Vows

this video is brought to you by surfshark secure your digital life and gain private access to the open internet vows oaths pledges commitments throughout our lives we all make them and whether it's the vows to a partner that this bride made on her wedding day or that which we may make to a business or even a country these commitments help us understand how we're supposed to behave and when there is doubt they provide a framework for us to fall back on as a conservator i too take an oath actually 13 of them and as we follow along the conservation of this beautiful slovakian bride we'll take a closer look at those oaths i've made to this painting my vows you know people aren't the only ones who can make vows and though it sounds silly it's anything but surf shark knows that and they're different from other vpns because they've made a vow to protect you take your credit card for instance we all shop online and our credit card numbers end up in places where they shouldn't well surfshark will monitor to see if your credit card has been exposed and then tell you what type of data was compromised so that you can protect yourself and surfshark is pretty great because one subscription allows you to install it on an unlimited number of devices and they have an app for just about everything pc mac linux android ios smart tvs amazon fire stick apple tv chrome firefox xbox and playstation so check out surfshark.deals restoration and enter the promo code restoration for get this 83 off and an extra three months for free i mean you're basically stealing it from them the way that this and every project begins is with a thorough examination and documentation it doesn't take much looking at this painting to realize that it is in very poor condition there is flaking paint well pretty much everywhere the painting has also been lined which tells me that this was an attempt to correct the flaking but clearly it didn't solve the problem the flaking could have been a result of water damage or moisture exposure or other mistreatment or mishandling i don't know exactly that information wasn't provided to me suffice it to say it's here and we have to do something about it in addition whenever there is this much flaking and the painting has been conserved in the past we have to assume that there is a lot of retouching and some of it we can see clearly with our naked eye the color has changed over time but with a uv examination we get a better idea of just how extensive the retouching was all of those dark spots are retouching and some more that are a little harder to see some of this may be necessary some of it may not be some of it may be good and some of it may be well excessive but i'm going to document everything that i find here and make a permanent record of it in addition when i begin testing the painting to discover what kind of varnish and surface grime and retouching medium was used i'll document that as well i'm going to make a series of tests to determine just what solvent mixtures and solutions i'll need to conserve this painting and i'll keep those notes for when i do the work in addition i'll make photographic documentation of the test squares to send to my client before work so they can get an idea of just what the painting will look like and as i make one of those test windows well we can see that though this painting isn't profoundly dirty just removing a slightly yellowed varnish reveals a range of colors that well they're worth seeing and all of this first phase of the conservation brings us to article 7 of the code of ethics the conservation professional shall document examination scientific investigation and treatment by creating permanent records and reports and so i'll create a proposal which has all of the information that i've gathered and submit that to my client now once the proposal is approved i can begin with the actual work and for this painting it all begins with the stabilization of the paint surface itself which as you saw was in a perilous state i'm heating up some fish gelatin and i'm going to face the painting with washi cozo and this brings me to article 2 of the code of ethics all actions of the conservation professional must be governed with an informed respect for the cultural property its unique character and significance and the people or persons who created it simply put everything i do needs to be in accord with the importance of this piece and whomever created it basically i need to do everything in my power to make sure that this piece is treated respectfully and i'm using small squares of washi cozo here because the paint surface is really textured you can see areas are actively lifting up and the small squares allow me to embed the paper in and around the surface so it really conforms to that irregular surface and will make sure there's a good bond and that all of that paint is held in place and while the fish gelatin is drying let's talk about article number four the conservation professional shall practice within the limits of personal competence and education as well as within the limits of the available facilities in short don't get out in front of your skis in my initial discussions with my client they expressed some reservations about removing the lining as it would add significant cost to the project and i had to inform them that according to article 3 while recognizing the right of society to make appropriate and respectful use of cultural property the conservation professional shall serve as an advocate for the