How do you clean an old painting?
CPoul76283
any tips would be greatly appreciated. thanks
-Chuck
Tygrtyger
Please do not do this. If this painting means anything
to you at all, leave it alone.
This is a lot like painting your car.
Could you paint
your own car?
This a job best left to professionals.
You may hear some stories about
rubbing it with Wonder Bread
and God knows what else.
But, hey, it's your picture.
You can do what you want with it.
t
Ronnie McKinley
On 25 Jul 1997 16:42:47 GMT, in rec.antiques cpoul...@aol.com
(CPoul76283) wrote:
>any tips would be greatly appreciated. thanks
>
>-Chuck
Same way as any other antique/collectible object ...... with care and
the help of an expert.
DON'T listen to old wives tales ............... take it to someone
that knows their job.
mcki...@netcomuk.co.uk
http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~mckinley/index.htm
==============================================
On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia
==============================================
Carl Ratner
In article <19970725164...@ladder02.news.aol.com>
cpoul...@aol.com (CPoul76283) writes:
>From: cpoul...@aol.com (CPoul76283)
>Subject: How do you clean an old painting?
>Date: 25 Jul 1997 16:42:47 GMT
>any tips would be greatly appreciated. thanks
Please consider taking the painting to a professional conservator for
cleaning. Anything that you do yourself is likely to harm it. Paintings are
much more vulnerable to permanent damage than most other kinds of
antiques.
-- Carl
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To reply just delete the hyphen in art-deco.
John B
In article <19970725195...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, Tygrtyger
<tygr...@aol.com> writes
value it may have.
--
John B
Susan Germain
In article <ceP8dDAC...@huncote.demon.co.uk>, John B
<Jo...@huncote.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Listen to the good advice. Don't do it yourself. You could destroy any
> value it may have.
Yes. I've had to tell customes their paintings were unrestorable after
finding out the reason the paint is so faint is they cleaned it with
"WINDEX"! (someone told them to)
Ahhhhhh!!!!
Susan
Craig1708
Call the American Institute for Conservation for a refferal 202.452.9545
**************************************************************************
Craig Deller
The Deller Conservation Group Ltd
Geneva, Illinois
USA
crai...@aol.com "Conservators make it last longer"
http://home.aol.com/DELLERCON
***************************************************************************
Carla Owen
CPoul76283 wrote:
>
> any tips would be greatly appreciated. thanks
>
I certainly can see rationale for having cleaning professionally done.
But sometimes one is willing to take the risk of trying something
oneself. My folks are long time antiquers, and they have used a product
called Cotton Cleanser to clean paintings. I may not have the spelling
correct. Gentleness is certainly in order. Carla
Michael Dougherty
This will probably gross the novices out :) but the best way to clean an
oil painting is plain old spit... If a varnish layer needs to be
removed or other more techinal and involved work done, I really advise a
professional. Artists used so many different types of paint, varnish,
supports etc... you can't possibly hope to know how to properly care
your art without a little expert guidance (it's just too complicated :)
When I did framing etc..., someone was always bringing in a 'quick fix'
that had gone very wrong very quickly. You just can't take a single
commercial product and apply it to everything - what about residue from
the cleaner, reactions, accidently 'melting' and pulling out big chunks
of surface (oops...) etc...
Good Luck,
LAPD
Bettyc
after reading many of these responses, I can only hope you don't really
like any of the paintings you are about to clean in so many ways-
1) identify the medium before anything is done
-organic cleaners like potatoes or rolled-up white bread are well and
fine but can change the acidity of works on paper
-cleaning with spit would be bad for watercolor or gouache painting,
even some early acrylic painting if airbrushed which are delicate
enough that any kind of rubbing will damage the painting (meaning
smearing it or rubbing off the paint)
2) if you aren't knowledgeable about identifying mediums, take it to
someone who is.
-even some of the old master paintings were not painted with the best
materials and these can and will rot all by themselves-Maxfield parrish
used fugitive paints and darkening varnishes on his originals for
reproduction (not neccessarily his murals) and these are currently
almost unrecovereable. Any fixes an amateur can try are only going to
make things worse. A profesional appraiser can tell you if it's worth
your time (cheap) or a professional's time (pricey) to clean the piece.
If it's a nostalga piece (like folk art), the dirt and patina may add
more to it's worth than having a clean version of the same thing.
--
Betty Cunningham
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Michael Dougherty
Bettyc wrote:
>
> -cleaning with spit would be bad for watercolor or gouache painting,
> even some early acrylic painting if airbrushed which are delicate
> enough that any kind of rubbing will damage the painting (meaning
> smearing it or rubbing off the paint)
I can't imagine who would be silly enough to actually try to clean a
watercolour or gouache with spit - but it's probably worth warning
people just in case...
> 2) if you aren't knowledgeable about identifying mediums, take it to
> someone who is.
> -even some of the old master paintings were not painted with the best
> materials and these can and will rot all by themselves-Maxfield parrish
> used fugitive paints and darkening varnishes on his originals for
> reproduction (not neccessarily his murals) and these are currently
> almost unrecovereable. Any fixes an amateur can try are only going to
> make things worse. A profesional appraiser can tell you if it's worth
> your time (cheap) or a professional's time (pricey) to clean the piece.
> If it's a nostalga piece (like folk art), the dirt and patina may add
> more to it's worth than having a clean version of the same thing.
>
I always advise speaking with your local museum before having _any_
conservation work done. They do not have a monetary stake in what you
may or may not have and you can almost always be sure they will know
what the heck they are doing. I really hate to treat fine art like a
collectible - no matter how 'cheap' it is, art always has a value beyond
whatever current price tag an appraiser might decide it is worth that
month. I only buy artwork that I personally like, and will gladly pay
to preserve (even if it isn't a filthy Watteau :) I'm not a dealer, so
I have no idea what criteria they use before picking up a piece - any
input?
LAPD