Two people load material into a weatherometer machine in a science laboratory

GCI project team members Herant Khanjian and Valerie Dorge installing the prepared paint films in the Atlas Weather-Ometer in the GCI scientific laboratories. The films were subjected to 12 weeks of artificial aging, simulating a museum environment.

An important objective of the project is to provide conservators with some recommendations to help them prepare gel formulations that will be the most effective in the process of cleaning surfaces or removing unwanted layers (varnish, overpaints, grime, etc.) with minimum risk to the surfaces.

Work Completed

  • Conservation Institute project team member Dusan Stulik with Richard Wolbers developed an initial methodology—a logic tree and test kit of cleaning materials—to help conservators design gel formulations for specific cleaning problems. A revised text of the methodology will be included in the publication.
  • Chris Stavroudis, private paintings conservator and participant in the 1998 painting cleaning experiment, field tested the initial logic tree and was developing a database software system to be provided to the field in the future.
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