Studio Six Art Conservation Blog

After The Auditions

2011-10-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

The 3 winners of the TEDxSMU Auditions were very solid choices. Belinda Baldwin, Jasmin Brand, and Will Clarke each demonstrated a well crafted comfort with the stage, and presented topics that were intriguing. Each topic could easily be expanded into longer in depth presentations.

Sarah Hodge has posted a complete recap of the evenings presentations. Thanks Sarah for doing that. I mentally missed half of the presenters while trying to calm down from my turn under the spot light.

Here is my totally self absorbed, center of the universe recap of the evening:

From the beginning I did this for the fun, and because it was my way of showing support for TEDxSMU. I have seen how sending out a Call To Artists can result in lack luster returns in both quality and quantity. Happily in this case, TEDxSMU did end up with over 50 applicants. Dallas does have a lot of engaging topics and dynamic people.

Each of the 13 presenters approached the microphone differently. Some had that envious natural ease, some followed learned presentation techniques, some approached it as a short performance, 3 minutes on the dot. And some, well 3 minutes can be a long time.

Personally, I followed the school of practice, practice, practice. I practiced until all my cats ran out of the house. Then I went down to the railroad bridge not to through myself off, but to practiced some more.

Reflecting back on my performance, I can see where the text lacked clarity, and where I verbally stumbled due to technical issues. Sense part of me seems to enjoy this form of punishment, maybe I should seriously educate myself in the art of public annunciation.

Tick Tock the TEDxSMU Auditions Clock

2011-10-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here is the itinerary for tonight's TEDxSMU Auditions. Thank god I"m not going last, but on the other hand, most of my friends are well known for running late...

Brad Ford Smith "What People Reach For When Things Fall Apart"

Christian Genco "Outsource Your Brain: Why Everyone Needs to Learn How to Program."

Golbahar Dadyan "Unlocking the Creative Genius: Living the Dream Circuit"

Jon Eric Fountain "Follow My Heels"

Will Clarke "Seeing Through The Haze: Why Do We Haze?"

RJ Daum "Wild Mustangs, Wild Life"

Short Break- music

Sean Springer "Making Good Product: Inspirations, Sensations and Values"

Stacy Cherones "Make Cafeterias Complete"

Jasmin Brand "What Ike Turner & Social Media Have in Common"

Belinda Baldwin "The Power of You"

Darren Collins "Disaster Relief Housing: A Clown's Perspective"

There will be a short intro of each speaker- just name and talk title.

Each speaker will only have 3 minutes. Anyone that goes over 3 minutes will be pulled off the stage, but in a fun way :)

Doors open at 6:00 and we will begin the program at 7:00. We will have one short break with live music by Kerri Arista. She will also perform at the end while we are counting ballots and the judges deliberate. A winner will be announced that night.

We strongly urge any additional guests buy their ticket online since we will only be selling tickets at the door if we don’t sell out before. Ticket link: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2042078913/mcivte

TEDxSMU Auditions

2011-10-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

On October 11th I'll be giving a short 3 minute presentation: What People Reach For When Things Fall Apart.

Its part of the TEDxSMU auditions, a chance to be part of the longer presentation/program in December, that's why it's only 3 minutes long. Each of the 13 presenters will have to boil down a 20 minute lecture into a short, concise teaser. Pretty hard when you love talking about your topic.

I'll be talking about how art conservators get a unique opportunity to see how people solve problems. There will be images of duct tape wrapped legs, Candle sticks tied up in red ribbon, pools of glue and of course lots of things nails but not really together.

I asked several members of the North Texas Association for Art Conservation (NTAAC) for photos to include in this presentation. Thanks Melanie at Textile Preservation Services of Texas, Tish at the Center for Art Conservation, and Cher at Art Restorations Inc, your contributions are wonderful.

The event is open to the public. You will help select who goes on to present in December.
More info and tickets click HERE

Rediscovering A Lost City

2011-09-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

This is the front panel of a wood wedding chest. Over the years the wood has shrunk and expanded with the variations in temperature and humidity. This is the nature of wood. Unfortunately when the surface is painted that paint tends to suffer. In this case the natural gesso and oil painted delaminated, leading to heavy loses to the painted design.

The delaminating paint was consolidated with Acryliod B72. The missing areas were then retouched with Rhoplex WS24, powdered pigments and Golden fluid acrylics. The retouching was limited to just the missing areas. None of the original design was painted over, and the treatment is also reversible.

Up Lifting View From Texas Museums

2011-08-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the 2011 Texas Association of Museum Conference. 3 days of lectures, group discussions and workshops with 388 people that work in museums from across the state, museums like the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, as well as hundreds of smaller historic museums, historic parks, historic houses, culture centers, libraries, and foundations.

