Towards the end of the project at St Saviours for
McNeilage Conservation we conserved a series of painted shields. These shields are along the front of an ornate 17th century carved gallery at the west end of the church.
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| Some of the shield following conservation. |
The shields had been varnished and the varnish had turned brown over time. The paint had also began to come away in some areas. It was important for the preservation of these painted panels that the varnish was carefully removed.
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| One of the shields prior to varnish removal. |
Using gentle swab cleaning with mild solvents the varnish was removed from the painted surface. The paints revealed were bright and rich, in some cases revealing details not visible before the varnish was removed.
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| Varnish removal using swab cleaning. |
Due to the delicate nature of the paint in some areas cleaning was undertaken using a magnification head lens. This allows for much more delicate and precise cleaning whilst still providing the flexibility required for working on a small platform at height.
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| The above shield after varnish removal. |
Once the varnish was removed from all of the shields a conservation grade varnish was applied to protect and consolidate the historic paint layer. The next post will discuss a short course I took in stone masonry.
