Making a Karibari board

In conservation, the drying or humidification of paper poses particular challenges when dimensional and visual characteristics of the original paper are to be retained. Because of this, the drying of an artifact is a key step in its treatment. There are a range of paper drying techniques from which the conservator can select and adapt in order to enhance the outcome of each treatment.

The traditional Japanese Karibari board is a type of drying panel that can be used in this process (Karibari in Japanese means temporary mount). The Karibari board controls and slows the drying rate while keeping the artifact under tension on the frame. Paper conservators use their judgment and experience to select the most appropriate drying technique for paper and media applied onto it.

Last January we decided to construct our own Karibari board with the experience of our visiting Conservation Trainee Hsiu-Mei Huang from Taiwan. Over seven days, we selected, cut and pasted Japanese mulberry paper of varying thicknesses onto a wooden panel and allowed each layer to dry for a full day before we proceeded to the next layer. As we began the labor-intensive construction of the Karibari board, we thought it would be interesting to document the process. On the first day local photographer Zacarias Garcia was invited for a visit to the conservation lab, and we soon realized that a video would be the best medium for showing our work.

The documentary embedded below (and available on the Folger’s YouTube channel) shows the process we went through in building the board, along with commentary and context by Andrew Hare, Supervisory Conservator of the East Asian Painting Conservation Studio at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. We hope that you enjoy seeing the creation of this beautiful object and it can serve as a tool for further understanding the make-up of this board.