Flaking oil paint

I would appreciate your help in this matter. I own an oil painting
dated 1975. I recently noticed hair-line cracks across the entire
surface, they appear flat and the paint seems to be still adhering
to the canvas; there are other areas where the cracks converge to a
point which is slightly raised forming a peak. The paint in those
areas is very fragile and easily flakes off.  My question: Is there
anything or anyway to consolidate those raised areas (by
capillarity??) without pressing down the paint which most likely will
fall off in small bits. I know that dried oil paint cannot be made
flexible or am I wrong in this?

Conservation of oil painting is not my specialty but since I own the
painting and it is not a "museum" piece I would like to tackle the
task myself if at all possible.

P.S. I found a query on consolidation by Rebeca Kench (8/7/01) in
the Cons DistList Archives but no answers to her query.

I would really appreciate any suggestions and advise on the subject.

Isabel M Coryat
Conservation Dept.
Coryat Casting Co
3346 Route 9G
Rhinebeck NY 12572


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:25
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 2, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-16-25-020
                                  ***