Removing labels from marble

Sandy Wood <swood [at] nationalgalleries__org> writes

>I wish to remove the old sticky labels from some of the marble
>sculpture we hold in our collection and was wondering what would be
>best to use. I have often used WD40 for this task but in the case of
>white marble I am a bit wary in case a greasy residue is left
>behind.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Try using a heat gun and try different temperatures. The glue
usually yields since it's thermoplastic. If it's old animal or
arabic gum glue it would work too.

If glue residues remain on the marble you can remove them using a
paper masking tape several times or remove  the major part with a
wooden or plastic scalpel--no iron, it will mark the marble.

Pierlucio Pellissier
A&A


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:5
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