I got a question yesterday from my Gold Master Class about how to store your metal threads.  A great question and one I had been meaning to write about.

The first thing to know if what type of ‘metal’ threads you have.  Kreinik and the #300 series of threads from both Benton and Johnson and Golden Threads are a plastic with a small amount of metal (often brass) evaporated onto one side.  These might have a very small darkening over a long period of time but will not tarnish (i.e. turn dark brown/black).  So they can be treated much as you would your silk fibers.

The rest of the metal threads “real gold”, “Gilt”, “Silver”, “2% Gold”, “90% Silver” are all combinations of copper and silver and/or gold in varying amounts.  Of these, the silver and copper are the culprits in tarnishing.  The gold is always broken during the rolling process or additional drawing, leaving some amount of the silver or copper exposed to the air.

Sulfur is the worst offender in tarnishing the silver and salts/water are for the copper.  Both are on our hands and so you should try to limit your handling of these threads and spangles.  Just don’t run your hands over the embroidery repeatedly.  But sometimes if you are under alot of stress, you can see that your body chemistry is off in the thread.

New wood is the worst place to store threads of this type.  A carrier or box can quickly tarnish a set of threads with the sulfur out-gassing.  This includes threadwinders.  As a matter of course, don’t use wood storage at all.  A plastic box is better for storage.

The companies who sell these thread will use acid free tissue paper to wrap the exposed thread to keep it from tarnishing by blocking the airflow to the thread surface.  You can also use anti-tarnish tissue which is manufactured specially for wrapping silver and gold objects instead if you plan on keeping the threads a long time in storage.   If you are particularly concerned about your environment and the possible sulfur levels (Iceland comes to mind), you can purchase silver protection strips which neutralize sulfur gasses in an enclosed container.  We have added these to the storage boxes for the coif and forehead cloth as well as jacket.

Talas Conservation Supplies sells all of these items.

The Silver Protection Strips (#TCD118005) run $7.93 for a packet of 8 – 2″ x 7″ strips.  They can be cut to put in small storage boxes or even in frames.

The Anti-Tarnish Tissue (#TPB003001) runs $61.00 for a ream of 500 sheets (20″ x 30″).

Talas also sells Acid-Free Unbuffered Tissue (#TPB002001) for 50 sheets of 20″ x 30″ at $15.25.  The unbuffered sheets are recommended for animal based fibers on textiles (i.e silk).  That was the recommendation for storing the jacket.

If there is enough interest in the anti-tarnish tissue, I might start carrying them to break down a ream into smaller packets.  The acid-free unbuffered tissue is often sold by finer embroidery stores in smaller quantities.

In general, you will never stop the aging process of the threads.  You can just slow it down by being smart with the storage.  Over the course of your life, you will notice a difference in the embroidery you have done.  If you care deeply about this, be careful with your storage and handling.  Buying the best threads is an extra guard – 2% gold and 90% silver have the longest lifetimes when held in the same conditions as a higher copper content thread.  If you REALLY want the color to remain true, buy faux threads (#300 series).

Tricia