How to clean Tappa????

So I have acres of old tappa cloth from the Jasmine Tree, and 29 years of Pall Malls have really done a number on them.

What is the best method of cleaning these bad boys?

Say, yesterday was the day that some buddies and I dismantled the joint.

I think I need a week in an oxygen tent and a tetnus shot.

Luckily, Tai and her son kept us in rum shots until we got the job done.
Robert

Hmmmm, cigaretts are so evil. Ive been in this position before. Tapa cloth doesnt respond well to getting wet. for now the best thing you could do is let them air out as much as possible. do they seem to be discolored(yellowed)? Ill do alittle investigating and may have another solutuion for you shortly. Dawn

Yeah, the dyes will run if you get them wet, unfortunately I've found this out the hard way too. Maybe some sort of varnish might mask the smell.

Varnish won't do
Some of these are so discolored, they are all one color, nicotine.

Dry cleaning?

I found these links for you: http://www.bishopmuseum.org/research/pdfs/cnsv-tapa.pdf#search=%22cleaning%20tapa%20cloth%20%22

The following article is long and tedious, very scientific. But it seems they found the best method to clean was using a sponge eraser. I think they are referring to a "Mr. Clean Magic Eraser". Good Luck!

http://archives.queensu.ca/TapaClothReport.pdf#search=%22cleaning%20tapa%20cloth%20%22

The Bishop Museum one made it sound like you have a very valuable find, and that maybe you should be creating your own museum with it!

Please do not use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It is most definitely NOT a standard of museum conservation. Short of actually hiring a professional conservator, your best option would be to lightly vacuum the surface - using a filter to keep the vacuum from taking any one the original fibers - and I do mean LIGHTLY. Then air it out (inside, not outside) to minimize the lingering smell and with a q-tip moistened by the saliva from under your tongue (no Italian food eating or fruity drink drinking to coincide with this process) gently wipe the surface of the tapa cloth - itty bit by itty bit. Slow but cheap and effective.

WOW! I can't wait to hear how long it takes for them to spit clean acres of tapa cloth! Then they will need oxygen tents, tetnus shots and IV Fluids!

I was only reporting what I read on some museum sites I looked up. But I don't think museum quality is what the end result is going to be. I think a semi-clean usable decoration is what is desired...

So, how did your cleaning project work out?

After several years of being very busy in other areas, I'm unboxing a bunch of ex-restaurant OoH lamps I bought a few years back and installing them in my home this Spring. Many have tapa cloth that is discolored with cigarette smoke. Others bits of tapa on these have a light coating of formerly airborne restaurant smoke and grease that had trapped dust and lint. Fortunately, the latter is usually confined to the tapa on the top of the lamps so would not be visible once they are hung.

Unless I hear of a real success story from someone, I'm inclined to leave my lamps alone and accept the discoloration as part of their provenance.

Personally I would leave them as they are. The patina of years of hanging in a restaurant is something many of us on TC try to replicate in our home bars and art projects. Kind of like a proudly worn purple heart for wounds received in battle , the scars tell a story. If they have a bad odor you could try closing them up inside of a large trash bag with a handful of dryer sheets for a week. Good luck.

I agree with leaving the Tapa alone. Some fabrics just do not do well with water based cleaning. I have a feeling that the yellowing from the smoke is embedded in the fibers and cannot be removed. I have done tea dying of some fibrous materials in the past, so not sure if you think in the reverse and want to darken the areas that are light if you could do that. Maybe try dipping a q tip into a cup of dark tean and rub it on a spot on the side.