Teapot Repaired - Randall House Museum

August 19, 2014

I was asked to repair a broken teapot at Randall House museum after it had been broken in transit on a flight from Alberta.  A set of china had been carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and placed in a hard shell carry-on bag but, sadly, the teapot split into two large pieces.  The good news is that the break was relatively clean and given that they were larger pieces were easier to handle for repair.

I would recommend that china and other fragile artifacts be packaged in layers of foam and tightly secured in a hard shell case to avoid movement while being transported.   Foam can be carved to the shape of the artifact both on a bottom and top layer which can then be wrapped to prevent movement.

Firstly, a general statement - conservators are not restorers.  Restoring is a very specialized field requiring considerable training and experience.  For example, ceramics restoration would require a solid grounding in chemistry to understand glazing, painting, firing, and general analysis of the many materials used in creating a ceramic piece.  A restorer would fill cracks and do colour matching for the plain parts of the repair and the coloured parts.  Their work can usually produce results that would be able to render the break (fracture) invisible to the naked eye.  As you can imagine, this is a time consuming and expensive process and therefore is normally only undertaken where budget permits.

Secondly, conservators can do minor repairs such as putting this teapot back together without the crack filling and colour matching.  Conservation work is normally done with the caveat that the repairs are reversible and at least visible under a microscope.  These are ethical considerations in all conservation work.

Here is a photograph of the teapot prior to the repair work.

Randall House Teapot - before repair

Tools and materials used in this repair....exacto-knife, wooden skewer (sanded to a fine point), small soft brush, and HMG B72 adhesive.

Here are the steps I took in the repair of the teapot....

• photographs are taken before and after the work
• using a small, soft brush I carefully brushed along the break on both pieces over a sheet of paper to see if any smaller fragments came loose....none did....and to make sure no loose pieces would hamper fitting the larger pieces together,
• apply a minimum amount of conservation grade adhesive along the break,
• hold the pieces together for at least two minutes by hand in this case but larger clamps can be used in some cases.  The adhesive used is flexible for two minutes and then hardens allowing for minor adjustments.
• carefully remove excess adhesive with an exacto-knife all along the join, inside and out.  The knife is held at a very flat angle to just pick away without doing further damage.
• examine the join by moving the exacto-knife from side to side at various points along the break to determine the evenness of the join.  If necessary, the join can be reversed and redone if not satisfactory.  The adhesive used can be softened with a hairdryer at a low setting.

Here is a photograph of the teapot with the excess adhesive and a gap showing.  The break did have a very few of the gaps and was otherwise a very clean break.  The small and minimal bits of adhesive were carefully removed with the exacto-knife.

Randall House Teapot - before clean-up

With this repair done the teapot can be put in a display with proper lighting and placed in such a way that the break would be either not visible or essentially invisible.  The break and repair along with this description now become part of the history of the artifact.

Time Capsule Contents (Continued) - July 19, 2014

July 19, 2014

Handwritten Page 1 - enhanced

Perhaps the most important artifact in the Time Capsule from June 19, 1929 is the seven handwritten pages discussing the Kings County school at the time.  The title on the first page is Kentville Schools and there is no signature at the end which likely signifies it is a short history of the school rather than a personal account.  From the first paragraph mentioning a report from 1888 it captures our attention considering it may hold information from that time until 1929.  I have a photograph of the first page which will help to set the tone for future transcription and exhibit.  Our intent is to show these pages sealed in mylar envelopes to prevent deterioration.  Mylar is used because it is inert and has been proven to be safe for longer term storage and display.  Mylar is one of several choices (polypropylene bags being another) in comic book storage particularly for Golden or Silver Age comics but also for any truly valuable comics.  Either types of bags are clear so can be used for display purposes. However, polypropylene bags may yellow over a longer period of time so is not the best choice.  Additionally, we can keep each page in the mylar envelope with an acid free backing board to ensure that it will not bend.   It is best for these pages to be unfolded once only and stored flat which we have now done.  Repeated unfolding may damage them.  Think of them as fibrous material which may break from repeated bending.  These pages are currently stored unfolded, flattened and in acid free folders pending purchase of mylar envelopes (on order).  Displaying them in an exhibit in mylar envelopes can allow for viewing of the pages which will show the public the handwriting, fading, staining, etc. of the original.  These are all important parts of the history of the artifact. 

