Gold tooled books

As part of my MA Conservation research project at Camberwell College
of Arts I am investigating cleaning techniques for gold tooled and
stamped decoration on books.

The aim is to identify what techniques and/or substances would be
most appropriate to clean gold which may have been damaged by causes
such as the build up of dirt over time, mechanical damage due to
handling and ageing or dullness/tarnishing caused by chemical
activity.  The reason for the research is partly a response to the
lack of available information in key bookbinding and conservation
texts; there is plenty of instruction on gold tooling techniques but
little about how to clean and conserve gold that may be fragile,
flaking and worn away.

For this reason it would be very helpful to hear from conservators
from other disciplines, as well as book conservators, to enable
sharing/cross referencing of potentially useful methods and
observations.

If you are a conservator working with gold and are willing to take
part in the survey, a simple online questionnaire has been set up at

  <URL:http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_Id=3659>

No registration or personal details are required and the survey will
take less than ten minutes of your time.  Your participation would
be greatly appreciated.

Vicky West, MA Conservation
c/o Camberwell College of Arts
Wilson Road
London SE5 8LU
+44 20 8341 6137


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:50
                  Distributed: Monday, April 16, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-20-50-015
                                  ***