preservation of cultural property required me to encourage them to do everything possible to preserve this painting including removing the lining now when it comes to the lining canvas i have a lot to say and i'm going to hit a lot of points pretty quickly initially i had made some tests and discovered that the lining canvas was saturated with rabbit skin glue leading me to believe that that was the adhesive used well of course it's not it's contact cement and despite all of my efforts there is no way that i'm going to be able to separate this lining canvas from the painting mechanically so i have to do it chemically and this brings me to article 12 the conservation professional shall practice in a manner that minimizes personal risks and hazards to co-workers the public and the environment hence the crazy respirator you see i have to use a highly toxic solvent to break down the contact cement so my doors are locked my hvac system is on and running full blast i am well protected and now i can begin now it should come as no surprise that the use of contact cement is bad verboden almost criminal and it goes directly against article number six the conservation professional must strive to select methods and materials that to the best of current knowledge do not adversely affect cultural property or its future examination scientific investigation treatment or function in no universe on no planet is contact cement and appropriate material for use on paintings it never has been and it never will be and so the use of it here is just incredibly problematic and it tells me that whoever worked on this painting simply wasn't aware of any code of ethics or didn't care now it would seem logical that at this point in the process i would have stopped and contacted my client and had a hard and frank discussion about my ability interest or really desire to continue doing this given the exposure to toxic materials and how difficult removing this contact cement is but at no point during that conversation did i ever consider not doing it you see even though this is miserable and incredibly time consuming and effectively saps any profit from this project article 5 informs me that while circumstances may limit the resources allocated to a particular situation the quality of work that the conservation professional performs shall not be compromised and for me not to do this to remove this contact cement at least in my mind would be a big compromise in the quality of my work i would be knowingly leaving a material on a painting that was harmful and inappropriate and for that i'd be culpable now the process of removing this contact cement requires that i saturate a piece of felt with that solvent and then i press it while it's under a piece of p-e-t film so that the highly evaporative solvent has enough time to work if done correctly and this takes about 15 minutes well the contact cement softens up and then i can scrape it off with a scalpel but literally the minute i take off the pet film and the felt the contact cement starts hardening up and rebonding to the canvas so i have to act quickly the process of removing all of this contact cement in two by three inch squares took the entire day that's right eight hours working on one painting but it was necessary and worth it because now the canvas is free of contact cement and i can proceed with a normal course of action and now on to the hot table where i'm going to treat the painting to remove the planar distortions the bumps the waves and the ripples in the canvas but i'm also going to use the application of heat moisture and pressure to soften the size and the canvas and hopefully bring the flaking paint down and re-bond it to the original canvas with the canvas's original size so once the painting is up to temperature i'll turn the vacuum pump on extract the air and then let the pressure do its thing now i'm going to use a veneer roller a bone folder and eventually a piece of balsa wood where there's more impasto because the balsa wood will deform rather than gouging the paint layer and these are all just tools to help press down the paint layer now once the hot table treatment is done i can prepare the canvas for aligning and it needs it because there are areas where the canvas is threadbare that tan yellow area is the actual ground layer the canvas is missing and i'm applying a fill in medium here because the thickness of the canvas while not very thick is enough to create a divot that is when i put the painting on the hot table and flip it face up and apply pressure well there will be a little void where the canvas is missing and the vacuum pump and pressure downward on the paint layer will force the paint layer into that little void and we'll have a divot manifest on the front of the painting something that we don't want so simply filling in the gap with this medium allows the painting to have a smooth and flush surface on the back which will manifest a smooth and flush surface on the front which is what we want now here's another example of article 12. you know the one about health and safety in action i created this collapsible spray room so that i could use varnishes adhesives in a contained area and exhaust the fumes out of the studio to protect not only myself but anybody else who happens to be in the studio at the time now i'm putting a piece of flat spun nylon gossamer on this canvas and this is because this lining will not have an interleave there's no rigid pet film going in between the two pieces of canvas and