Between the sessions a lot of the coffee talk was about the resent cuts to the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Texas Historical Commission, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife. That said, the overall atmosphere of the conference was upbeat, with sessions focusing on Do it yourself public relations, Developing partnerships and Resource building. A Yes this sucks, and it's going to continue to suck, so let's make the best of it attitude prevailed. I for one, came away invigorated by the commoratery and the positive problem solving attitudes.

Next year, the TAM conference with be in San Antonio, March 27-30th. I'll be participating as part of an Art Conservation roundtable. More on that next March.

Pinpoint Clamping

2011-04-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Not all objects are simple to put back together. There are bulges, curves, and pointy bits require special clamping consideration. Sometimes we have to create custom clamping blocks, or in this case, borrow a clamping technique used in the construction of violins.

A temporary weighted table is constructed. The curvy object like this bowl, is placed below. Long wood dowels are wedged between the table and the object.

Each dowel applies a slight pressure to a pinpoint area. As more dowels are added the pressure builds in volume and scope.

The Nature Of Hide Glue

2011-01-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

Hide glue is an animal based glue. It was the glue of choice for constructing furniture up to around 1930 when the synthetic glue polyvinyl acetate started to be used commercially. This table was originally designed and put together with hide glue.

I mention designed, because it was accepted by the industry that hide glue will hold up for about 50-60 years and then start to let go. The joins will become loose and the table will begin to wobble. This means the table needs to be knocked apart, the joins cleaned and reconstructed with a new application of hide glue. The furniture was designed to fall apart, in a good way.

So basically, every 50 years or so this table needs to spend a day at the spa.

Shooting Horses Is Not An Option

2010-10-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

This tragic scene of a new born foal suffering from two broken front legs just about brakes my heart.

Fortunately, using art conservation techniques the little pony can be saved.

Leading to complete recovery.

North Texas Association for Art Conservation NTAAC

2010-08-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you stuff a bunch of art conservators into a freight elevator? The first official meeting of the North Texas Association for Art Conservation (NTAAC).

Actually there has been an unofficial group of art conservators enjoying monthly lunches for a few years now. Melanie Sanford (second from the right) brought up the topic of formally organizing the group, that sparked the birth of NTAAC.

NTAAC is still in the early stages, no website, blog or Face Book page yet. Some of the topics that NTAAC is focusing on are: Brings together art conservators in North Texas for open discussions on issues pertaining to art conservation, Building a strong community network that can be accessed for emergency response to natural disasters such as floods and fires, and Coordinating community workshops on art conservation.

Thanks to John Campbell (4th head from the left), his conservation staff (left elbow, and 3rd from the right), and the Nasher Sculpture Center for hosting the August NTAAC lunch.

Replacing a Flat Screen TV with something Really Dramatic

2010-07-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

The recess above this fire place was originally built for a large screen TV, but as the client was moving furniture around in their new home they decided that sometimes you can have just to many TVs in your house. So they contacted Studio Six to transform this recess into a display area for their collection of Samurai practice swords.

The tan leather backing board floats in the recess with a 1" reveal all way around. The swords are securely suspended from notched, black lacquered metal posts. This method of display focuses all the visual impact on the swords. And the simple mounting method assures that if your castle happens to be attacked by a marauding horde, the swords can be removed from the display by just lifting them up off of the posts.

This is also true of the backing board. Simply lift it up to detach it from the pinch cleat, remove 4 screws from the wall cleat, and you are back to a TV ready recess.

There's something Icky in this Photo

2010-06-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

This is a drawer full of antique lead an zinc printing blocks. These types of blocks were commonly used in the printing of newspaper adds and business cards. As photographic printing technology advanced these acid etched and sometimes hand carved blocks were made obsolete. You can still find places that make them and use them, but for the most part these blocks have become collector items.

The icky thing in this photo isn't the big bug, it's the white medallion to the right of the bug. That is what lead looks like when it is degrading. It turns into a white crystalline powder that is very easily dispersed into the air.

Once air born it will contaminate every thing it touches. This not only includes other artifacts but people as well. It can be absorbed directly into your skin, through your eyes, mouth or breathed into your lungs. Lead poisoning is so scary that I recommend if you ever see white power on a metal object, stay away from it and have a professional come out and take the object away.

Touched by a Bouquet Flower

2010-05-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

This image shows a few of the tabletops that come into the studio every year. All have the same problem, damage due to leaking flower pots. In some cases, it's just a simple white ring that can be removed by reactivating the surface finish to release the trapped water vapors.

