Lining

Andrei Givotovsky <maychui [at] earthlink__net> writes

>I am interested in techniques for lining paintings without the
>benefit of a vacuum hot table. I have tried the wax resin technique
>but would be interested to know other ways. Is there a way of using
>Beva products? Is it possible to employ a vacuum cleaner, mylar and
>an iron? At this point I am not ready to invest thousands of dollars
>in a hot table.

There isn't a standard adhesive choice for lining. You really need
to learn about the pros and cons of all available adhesives, their
working properties and their suitability for different types of
painting (age, medium, heat sensitivity etc.)before choosing the most
suitable for each individual paintings needs. I don't know if there
are any training courses in the US in this but if not you should try
to work with an experienced liner.

Not everyone can afford a proper vacuum hot table at first. It is
easy enough to make a vacuum envelope from mylar, a wooden loom and
a vacuum pump but there aren't any shortcuts to the skills you need
to learn to do the process without damaging the painting. You then
need to sort out effective delivery of heat at variable
temperatures.It is possible to do hand lining using a heat regulated
lining iron but this must be one which gives a very precisely
controlled temperature (not a domestic iron)such as made by Willards
which will set you back around UKP1000.


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:52
                 Distributed: Wednesday, March 12, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-52-002
                                  ***