the two pieces of canvas are of different weights and i don't want to run the risk that the canvas textures interacting creates a pattern that then manifests itself on the front of the painting so this matrix will help reduce that effect once the adhesive is dry i can begin removing the excess gossamer and preparing the painting for its lining and this brings up a perfect opportunity to talk about something that has absolutely nothing to do with what you are seeing right now and that is article 10. the conservation professional should contribute to the evolution and growth of the profession a field of study that encompasses the liberal arts and the natural sciences this contribution may be made by such means as continuing development of personal skills and knowledge sharing of information and experience with colleagues adding to the profession's written body of knowledge and providing and promoting educational opportunities in the field now that is a pretty broad menu from which a conservator can choose and deliberately so you see i'm not a researcher so i don't write many papers in fact the thought of having to write a paper sends chills on my spine but i do communicate with other conservators via instagram via email phone call or in person when possible and we share tips and tr techniques i have published the plans to build that hot table in the back online giving it away for free so that every conservator can build their own instead of being forced to buy one because they're really expensive and beginning conservators may not have the resources to have this valuable piece of kit in addition i've helped other conservators build their own versions of the clampinator and anytime that i can assist another conservator in a project maybe it's one they've seen me execute on youtube i am more than happy to do so conversely anytime i can borrow or steal from another conservator or professional in any field well you bet i'll do it and some of the best tips and techniques and tricks that i've picked up have come from people outside of the field of conservation things that i've adapted to my own work now with the painting successfully lined and yes i know i glossed over all of the steps during the lining process but come on frankly you folks could probably recite back to me all the steps that i did at this point and if you're curious there are plenty of other examples where i do go into depth about the lining process but now i have to remove the facing that beautiful washi cozo that was adhered to the painting with fish gelatin to make sure that no paint was lost during the removal of the lining and that's a pretty critical step because you can imagine if i didn't do this and the paint was unstable and i lifted it off the table and half the paint stayed on the table well that would be an unequivocal disaster now the only problem with this washi cozo is that when it gets wet it kind of disintegrates it turns into mush and it really melts which is great for contouring around texture on the painting but not so great when you're trying to remove it that said i've done this a few times so i'm well versed in how to remove the washi cozo slow and steady with a lot of patience and a lot of breaks now going over the painting with a damp shop towel to remove any fish gelatin excess some of the red paint is coming up but i'm not concerned and you'll find out why in a minute now one of the best parts of any conservation process is cleaning the painting getting all of that grime and old varnish off so that i can see what the artists saw when they completed the work but it's also kind of nerve-wracking particularly on a painting like this where it's been so poorly treated contact cement because i just don't know what i'm gonna find and i suspect based on my visual examination that there is going to be a lot of retouching so removing all of this yellowed varnish while it's really exciting to see the beauty of the colors underneath it's also revealing just how much retouching there is and you know that's kind of a bummer not only because it's a ton of work to retouch but it means the painting's been really damaged and compromised and i can put it back together but i'd rather see that the painting was well treated and well cared for now with the left half of her dress clean we can see just how different she's going to look and you can see a little test window that i made right above my hand on her skin she is not jaundiced she is actually a very healthy young bride and as the varnish comes up the uniform layer of yellow well it vanishes and reveals some really beautiful skin tones and this natural resin varnish degrades over time there is really nothing to be done we know that and now we have better materials and as i finish up with her neck and move on to her face well it is the same story that thin layer of slightly yellowed varnish is coming up and revealing a really radiant woman somebody who was striving to look really beautiful on a really important day and i'm happy to see that underneath it she truly is now i always love to leave the eyes for last whenever i'm cleaning a painting and that's not only because they can be delicately painted and deserve a little bit more care and attention but also because these are the eyes and we focus on them and there's a poetry in me finally removing all of the varnish and seeing her and maybe her seeing me now one thing you'll notice is that the removal of the varnish didn't take any of the retouching and that's because the retouching