Chalkboard

James H Tichgelaar <jtichgel [at] choctaw__astate__edu> writes

>Arkansas State University Museum has recently acquired a chalkboard
>listing the last passenger train to leave Wynne, AR (1965).  Can
>anyone suggest the best way to keep the chalk on the board? The
>board itself appears to be plywood with a black coating, and has
>white paint on it in addition to the chalk.

Ultrasonic misting is a very successful method for the
consolidation of chalk drawings. During my final degree work at the
State Academy of Arts and Design in Stuttgart Germany I investigated
the possibilities of ultrasonic misting concerning the consolidation
of matte, powdery paint of works of modern art. I finally
consolidated the chalk drawings of several different objects of an
installation by Joseph Beuys with this method. The main advantage is
that you may control the quantity of applied consolidant because of
the low concentration of the solution and the more localized manner.
Several consolidants are possible to be misted. I used a
methylcellulose "Methocel A4M" (Dow Chemicals; 4000cps), because it
is known to be very stable.

Barbara Sommermeyer
student of painting conservation
State Academy of Arts and Design
Am Weissenhof 1
70191 Stuttgart
Germany
+49 711 582940
Fax: +49 711 586453

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:1
                 Distributed: Wednesday, June 10, 1998
                        Message Id: cdl-12-1-001
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