Amy Lubick, Conservation Digitization Coordinator at NARA, is looking for her favorite tool! “Wonder Weights,” originally used for sewing, are popular with paper conservators for weighting mends as they dry. Amy would also like to try them out to gently hold back archival document attachments during digital imaging. Unfortunately, Wonder Weights are no longer manufactured and impossible to find. The weights were a perfect compact size, plastic-coated and easy to clean, and unobtrusive in photographs—unlike brightly colored bean bags which have replaced them in the sewing industry. Does anyone have a set of Wonder Weights to donate to the National Archives?
These come up on ebay fairly often, no?
I like diy cotton stockinette bead bags and string weights. Plex cubes work well for photography.