Expert: Henry Babcock - 4/28/2008

Question
Hi there.  I have an unfinished penelope canvas that has a spot of mold about the size of a soup-can lid.  Luckily, the canvas has not been worked yet!  I'm assuming that I can gently dab at the spot with a diluted detergent, or maybe even with a very light bleach solution - but I'm not sure if this is the BEST way.  Any ideas?  Most of the mold is not on a painted area.  I'd just hate to work the canvas and have that mold bleed through!

Thanks!

Susan in Hong Kong

Answer
Susan,

Oh no!  Nasty mold!

OK  You're not too bad off.  Your thinking is pretty good; try dabbing at it with a dilute detergent (something mild).  Try not to get the canvas too wet; you don't want to wash out too much of the sizing (the stuff that makes the canvas stiff).  Let it dry out thoroughly, maybe even putting the canvas out in the sun, covering the parts that aren't affected by the mold.  The sun will kill the mold as well, but probably won't remove the color.

A very dilute bleach solution will kill the mold and might remove some of the stain. Again, try not to get the canvas too wet.   Let it dry out thoroughly, maybe even putting the canvas out in the sun, covering the parts that aren't affected by the mold.

After you are done treating the spot, you can test to see if the stain (if it's still there) will bleed out.  After it's dry, put some clean, white cloth under the area, dab a little water onto the spot, and cover with a little bit more white cloth.  With the canvas sandwiched between the white cloth, dab at it with your fingers and inspect the white cloth to see if any of the mold color has transferred to the white cloth.

Hope this helps,

Henry Babcock
AllExperts Needlepoint Expert