Knife handle with inscribed runes

Eva Christensson <eva.christensson [at] raa__se> writes

>I am going to conserve a water-logged knife handle, (antler or
>possibly bone) with inscribed runes. ...
>...
>Does anyone know of any type of surface treatment which would
>preserve the visibility of the runes  and yet not negatively affect
>the bone material itself.

While generally it is considered preferable to not alter the surface
appearance of a material when consolidating it, a slight saturation
of the surface colour during consolidation may have the effect you
want.

In addition it may be possible to uncover more surface markings
under the iron concretion. If you mask the bone material to protect
it, using a heavy coating of a removable lacquer, tape, and/or
paper, the concretion can be gently removed with an air abrasive
unit until you are close to the bone surface. The masking can then
be removed and the final layers of corrosion carefully worked on by
other means.

Valerie Tomlinson
Conservator
Auckland Museum
The Domain
Private Bag 92018
Auckland 1142
New Zealand
+64 9 306 7068

2 Jul 2010
From: Victoria Montana Ryan <acs<-at->artcareservices<.>com>
Subject: Museum lighting

For those who may be interested and haven't yet seen it here's a
link to the Getty Conservation Institute's website with their latest
article on Museum Lighting. After the many discussions over lighting
that have taken place recently this article reminds us of all types
of lighting and the search for what may be best for our collections.
It's a good article about the on-going research that will benefit
all.

    <URL:http://getty.edu/conservation/science/lighting/index.html>


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:8
                   Distributed: Sunday, July 11, 2010
                        Message Id: cdl-24-8-006
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