Whether you are dealing with a water damaged book or humidifying a dog-eared and creased item, Zorbix increases your ability to treat the item carefully, quickly and successfully. Books and documents can be returned to the shelf within a day – flat and dry. Works of art can be flattened or creases diminished or removed easily.
Zorbix absorbs 50 times its weight in water, and is a 25X improvement over blotter paper. The superabsorbent does not wear out with subsequent reuse. Zorbix can be used for years (some sheets are still in use 10 years after manufacture) and unlimited cycles of wetting and dehydrating. The super absorbent is a corn starch byproduct and it is a green product.
Zorbix’s 100% alpha-cellulose filtration paper may become soiled, but any stain or fine debris is held without releasing into damp paper allowing for multiple uses. Should Zorbix become soiled with a color or particulate, an interleaving of Hollytex, Pellon or paper will act as a barrier between the item and the soiled surface of Zorbix.
Zorbix was invented in 2003 and has been in use by Preservation/Conservation professionals at libraries and archives across North America and Europe since 2004. Institutions that have purchased and used Zorbix find it useful for a number of operations:
Disaster Recovery of Wet Books & Porous Materials
On-site water removal from items immediately reduces damage and speeds the recovery of items for return to use. Packages of Zorbix placed in disaster recovery kits give the response team an effective remediation tool that can be applied locally by volunteers with very little training. Placing the sheets every 20 - 50 pages will quickly and effectively reduce water by 50% in a wet book.
Zorbix can remove water from any porous material: vellum, paper, textiles, leather and wood.
Simply switch out water-absorbed Zorbix sheets for dry ones, allow the inundated sheets to dry out for a few hours, and they are ready to use again to continue the drying process, or be stored for the next time. Using Zorbix sheets to dry wet books reduces the drying time significantly, reducing the risk of mold forming. Reuse of Zorbix is not only economical, but is more environmentally friendly by reduction of waste paper. It acts as a tool rather than a consumable.
Practice and Use
Zorbix can be used by a number of practitioners: conservators, artists, framing professionals and home owners. It can be used both to dry wet items and to humidify creased or warped items. Water-damaged books that have air-dried can be relaxed and may be restored to its original flat state with no increase in shelf space.
Humidifying paper, vellum and textiles using Zorbix provides a simple and exact humidification procedure that eliminates over-humidifation. This increased accuracy to deliver just enough moisture eliminates the need for subsequent drying as is often the case with blotter paper or enclosed chamber humidification. The process speeds, simplifies and improves procedures to allow the practitioner to process a greater quantity of material. Easily humidify dented corners, dog-ears, folded and creased books, vellum or paper documents and works of art.
Please contact us if you have questions.
Isaac Minter
Owner of Zorbix