Coloured beeswax

In filling small scratches, blemishes, tear-outs on painted and bare
wood, I sometimes use coloured beeswax.  The recipe I use is not
very accurate: pigments are poured into heated beeswax (70 deg. C)
until desired colour achieved, stirred, and then cooled down.  The
amount is not specified.  The samples I have made show up with some
kind of crystallisation, the wax is covered or dotted with white
spots.  The spots are easily removed by warming the wax in my
fingers, but will, I guess,return.

I regret not to have the necessary chemical knowledge to understand
what is happening, but I am working on the subject: is this a normal
reaction for beeswax mixed with pigments?  Is the mixture out of
balance?  Are there other factors?

Dag Feldborg, teacher in restoring of artefacts

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:53
                 Distributed: Friday, December 12, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-53-006
                                  ***