Removing varnish

Currently I'm working on a 17th century Dutch painting with a
difficult synthetic varnish. The varnish is not yet analysed, but it
looks like an alkydvarnish. It's hard to dissolve but mechanically
it can be removed under the microscope with a scalpel and a little
pressure. To fasten this labour intensive process I'm looking for
other options. I tried with tape to peel it of, but it's not
controllable enough. Has anybody ever tried to use a kind of mini
sandblasting tool, without sand but maybe with something less sharp
like rubber microballoons. Other advice for mechanically removing
this varnish also welcome.

Sabrina Meloni
Paintings Conservator
Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis
PO Box 536
2501 CM Den Haag
+31 70 302 3460
Fax: +31 70 365 3819


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:6
                   Distributed: Friday, July 9, 2004
                        Message Id: cdl-18-6-007
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