If there are signs of black in or around the water stain, there is a good chance that the water has completely penetrated the finish and has seeped into the wood. This is much more difficult to resolve without removing the original finish from the tabletop.

Then there are the times when the wood has become so saturated with water that it swells and splits, or the veneer curls up like potato chips. This damage can be fixed. It will take a lot of time, and most likely include the removal of the original finish from the tabletop. Most important, do not through away any of the loose or detach pieces.

In all of these scenario, the damage can happen quickly and dramatically in just a few hours, or it can happen so slowly that you don't notice it until one day...

Fabricating Missing Carving

2010-03-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

This is a detail of a carved wood base that is missing a 2 X 2 1/2 inch tree top. The tree top detached along two natural splits in the wood. This split can be seen in the branches to the right of the missing area.

After securing the splits with a flexible adhesive, a tinted epoxy putty was used as the replacement material.

The epoxy putty was carved to match the proportions of the surrounding carvings.

After refining, the fabricated are was in-painted to match the tone, color and sheen of the original surface. The splits on the surround branches were filled with a tined wax.

A Recommended Upgrade For Hanging Works of Art

2009-09-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

2 common types of anchors for hanging a painting:

Eye Screws and D-Rings.

At a 4th of July party, after consuming a wonderful dinner, all the guests were stretching their legs in the back yard when suddenly, from inside the house, there came a loud crashing boom. Everyone rushed inside and discover that the large gilt framed mirror hanging over the buffet had fallen from the wall, smashed into the buffet, crushing the cut crystal decanters, and then fell forwards to land on top of the dinning room table were the glass mirror exploded, scattering shards of glass from one end of the dinning room to the other.

WHAT HAPPENED- The method for hanging the mirror on the wall failed. In this case, the eye screws simply worked themselves free from the gilt wood frame.

Eye screws used in conjunction with a wire stretched between the 2 screws, is the most common/traditional method for hanging works of art such as paintings and mirrors. This method is in fact a combination of weak links, who's failure is one of the most common causes of damage to paintings and mirrors.

WHAT'S WRONG- First and foremost, using Eye Screws.

WHY- Eye Screws are single points of contact screwed into each side of the wood frame. Any single point of contact is a weak point. The eye screw is also usually screwed straight into the frame, so that when the wire is attached and the painting is hung on the wall there are 2 points of stress created in the wood around each of the eye screws. These stress points, combined with the natural shrinking and expansion of the wood, WILL cause the eye screws to work themselves out of the wood over time.

WHAT'S RIGHT- Dump the eye screws! Through them away! Never use them again! Tell all your friends! Use D Rings instead, preferably D Rings with 2 screw holes each, as shown in the photo above.

WHAT ELSE IS WRONG- The wire is typically a single strand that is tied to each of the eye screws.

WHY- All the wight of the work of art is resting on the structural stability of a single wire. Should this one wire break all is lost.

WHAT'S RIGHT- The wire should be a braided wire so the wight is dispersed across several wires at the same time. The wire should be twice the distance of the eye screws so that it can be folded in half and then tied to the eye screws, doubling the strength of the wire.

WHAT ELSE IS WRONG- Works of art are typically hung from a wire that has only one point of contact/anchor in the wall.

WHY- For any work of art that weighs over 5 lbs, there should be 2 points of contact with the wall. This spreads the pressure/weight of the painting across 2 points.

WHAT'S RIGHT- Use 2 anchors in the wall, and use a wall mounted picture hook instead of just a plain old nail stuck into the drywall. If the work of art weighs over 10 lbs DO NOT use wire. Instead hang the work of art directly from the D Rings onto the wall mounted picture hooks.

HOW TO USE D RINGS- Follow the WHAT'S RIGHT directions above.

*Pre-drill a small pilot hole for each of the screws. This will prevent the wood from splitting. Make sure you do not drill all the way though the frame.

*If you are using a wire, slant the D Rings towards the top, center of the frame. This will lessen the stress points in the wood caused by the wire.

*Lastly, Use wall mounted picture hooks that are appropriate for the size and weight of your work of art.

Saved from the Rubbish Heep

2009-07-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

On a resent bike ride I came across a pile of rubbish dumped next to the curb. Seeing that it was composed of a variety of eye catching items I had to stop and take a look. There I found 2 very old photo albums which I slid into my back pack. As I looked through them later that night I came across this page which has 3 photos of "Taft Speaking July 4th Celebration". It is amazing how moments of history can so easily vanish for ever.

Was Fixed Hall of Fame: Chair Leg

2009-06-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Here is an entry for the Was Fixed Hall of Fame. This is a close up photo of the back leg join from a very hansom oak arm chair, circa 1890.

