Ready Made Enclosures

The first ready-made microclimate enclosure for the preservation of art and artifacts is being introduced to the public. The first size has a cavity with a volume of 16″ x 20″ x 3/4″. It comes as a do-it-yourself kit that only requires a screwdriver to assemble. The only thing you have to do is add the art and a small chunk of dry ice. The dry ice will fill the enclosure with CO2 gas that will force out the existing atmosphere leaving the art in an anoxic environment. When the enclosure is sealed with the metal moulding around the enclosure a hermetic seal is created that will keep your contents protected from oxygen and excess humidity for many years.

The minoxy® archival storage enclosure for art and artifacts has been developed to meet your preservation needs for art, documents, textiles, and artifacts.

HISTORY

The basic technology is from the food industry and adapted to the conservation field by Dr. Shin Maekawa of the Getty Museum in California in the late 1980’s – early 1990’s. They were looking into ideas for the use of an anoxic/hypoxic atmosphere in the conservation storage and display of precious items. The practicality of an oxygen-free atmosphere is that pests cannot survive in such an environment as well as oxidation of organic materials and metals will be curtailed. The humidity level of the internal atmosphere is also stabilized by the absorbers.

UNPACKING

This kit contains all the materials necessary to enclose and protect your precious work of art or artifact. Please read the sealing process at least once to understand the processes involved.

This kit contains:

  • The minoxy® micro-climate enclosure pan
  • A glass cover for the minoxy® micro-climate enclosure
  • Four picture frame sections that fit along the sides of the micro-climate enclosure.
  • A package of picture frame hardware assembly including a hanger
  • A sachet of absorbent materials.
  • An instruction manual

This kit does not contain and has to be obtained separately at a grocery store:
A small piece of dry ice ½” X ½” x ½” (13mm x 13mm x 13mm)

INSERTING ART AND SEALING ENCLOSURE

The art or artifact is placed in the minoxy® micro-climate enclosure’s bottom pan along with a sachet of absorbent material. The sachet of absorbent material is inserted in the secondary recess of the pan. The larger recess will accommodate museum-quality mats, mounts and the art up to ½” thick. This is the “art package”.
  1. Work in a clean environment and clean any dust or fingerprints from the enclosure. Add a 4 ply museum mounting/backing board. Do not overfill this cavity as doing so will be detrimental to the contents and may adversely affect the final seal.
  2. Size designations for our products have included an allowance of 1/16” (1.5mm) all the way around the cavity to allow for expansion and contraction of its contents (1/8” [3mm] total). Therefore, a 16” x 20” enclosure pan will loosely hold a 16” x 20” document. The outside of the enclosure (16 5/8” x 20 5/8”) will however not fit into a standard 16” x 20” ready-made frame.
  3. The glass, bottom, and sides of the minoxy® micro-climate enclosure should be cleaned with a micro cloth or well-used cotton cloth and a ph neutral cleaner.
  4. Insert the picture frame corner hardware into two opposing sides of the frame. You can loosely tighten the set screw that is in the picture frame channel to avoid it slipping out of position when assembling the frame. Do not over tighten the set screws, as overtightening will spread the brackets other end making it harder for the final assembly.
  5. THE NEXT FOUR STEPS SHOULD BE COMPLETED IN RAPID SUCCESSION TO ALLOW FOR A POSITIVE PRESSURE IN THE ENCLOSURE. There should be some dry ice left in the bottom of the pan when closing the glass over the pan to allow for pressure build-up. Excess pressure will naturally disperse.
  6. THIS IS AN OPTIONAL STEP BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Place the bottom the enclosure pan flat on a table surface. Insert the small piece of dry ice in the lower depression. This dry ice will off gas CO2 gas that will replace the atmospheric air that contains oxygen. The off-gassing will produce a white cloud the will billow over the edges of the enclosure. This is normal and will become clear as it warms up to room temperature. Caution: do not touch the dry ice directly with unprotected hands or fingers. The Dry Ice is extremely cold and will cause freeze burns to the skin (-109.3 degrees Fahrenheit -78.5 degrees C)
  7. Open the protective packaging from the sachet of absorbers and place over the dry ice.
  8. Insert the “art package” into the pan, face up. Clean to remove any dust and specks of debris.
  9. Place the cleaned glass over the preinstalled gasket of the enclosure flanges. Re-clean if necessary.
  10. Install the 4 metal picture frame sections around the package of glass and the enclosure. The 4 metal picture frame sections will act a clamp to compress the gasket between the glass and the enclosures pan. The 4 hand tighten the set screws in the corner hardware while aligning the corner miters so that they look neat. After the picture frame sections are properly aligned, go around a second or third time and continue to tighten the set screws firmly, but not overtightened.
  11. The enclosed hanging hardware can now be installed.
  12. The enclosure is now ready to be displayed with or without a picture frame.

DISPLAY AND FRAMING

Note – although this hermetically sealed enclosure has UV filtering glazing there are other factors that can degrade the art or an artifact. Light from any source, the sun, incandescent, fluorescent, and LED, have consequences to the longevity of your precious item as well as variances in the ambient temperature where it is displayed and or stored.
The enclosure includes a custom aluminum picture frame and hangers for easy display. In the case that you may want to insert the minoxy® microclimate enclosure into another picture frame contact us for more information. We have a secondary clamp system that can be purchased for this purpose. You will in most cases have to modify the rabbit (rebate) for such purposes.

WARNING NOTICE

  • ALL LIGHT WILL DAMAGE MATERIALS, INFRARED, VISIBLE AND ULTRAVIOLET. THIS DAMAGE IS ACCUMULATIVE AND IS NOT REVERSIBLE. ALTHOUGH THE GLAZING FILTERS 99% OF THE ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT THERE IS STILL THAT 1% THAT GETS THROUGH PLUS VISIBLE AND INFRARED. IT IS THE END USERS RESPONSIBILITY TO BE AWARE OF THESE FACTS AND TO ACCORDINGLY TAKE PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO REDUCE ALL LIGHT DAMAGE. FADING CAN BE REDUCED BY KEEPING OBJECTS OUT OF DIRECT SUNLIGHT AND STRONG FLUORESCENT LIGHT.
  • THERE ARE SEVERAL PIGMENTS THAT WILL CHANGE AND OR LOSE COLOR IN ANOXIC/HYPOXIC ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS PRUSSIAN BLUE. CONSULT WITH A PROFESSIONAL IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF THE PIGMENTS USED.

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Copyright 2014-2019 — The enclosure has been granted one patent and has a second pending. 
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