was executed with a water-based medium watercolor gouache tempra and so i need to use well water to remove it and as you can see it comes up pretty easily now this is a fairly common technique to do retouching in a medium that is different than varnish that ensures that the varnish can be removed without the retouching medium coming off but in this case i'm finding lots of retouching and you can see that even before i remove it well it wasn't good retouching the color wasn't matched the content wasn't matched it was just kind of blurred over and disguised and that's not a retouching technique that's just sloppy and here again in the eyes you can see just how crude the retouching was so i'm going to remove it because of course i can do better and this is just bad now luckily it's water-based and it comes off really easily i don't have to use any harsh chemicals or any aggressive scraping and so for that reason i'm not exactly angry more just bummed that there's so much of it and as i begin the process of filling in all of the losses i will take this opportunity to segue into another article of the code of ethics that has nothing to do with what you're seeing right now and that's article number nine the conservation professional shall act with honesty and respect in all professional relationships seek to ensure the rights and opportunities of all individuals in the profession and recognize the specialized knowledge of others and that one sounds pretty obvious but i take it to mean don't be a jerk but more so don't close a gate or pull up a ladder that is if there's a person who needs mentorship mentor them if somebody asks a question provide an answer if you have a question ask one this is a field that depends on collegiality cooperation and a general good will towards others for everything is built upon the work of somebody else nothing is new if a new technique is developed it has been informed by old techniques if a new material is developed it's on the back of somebody else's work and understanding our roles in a continuum is absolutely critical nobody is better or more important than another person and it's incumbent upon us not to treat others with disrespect or to make their lives their work more difficult we should strive to be equal to each other to share knowledge to seek out experts when we need them and to generally have a profound respect for those with whom we work i know i'm sounding a little philosophical here but it's a pretty good rule to live by i think one that we should all consider in our daily lives now you notice that i was using a cut up sponge and a piece of felt there and that's because i want to remove some of the excess and get a really smooth surface because this painting is really smooth and long time ago i saw a master plasterer use a piece of felt to smooth out a ceiling to remove any signs of texture differences that would catch the light and you know what i did i stole it because it was a brilliant technique and i thanked him for showing me and now i use it often so just another example and now on to stretching that is if i can manage to not totally drop the stretcher well the good news is that i have to reassemble it anyways this is a fairly lightweight stretcher it's not the best but we're gonna keep it anyways because it is adequate but if i don't square it up well the painting will be crooked and if i don't put some nails in the joints here to make sure that the stretcher stays square as i'm stretching it it will distort and then i will either be faced with the choice of having a distorted painting and settling for that which is unacceptable or pulling out all the tacks and starting over which is not the end of the world but it is certainly avoidable and so i want to avoid it i'll start tacking in the middle of each side to make sure that the center of the painting is taut and then i will work my way to the corners this is a common technique for stretching painting there are many schools of thought on whether this or a linear approach is better and every conservator gets to choose what works for them some people like starting at one corner and working across the painting some like starting in the middle as long as the final result is acceptable and delivers the highest of standards then how one gets there as long as it's ethical and appropriate is up to them and so i start from the middle and work to the corners others may vary now i was going to save this one for the end as a nice poetic wrap up but i actually think it's best illustrated here as i'm working on the back and making it tidy article 1 the conservation professionals shall strive to attain the highest possible standards in all aspects of conservation including but not limited to preventative conservation examination documentation treatment research and education we've talked about a lot of those but i want to talk about high standards i take my time to make sure that the back of every painting looks as good as the front and of course it's totally not important because nobody looks at the back everybody's looking at the front but it matters to me and it's just one way that i have high standards i want the back to look just as good as the front i want whomever does look at the back to be impressed to recognize the work and care that went into the back looking that way and see it as a reflection of the totality of work that went into this project it's not to say that it's easy to make the front of the painting look good it's actually easy to make the