This leg join has three kinds of glue on it, dried stripper, Four split wood dowels, four 3" long nails and five 3" long brads.

Here is the probable story of this chair.

It was originally constructed using wood dowels and animal skin glue. Over time the glue started to let go, this caused the chair to squeak when someone sat in it. To "fix" the squeaking, someone squeezed more glue into the loose joins, this acted like a wedge that helped to spread the joins further apart. Then someone added a few 3" large nails, which they pounded directly into the solid wood. This split the wood and caused more glue joins to fail. Later someone submerged the chair into a strip tank. This removed the painted finish that someone had applied to the chair and also filled the all the joins with paint stripper. With all the joins now loose the person refinishing the chair shot every join with enough 3" long brads to kill the squeaking.

All this chair ever needed was to be simply dismantled, cleaned, and then reconstructed with animal skin glue. Basically, a day at the spa.

Vermont Studio Center, Making the decision

2009-04-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

When I applied to the Vermont Studio Center way back in June of 2008, the economy and my life style were a bit different.

When I was granted a partial grant to attend VSC, it kind of through me for a loop. I knew I would go to VSC if I received a full grant to attend, and that I would apply to some other residency if I didn't get a grant. But it never occurred to me that I might receive only a partial grant, or that our family income this year would be cut by half.

So for the last few months I have been walking the fence. Should I go, or should I put off doing an artist residency for yet another year?

Well, the VSC deadline for the deposit is next week. I have been filling up pages with pros and cons, and having long talks with friends about the extended finical hardships that this month in the woods would create.

Then a patron of the arts, who will remain anonymous, made a generous donation to the Send BFS to VSC fund. So now the issue finances have been reduced to a less head pounding red beacon, and I can now focus on the art related merits of this a enterprise.

What do I want to accomplish with this opportunity? Well that answer is in the pages and pages of notes I have been generating for the last few months. Hopefully VSC will be just the place to flesh out some of those ideas.

Speaking at the Texas Library Association Conference

2009-03-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing on my portion for the presentation "You have a What? Preservation of the Unusual Objects in Your Collection."

This is one of the programs for the Texas Library Association 2009 Conference. I am presenting with Carol Roark who is the Archivist at the Dallas Public Library. The program is being hosted by Michelle Mears who is the Archivist at UNT.

I am speaking about the importance of knowing what your items are made from and on the effects of slow damage. That's a lot of info to cover in just 20 minutes. So lots of slides and quick talking.

There are some slides posted on my web site as well as a list of resources.

Was Fixed Hall of Fame: Plant Stand

2008-08-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

A client brought this marble top plant stand in to Studio Six Art Conservation. She got it from a friend of a friend. She thought it was pretty but a bit too wobbly. So we took a look to see what the problem could be. When I removed the marble top I saw these white squares sticking out from the four leg joins. Upon closer inspection I was dumbfounded to see that the plant stand was held together with velcro!

The Underside of Family History

2008-07-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

A client recently brought in a dinning room table that originally belonged to her Great Grandmother. It had been stored for years in a barn. The estate was dispersed and the farm was sold. The table was in very very bad shape, but the connection to family history was to strong to pass up. So the client brought it into Studio Six for restoration.

As the conservation report was being made, it was noted that the underside of the table (see photo) had lots of pencil scribbles and what turned out to be numerous globs of old crusty chewing gum.

After consulting with the client, it was determined that these artifacts were limited to an area where her Grandfather would have set as a child. The client decided not to remove these artifacts because they gave a very personal insight into the young life of her Grandfather.

Cows in the Class Room

2008-07-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Doss Heritage and Culture Center wins the prize for the most surreal experience of the month.

They made an appointment for Studio Six examine some recently donated items, four Longhorn Steer mounts and one Buffalo mount, to see if there were any signs of infestation. The Doss Center focuses on the history of Weatherford Texas, which has always been a big cow town, so having a few stuffed cows in the collection is what you would expect. What made it surreal was stepping into a classroom that was filled with cow heads. I laughed out loud.

TAM Metting 2008

2008-05-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

This was the third Texas Association of Museums meeting that I have attended. There is always loads of great lectures, but meeting and talking with people involved in museums and obsessed with history is the real joy of the meetings. This year the TAM meeting was held in Galveston, so the evening social events included h’orderves and wine at the Bishop’s Palace, Freeto pie at the Galveston Art Center, grilled shrimp at the Ocean Star Drilling Museum, and on the final night, dancing under the wings of B 52 bombers at the Lone Star Flight Museum. How can you not love history!