colour 

 

Personally I'd never try to do it all in one go but rather aim at a number of very gentle passes, and perhaps just one small test area first,  and allow everything to dry in between treatments to better see what progress/effect has been achieved.