Consolidating panel painting

Petar Gerasimov <pgerasimov [at] yahoo__com> writes

>A team of conservators are working at the reinforcement
>(consolidation) of the several tempera panel painting. The wood have
>a great damage caused by worms, so it is like a sponge. It is
>causing the problems during the treating of the surface-painting
>layer and the ground.
>
>Several methods, like soaking into wax solution or using plexigum
>solution, are in option. Does anyone have experience with this kind
>of problems, or have new methods and new solutions for this matter.

One of the most popular materials for consolidation of wooden
supports is Paraloid B-72, applied in toluene solutions (5% to 20%),
especially when the support is attacked by insects. Of course the
concentration of the resin depends on specific status of the object
(painting) to be consolidate. Plexigum gives also very satisfied
results. There are number of synthetic resins, suitable for this
purpose--Acrylic and PVAC. Paraloid B-72 is amongst materials tested
especially for its use in the art-conservation. It shows very good
results in tests for yellowing, reversibility, aging etc. You might
find useful an article "Adhesive Testing at the Canadian
Conservation Institute", published in Studies in Conservation 41
(1996) 19-44--although you are interested in consolidation, rather
than adhesives. As for the wax and wax-resin solution: they don't
have such a deep penetration in the wood structure.

Stefan Belishki
Assistant-professor
Cons.Dept.
National Academy of Arts,
Sofia, Bulgaria


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:50
                 Distributed: Wednesday, April 5, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-50-003
                                  ***