back of the painting look good this is not all that difficult but so often i find that people just ignore the back they figure nobody's going to see it so why bother it takes time time is money it costs in materials so who cares well i care and i think it is important and that's why i do it that's why i fold over the canvas and tack it and that's why i put holes in the keys and bind them with fishing line and finally a once over with some solvent to remove any traces of the fill in medium and we can get an idea of what she should look like well if you can look past all of the losses but i'll address those in the retouching step next now the retouching process is exciting but it is also one of extreme discipline you see i can only add paint where paint is missing i'm not here to make the painting better i'm here to respect it and help it well become itself and in accord with best practices and the code of ethics i use archival and reversible materials when executing retouching so that in the future if they ever need to be removed the next conservator will have an easier time than i did i'm going to reactivate the paint that's on my palette with a solvent mix up a color and then begin the process of making the damage disappear and while i'm retouching i'll take that opportunity to knock out two more articles from the code of ethics number 11 the conservation professional shall promote an awareness and understanding of conservation through open communication with allied professionals and the public i'd like to think that these videos are bringing the world of conservation to a larger audience and not just giving everybody something to fall asleep to although if that's your jam go for it i'm not here to judge and as the painting slowly comes together and the damage disappears well we can start to see that this painting really is beautiful she is beautiful the technique is beautiful everything is beautiful but it took a lot of work to get to this point to get past all of the bad work and finally put her back together there are many schools of thought on retouching some say you should try to reintegrate the image so that the damage is gone forever others say to just blend the damage away but still keep it upon close inspection those decisions are made by the conservator and the client and what's right for one conservator and one client and one painting may not be for another but that's why we get to make individualized decisions based on what's best for all parties involved and of course i leave the eyes for last because it's a real treat to work on the part of the painting that everybody gravitates to right off the bat and these eyes were damaged and so working on them will really complete this painting and to complete the code of ethics actually there's one more but this is the last one number 13. each conservation professional has an obligation to promote understanding of an adherence to this code of ethics well tell me this much did you even know that there was a code of ethics at the beginning of this video no well now you do with the retouching complete i can now move to varnishing this painting now we saw the natural resin varnish deteriorate over time it yellowed and became discolored and that is a problem not only does it obfuscate the true colors of the painting but it requires aggressive solvents to remove and that can pose a risk to an otherwise vulnerable painting and so if we want to talk about article number eight the conservation professional shall recognize a responsibility for preventative conservation by endeavoring to limit damage or deterioration to cultural property providing guidelines for continuing use and care recommending appropriate environmental conditions for storage and exhibition and encouraging proper procedures for handling packing and transport a lot of that stuff is banal but preventing future damage is one area where choosing a reversible archival synthetic uv stable varnish is absolutely critical because it ensures that it can be removed very easily and that no harsh chemicals are needed harsh chemicals that could damage the painting and there it is with the work all complete we can see that all of that lifting paint that was so perilously attached to the canvas well it's now bonded back down the texture is smooth there are no distractions we don't see the surface anymore we see the image and the image itself is clean and bright the whites of her jewels are glittery the beautiful skin tones well look healthy and this bride looks as stunning as she did on the day that she said i do and while i have no idea how her nuptial vows held up over the course of time i can say that by adhering to the code of ethics and working hard to make sure that all of my work was in accord with that document if asked do i have the belief that my work will stand a test of time well the answer is i do

Channel: Baumgartner Restoration

Views: 541,590

Keywords: Baumgartner, Julian, restoration, ASMR, paintings, cleaning, scraping, repair, Art, fine art, conservation, painting restoration, old art, painting, painting conservation, oil painting, new again, restore

Id: uFBXifSJ8mg

Length: 32min 10sec (1930 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 25 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Silverseren]

This video definitely was Julian calling out the people who claim he doesn't follow conservation rules just because he doesn't show all the super boring parts of that in his videos.

And I love it. Call them out louder!