Cleaning Up an Old Frame
Posted: Sun 01 Oct, 2023 4:24 pm
I finished this frame a few weeks ago.
Whilst there was a lot of work involved in remaking all the losses and various other repairs and re-gilds, most of the time spent was on cleaning up the grimy gilding.
During some previous 'restoration' it had been over-cleaned in places and then drowned in a drab overglaze which gave it the sort of look where some would ask - "Is that really gold leaf?".
This over-glaze was luckily only a mixture of RSG and staining pigment, probably a turmeric/gamboge overkill, and then a century or so of grime and dust.
I chose this stuff, Vulpex as the best method of cleaning away the worst of the glaze. What I didn't want to do is remove any of the original patina so it was a case of treading carefully and seeing what happens.
Vulpex is quite a pungent fluid and requires a very heavy dilution to make it workable. I diluted it 1;25 with water and even that was pretty strong. You need to wear vinyl gloves as well as it will 'clean' all the natural oils out of your fingertips and that can be quite irritating and sore later on.
It also has quite an astringent smell but is otherwise quite safe and not unpleasant to work with.
So I set to the frame with the Vulpex and one of those long professional Q tip things and the first thing I noticed was that it was lifting the gold off. But it wasn't so much the Vulpex doing the damage but the Q tip, that was actually too abrasive.
The better method on fragile gilding is to paint on the cleaner with a sable mix brush, rinse and squeeze out the brush and then use it to gently lift off the grimy finish.
Because you can only do a small area at a time, the whole frame did take some time to complete.
This photo shows the amount of dirt removed from only one side.
When all the cleaning had dried and finished you get left with a thin whitish film over all the gilding. This was easily cleaned away with cotton wool balls soaked in white spirit.
The beauty of white spirit is that it is harmless to old gilding and evaporates to leave no residue behind.
And when all that had dried, the gild was polished up to a bright shine with some more dry cotton wool balls.
The frame went back to Scotland with Aardvark for £100, door to door.
For the customer, that was a bargain.
Whilst there was a lot of work involved in remaking all the losses and various other repairs and re-gilds, most of the time spent was on cleaning up the grimy gilding.
During some previous 'restoration' it had been over-cleaned in places and then drowned in a drab overglaze which gave it the sort of look where some would ask - "Is that really gold leaf?".
This over-glaze was luckily only a mixture of RSG and staining pigment, probably a turmeric/gamboge overkill, and then a century or so of grime and dust.
I chose this stuff, Vulpex as the best method of cleaning away the worst of the glaze. What I didn't want to do is remove any of the original patina so it was a case of treading carefully and seeing what happens.
Vulpex is quite a pungent fluid and requires a very heavy dilution to make it workable. I diluted it 1;25 with water and even that was pretty strong. You need to wear vinyl gloves as well as it will 'clean' all the natural oils out of your fingertips and that can be quite irritating and sore later on.
It also has quite an astringent smell but is otherwise quite safe and not unpleasant to work with.
So I set to the frame with the Vulpex and one of those long professional Q tip things and the first thing I noticed was that it was lifting the gold off. But it wasn't so much the Vulpex doing the damage but the Q tip, that was actually too abrasive.
The better method on fragile gilding is to paint on the cleaner with a sable mix brush, rinse and squeeze out the brush and then use it to gently lift off the grimy finish.
Because you can only do a small area at a time, the whole frame did take some time to complete.
This photo shows the amount of dirt removed from only one side.
When all the cleaning had dried and finished you get left with a thin whitish film over all the gilding. This was easily cleaned away with cotton wool balls soaked in white spirit.
The beauty of white spirit is that it is harmless to old gilding and evaporates to leave no residue behind.
And when all that had dried, the gild was polished up to a bright shine with some more dry cotton wool balls.
The frame went back to Scotland with Aardvark for £100, door to door.
For the customer, that was a bargain.