The Use of Textured Japanese Paper as a Filler for Leather Conservation: Exploring an Alternative to BEVA® 371

The work presented here aims to expand the use of Japanese paper for loss compensation in leather objects as an alternative to the more common and less sustainable use of acrylic media. The research builds out of earlier work by Charlotte Ridley (2017) and Yue Li (2021) and is focused on texture-capture based on a minimal palette of materials. This article demonstrates the comprehensive testing of Japanese paper for casting fills for textured leather and compares the results with fills made from the more common medium, BEVA® 371. Several different weights of Japanese paper and concentrations of Klucel G in ethanol were press-moulded into silicone rubber casts taken from both coarse and fine-textured leather objects. The moulds were also used to make BEVA®371b fills for comparison. The two types of fill were applied to the same objects from which the moulds were taken and while the BEVA® 371b fills capture more of the two textures, the paper fills were found to be easier to integrate into the leather with the use of 4 gsm Japanese paper with 15% Klucel G producing the most defined texture comparable to the BEVA®371b.