Consolidant

Claire Daly <claire_daly [at] birmingham__gov__uk> writes

>I am to conserve a large panel with applied "Grinling Gibbons"
>carvings, which has suffered from severe Furniture Beetle
>infestation.  After Thermo Lignum treatment, I need to consolidate
>the flight holes.  Does anybody have experience of consolidating
>Gibbons carvings, or can anybody recommend a suitable consolidant,
>which will give sufficient depth of penetration and also avoid
>swelling the wood fibres?  Paraloid B72 in acetone has been
>suggested, but I am interested in alternatives.

If you are also after a filler to follow consolidation, I have found
a beeswax-rosin (pine resin or colophony) mix effective for
disguising flight holes and other surface damage in dark wood
picture frames without 'dishing'. This medium is commonly used by
archive conservators to replace losses in seals. Depending on colour
match, the filled areas can be quite difficult to detect on casual
observation. This is not available off the shelf as far as I know.
It is prepared by mixing molten resin with wax. Colour is dependant
upon the raw constituents, their ratio and the temperature used for
the initial making. A high temperature can produce a dark hue.
Pigments can be added. In practice, the medium can be re-heated
gently to a paste-like consistency and applied with tools or
fingers. Perhaps you might be able to beg some to experiment with.

Mark Hingley
Conservation Consultant


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:2
                   Distributed: Monday, July 3, 2006
                        Message Id: cdl-20-2-004
                                  ***