Edith Holroyd - 'The Restaurant, 1924'

Woodcut engraving.

Conservation Treatment:

Unhinging: The print was carefully removed from a backing card.

Rinsing: The print was fully immersed in water.

Water draws out the soluble discolouration from the large fox marks. These fox marks disfigure looking at this interior.

Cleaning: A solution of Hydrogen peroxide was sprayed across a humidified print and left to air dry. This was repeated a number of times until the fox marks were less noticeable.

Second Rinse: The print was rinsed again to remove any remaining discolouration and residue of the Hydrogen peroxide.

Pressing: The print was humidified and pressed between clean blotters and a weighted board.

" Thanks so much for this Suzanne – and thanks SO much for doing such a fabulous job on them all. They look absolutely wonderful! x"

French Poster - 'Artist - Unknown'

Conservation Treatment:

Unhinging: Removal of packaging tape from the top margin.

Surface Cleaning: Used a smoke sponge to pick up any fresh mould from the recto and verso of poster.

Repairs: There was a paper loss in the top margin and in the bottom right corner. These areas were filled in with paper and retouched using pastels.

Pressing: The poster was humidified and pressed between clean blotters and a weighted board.:

" Thanks so much for this Suzanne – and thanks SO much for doing such a fabulous job on them all. They look absolutely wonderful! x"

The wall where this watercolour was hanging got thoroughly wet by an upstairs leak created by a washing machine. It remained hanging on the wall whereas all framed artwork should have been taken off the wall to be air dry or unframed. It was left on the wall for 6 weeks and being in its microclimates behind glazing the mould grew on the recto as well as the verso.

The flood water cleaned the area within the horseshoe shape of the mould and this horseshoe tied-mark was made stronger by the discolouration that was shifted by the water leak.

The treatment commenced with un-framing the water colour, gently hoovering away the furry coloured mould from the recto and verso and then the watercolour began its treatment on a vacuum table where it was sprayed with deionised water followed by a solution of hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and deionised water. The horseshoe line had local applications of the hydrogen peroxide solution but the risk was the mould having weakened the paper and further cleaning with hydrogen peroxide could create the watercolour paper to tear.

A final rinse was carried out on the vacuum table to remove any hydrogen peroxide residue. The watercolour was repressed before retouching and the tracing of the white spray of the seascape provided a guide for the white highlights. The horseshoe discolouration, although reduced, was masked further by applying pastel across this embedded tideline.

This watercolour shows how the brown discolouration can mask the colour pallet that the artist used.

A common disfigurement of works of art on paper is discolouration caused by daylight and indoor lighting, as well as the mount that, in this case this watercolour was pasted to two layers of mount's .

Watercolours are liked because of the luminosity of the media. Discolouration from sun light and being pasted to a mount masks this luminosity.

After de-mounting the watercolour went through the usual rinsing processes that was carried out on the vacuum table. Repeated applications of water as well as the solution of the hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and deionised water was sprayed across the recto. The watercolour was left to dry to see how much of the discolouration was moving out of the watercolour sheet.

With the owner's encouragement to continue to reduce the discolouration, I continued the wet treatment as well as locally applying the solution of hydrogen peroxide to the orange lines within the outer margins of the watercolour.

The client and the conservator were both very pleased with the results obtained.

Name: Spanish film posters who were once in a house in India

Media: Silkscreen on thin poster paper

Conservation:

• Posters were glued to sheets of stiff board

• Although Spanish they had been in India

• Indian insects ate the paper but not the silkscreen

• This group of posters were relined on Japanese paper.

Name: Chinese fan

Media: Two layers of coloured paper pasted to the rods of a fan

Conservation:

• Fan in original case was not easily opening and closing

• Previous repairs restricted the opening and closing were removed

• All tears repaired as invisibly as possible

• All the leaves of the fan could easily open and close with care

• Both sides of this fan could be viewed.

This image has been photographed on a light table so as to capture the laid paper and the watermarks.

