Conservation Nerd

I'm doing archaeological conservation work for two weeks

It's kind of a chaos rn haha, but I've found some pretty cool things among the charts!

What a difference! This iron key was cleaned by me in my practical class. The corrosion was mechanically scrubbed off by fine steel wool. When mechanically cleaning off corrosion of metal objects, it is important to use a tool that is less hard than the object to avoid scratching the object. For the small groves and markings I wrapped the steel wool around a toothpick and used that to scratch all the corrosion off.

For my second object I polished a silver fork. I used Calciumcarbonate (CaCO3) and applied it with a cotten cloth and Q-tips. When polishing objects it is again essential that you use the right polishing material, since some can leave behind scratches. To test with material leaves behind the least amount of scratches I used a small plexiglass plate and used the polishing materials on that. (Since plexiglass has a similar hardness to silver)

For class we had to take a paint sample and learn to properally embed it!

For it being my first time, I think I did quite well! I accidentally took a part of the canvas as well..., but it's not too bad, cause now I know for sure that all layers are visible!

Layers from bottom to top: - Canvas - Preperation layer - White / Creme coloured paint layer - Brown coloured paint layer

Location on the painting:

Sample extraction:

First project! Paper restoration

We had to restore the rips and cuts with glue.

The first paper was a page from a 1960 novel. It had two rips and one cut. I used Methyl cellulose to mend the damage, with the help of Japanese paper to reinforce the cut.

The second was a page from a map from 1980. It had one rip and a corner cut out. Again, I mended those with Methyl cellulose and Japanese paper to reinforce the cut.

The Methyl cellulose was a good glue to make sure that the paper was strong and secure where the cuts and rips were located on the paper. It was also easy to use and allowed the paper to remain flexible. Which is good, cause these are papers that would be used again after the restoration. However, I did notice that it dried as a thin film on top of the paper, which gave the places where I glued the cuts a shiny look/texture. This is definitely something I should keep in mind next time I need to decide which glue to use for a project.

First week of school done, first book from the library acquired!

- "The care and repair of books" by Harry Miller Lydenberg & John Archer, revised by John Alden

"Une Carrière" (A Quarry) - Théodore Rousseau (Ca.1827)

An oil painting on canvas made by Théodore Rousseau, a French painter.

It's an art study with a quarry as it's theme. It is only half finished, so the pencil sketch still visible. It's a good example to show how this artist made his paintings.

Hello to whoever might read this!

I'm an art conservation student about to start my second year of university. I thought it would be nice to share info I learn with the internet to spread my love for the study and promote the craft.

I will not limit myself to only paintings, but will try to post and reblog about a variety of media. (Sculpture, folklore, ceramic, ...)

I hope that you will enjoy learning along with me!

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