Handwritten Page 7 - enhanced

Transcription of all seven pages will be done.  As you can see by the photographs there is some fading along the right side and water damage in a few spots.  This next photograph shows the last page which will be a challenge to transcribe due to more serious fading from water damage.  However, with the use of image enhancement software we can attempt to bring out the more faded writing.  You can also see that there is no signature at the bottom.  This begs the question, who is the author?   

Inks used in writing from the time period as with many other inks will fade over time.  Direct sunlight is particularly damaging so these pages will be displayed and stored away in a carefully controlled low light setting for exhibit and stored in acid free boxes for longer term storage in a humidity and temperature controlled environment.

I mentioned in the last post that there are techniques to bring out faded writing.  There are two worth mentioning: ultraviolet light (UV-A light or black light) and infrared light.  Both are light at a longer wavelength and depending on the ink used each may work better.  Since ultraviolet is the easiest and lower cost we would normally try it first.  It is commonly used to authenticate oil paintings, antiques, and bank notes.  Infrared light is more challenging because it uses more expensive equipment in a special setting.  The phrase "infrared reflectography" is used for a technique that will show underlying layers in oil paintings such as drawings used as a guide by the artist.  I mention these for use with the handwriting on the inside corner of the time capsule lid and possibly for some of the faded writing in the handwritten pages if it is necessary.

Conservation Tips:

Use mylar envelopes for storage of fragile paper, pamphlets, etc.  You can purchase these in various sizes from comic book stores or on-line.  Although more expensive than polypropyline it is well worth the extra expense.  Measure your artifact first to determine the best size to use.  Note: modern comics are smaller than 8.5 by 11 standard page size so be sure to order the correct size.  Most comic stores (at least in my area) stock the modern comic size only.

Always keep fragile papers away from direct sunlight and strong lighting of any kind.   Light is particularly damaging to inks and some papers.  You can bring these artifacts out from time to time to look at them but minimize light exposure.  In a museum environment lighting may be set to come on when someone enters a room to view them or limited to only a few hours of viewing.

Roundhouse Objects Conservation June 18 2013

June 18, 2013

As conservation work on the Railway Roundhouse objects nears completion it was time to prepare the objects for storage.  The goal of proper storage is to:

•  stabilise the objects so they have no chance of rolling around and coming in contact with each other,
•  package them so that they will have minimal or no possibility of interaction with anything which may affect their condition (an example is off-gassing or other chemicals),
•  package them so that they can be moved short distances such as from on-site storage to exhibit or work rooms,
• label each box or storage container with the contents to facilitate ease of access.

With a bit of research and suggestions by the Senior Conservator, Chris Lavergne, at Nova Scotia Museums a product called ethafoam is recommended and most widely used in conservation.  It is strong, yet flexible and stable.  Here is a link to more information from a US supplier http://www.conservationresources.com/Main/section_10/section10_16.htm

It would be used by sizing it to fit in boxes and carved out to the shape of the object and fitted to reduce the chance of rolling around and getting damaged.  However, from a local supplier the price ranges from $70 to $90 per sheet of 2 feet by 4 feet and 3 to 4 inches thick.  This is out of the range of the budget for the museum at this time.  I suggested an alternative of using acid free paper scrunched up and wrapped around each object in a manner that would normally be done by moving companies when transporting household goods long distances.  The museum has a large supply of acid free paper that was donated some years ago.  I also suggested that we store the glass and ceramics in a separate box from the metals.  These alternatives were accepted by the curator.

Acid free paper on all sides, between objects, around objects

Exterior list of contents for ease of access

I started each box with a layer of scrunched up paper across the bottom and around the sides.  A flat layer of acid free paper separates each layer of objects.  Each object is carefully and completely wrapped up and then placed in the box with scrunched up paper between each object.  Although this is not an ideal solution it does fit the budget and the need.

Three "banker style" boxes were sufficient for this collection of nearly 40 objects.  However, the larger objects such as locomotive wrenches, large lamp on a pole, and the oil can are left unwrapped and unboxed and will simply be stored "as is" due to their size.