This example shows a very disfigured drawing of a man and ends with a portrait that can be re appreciated.

Colour screen print

Joan Miro, titled "Festa Major"

Mounting material can either 'dull' the image or it can stain the paper, as in this example.

This example also shows that a previous fashion to mount prints can be reversed and that now the print can be float mounted, and all the edges of the sheet and its signature can be viewed.

Painted Figurines, for a Ballet Rambert dance entitled: Colour Moves, 1983. Choreographer was Robert North with backdrops by Bridget Riley.

The display of this collection of machetes is in a glass vitrine with glass shelves. Small magnets are used to stop them from falling over, which is less intrusive than being 'stuck down'.

The dancers' hands or necks were reinforced with thin strips of Japanese paper as well as any delaminating card was re-pasted back together.

Name: Bridget Riley’s card models of dancers

Media: Poster paint on mount board

Conservation:

• This project was referred to ‘housekeeping’ meaning any card that was delaminating was re secured and any arms that had been creased were reinforced before being put into a display cabinet

• Tiny circular magnets were used to keep these little models standing in the cabinet.

Name: View of Odessa’s coast line

Media: Pencil

Conservation:

• This drawing showed tell tale signs of being kept under a stash of other papers and the edges were receiving dust settling from the air

• It is a view of Odessa coast line and mostly across the bottom margin are notes by the artist

• After treatment the drawing is not masked by surface or inner discolouration; it is easier to read the inscriptions and no risk to other parts of bruised margins from being lost.

Name: View of St James's Park, London

Artist: Johannes Kip

Media: Varnished etching of 12 sheets of paper

Conservation:

• This project is called full conservation treatment

• Most important is working with colleagues; having the appropriate work spaces and equipment; patience and understanding from the client who had bought this work from a country house attic sale

A varnished print transformed by the varnish being removed; the cheap hessian lining being removed; every fragment of whatever size re used and a stunning piece to reframe.

19th Century watercolour

Name: Canadian Landscape

Media type: Watercolour on paper

Conservation:

• Period framing from the recto (front)

• Period framing from the verso (back)

• Verso shows tell tale signs for watercolour to be unframed; replace backing card and backing wood

• Thin wood expands and contracts which then allows dirty air to pass through the splits, no matter how narrow. The dirty air spreads and this can mirror staining the image as well as general discolouration across the watercolour. Discolouration masks the colours of the watercolours.

Backing removal revealing a letter on the verso

Media: Gouache or another type of paint.

Conservation:

• Drawing comes in on typical Indian backing board – thick multi layered card

• Began to remove this layered card and revealed a letter in ink from top to bottom

• Now this drawing is a double sided drawing with a personal letter providing a link between the drawing or the artist was recycling paper and used a received letter.

Name: Sir John Lawrence, BT

Media: Watercolour on thick watercolour paper, pencil and leaving the white of the paper

Conservation:

• 0_3 is before treatment 0_3a is the after treatment with far less fox marks across the image. 0_3b detail of fox marks across the watercolour

• shows layers of card before reaching verso of watercolour.

Name: Ben Nicholson

Media: Pencil with deliberate staining with a his style of decoration for a mounting board and framed

Conservation:

• When viewing the art work is the discolouration across the centre deliberate or other staining? Important to remind oneself of the oeuvre of the artist’s work. Nicholson did stain some of his drawing deliberately

• Removal of many hinges and tacky + granular adhesive from the verso and the backing board itself

• Drawing was still rinsed to remove any soluble acidity that became accrued there.

Name: Unknown

Media: Etching

Conservation:

• Heavily discoloured print across the whole sheet

• Tried vacuum rinsing and then further rinsing with immersion

• Was bleached to obtain white colour of paper, before re pressing.

Name: Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson

Media: Lithograph

Conservation:

• Lithograph printed on very thin paper was pasted to the backing card and its window mount was pasted to all four margins. Long period of time spent removing the card and adhesive to both sides of the print

• Tried to reduce the discolouration within the margins, but the stain remained

• Due to the thinness of the paper I didn’t want to intervene further.

