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Here is some of the logic behind art restoration
How fine art paintings age and become soiled:
A fine art painting, whether it is an oil or acrylic, on canvas or board, varnished or unvarnished, will attract dust, moisture and atmospheric aerosols like a magnet, as does almost any other hard surfaced item in the home. Atmospheric interior aerosols are the main culprits that do the most damage, and included in these are volatile organic compounds, otherwise known as VOC's. It's not so much as the dust that matters, it's more about the concern of indoor particulate contaminants, and every home has them to a greater or lesser degree. Today we use a myriad of cleaning agents and other chemical compounds in the home that could also have an effect on everything they touch, including your art and even your health.
Over time, minute layers of these indoor pollutants build up on a painting's surface. With the continual change of the seasons and humidity levels, these built up layers tend to solidify into a glazed coating that, ever-so-slowly can damage unvarnished works and darken the look of a painting, eventually diminishing its value.
It's at this point that professional cleaning and restoration is the best way to go with a painting, as opposed to an amateurish attempt which has the potential to cause expensive foolhardy mistakes and many regrets.
How hand-pulled prints age and develop damage:
The atmospheric aerosols that cause damage to the surface of paintings, to some extent, also affect framed and glass covered prints. Except in the case of hand-pulled prints, the damage most often tends to originate from within. Being covered in glass will protect the print initially from exterior contaminants, but what's often more important in reference to preservation is the use of proper materials employed in the matting and backing of the print itself.
Many older, vintage hand-pulled prints, be it an etching or aquatint, woodcut or lithograph, are often mounted-on or matted with wood-pulp based materials. Wood based materials emit acidic vapours, that over time can cause orange or brown coloured staining on the print; this is referred to as 'acid-burn'. To best protect your valuable print, it should be matted and backed with archival 'rag content' acid-free materials.
Foxing, mould and water staining are other problems that can develop on framed hand-pulled prints. Mould is quite understandable but the causes of foxing are not so well understood. One theory is that foxing is caused by a fungal growth on the paper. Another theory is that foxing is caused by the effect of oxidation of iron, copper or other substances within the pulp or rag, from which the paper was made. It is possible that multiple factors are involved, plus humidity will almost always contribute in some way to foxing, discolouring and staining. The results of these detrimental factors though are all reversible through a cleaning, bleaching and deacidification process by a qualified technician.
When it comes to fading on a print, unfortunately not much can be done concerning this type of damage, as nothing can restore the colour vibrancy of an artist's hand-pulled print... this damage is always permanent.
During the print cleaning process we use a uniquely filtered type of water:
- Before the print cleaning process begins, the water used comes from a normal tap, but it is water softened to remove desolved limestone.
- Then it is filtered through activated carbon to remove any chlorine residue.
- It is then reverse osmosis filtered (R.O.F).
- Ozone bubbles are then added to prevent bacterial growth.
- Lastly it passes through an ultraviolet light treatment to insure no other bacteria is present.
- Only now is this water ready for the print cleaning process to begin.
