8 CANVAS REMOVAL AND MANIPULATION OF TENTED PAINT BACK TO PLANE

The weak canvas support was easily pulled away by hand because the adhesion between the ground layer and canvas had been lost. In the few small areas where the ground was better adhered to the canvas, threads were pulled away individually using tweezers.

Manipulation of the tented paint and ground layer back to plane was executed on the hot table. The faced painting, now minus its canvas support, was placed face down on the hot table, with the Mylar still attached. Heat from the hot table was used to melt the wax-resin slowly. A loose Mylar sheet was then placed over the reverse of the painting. By means of gentle pressure with the fingers and cotton wads, the tented cleavage was reduced by working the tents outward from the center. The excess wax-resin that flowed out was absorbed with large cotton wads leaving a thin layer on the paint film. It was not possible to reduce the tents completely because the paint layers, having been tented for some time, had acquired a degree of plastic memory. Therefore, after cooling, the procedure was repeated by placing the painting face up on the hot table in a vacuum envelope. Once again, heat and the gentle pressure of the fingers and cotton wads were applied to the tents. The tents that remained were thus further reduced. The flexibility of the facing adhesive and the method of its application permitted expansion of the entire structure back to plane without paint film overlap.