Name: Indian drawing

Media: Pen and ink

Conservation:

• This drawing after surface cleaning had a number of paper infills trimmed to size

• 13_a shows an unmatched attempt where the white of the infill paper stands out

• 13_b shows completed work on paper. The infills are a slightly lighter colour than main sheet of paper.

UNKNOWN

Name: Unknown 19th century

Media: Coloured lithograph’s

Conservation:

• ‘Orange Mat Stain’ on both shows when the bevel of the mount turns to orange it can leave a stain on the art work, as well as the margins of the art work showing discolouration there

• No concrete plans.

Name: Graham Rust’s drawings of St James’s Palace, London.

Media: Watercolours

Conservation:

• These two drawings are in a private home and are cherished as it was a place where the owner lived as a child

• By unframing the drawings one could see the extent of fading from the darker lines and washes on the very edge of the margins. A conservator is unable to replicate these darker tones

• I strengthened the architectural lines within the faded aperature so when looking at either drawing the viewer can have a more harmonious experience in looking at such draughtsmanship of the artist

• The pair of drawings were re framed with conservation quality mount which still overlapped the edges and put back in their matching frames

• Photo 0_9d is near my office and I did go and stand at the same viewing point as one of the drawings.

Name: Coloured print

Media: Linocut

Conservation:

• With most printmaking media’s (other than Japanese woodblock prints) are safe to immerse in water. Water refreshes the paper fibres as well as lets the invisible chemistry of Hydrogen bonds ‘draw out’ the soluble discolouration within the fibres that make the sheet of paper

• Tray shows the amount of discolouration rinsed out. It is this discolouration which masks the colours or watercolour nuances of a work on paper

• With this linocut the discolouration is mostly due to the poor quality mount used to frame this print, and the mount darkened the margins of the sheet of paper.

Name: Paul Nash

Media: Woodcut

Conservation:

• This print although small in size had a large paper clip left across its right margin

• This print was disfigured from the rust and fox marks across the sheet

• The rust was reduced and contained and the print was rinsed and fox marks reduced

• This print was found loose in a book in a charity shop.

Name: Candle wall sconce design by Damian Sanet

Media: Orange watercolour with pencil and white and grey crayons

Conservation:

• This large drawing was in three sections and had not had any protective mount for a long time

• Paper had become brittle

• Tears especially along the spine and edges were repaired; the three sections were re aligned and lined to a sheet of Japanese paper.

Name: George Rowe, Diggings near Ararat

Artist is George Rowe. Circa 1858

Media: Watercolour with gouache and gum Arabic on one sheet of paper being 6 foot wide

Conservation:

• Project was “sight unseen” until it arrived

• Size of watercolour measurements: 63 x 186.5cm

• Pasted to a board as well as being heavily discoloured

• Backing was mechanically removed

• Removing the discolouration was via blotter washes followed by rinsing and bleaching on a vacuum table

• Retouched the gum Arabic which lessened during the rinsing.

Name: Portrait by Oliver Messel, Caribbean Islands

Media: Oil paint on paper

Conservation:

• Is this a varnished painting that has discoloured or restoration over the entire painting?

• I teamed up with a painting conservator who lifted away the restoration to reveal a more painterly hand

• Also revealed was worm damage and paper losses to fill in.

This project, few can all be thankful that the ethics, training and moral consciousness has improved. There are less restorers and more Accredited Conservators in every field, even formaldehyde to provide preservation in medical college collections and Damian Hirst glass enclosures.

Name: Scenes from India, bound in a western-styled album made in India.

Media: Gouache on Mica

• Removed each Mica painting

• Album went to a book conservator

• Surface cleaned Mica recto and verso avoiding the painted image

• Chose not to do any corner infills

• Used clear photo corners to mount each Mica above each inscription

• Beneath each image is a handwritten inscription in pen and ink