Making Mounts for Artifacts.

Posted on October 14, 2013 by

Post by Shakhawan.

In order to show objects in the exhibits of museums in a scientific and modern way that gives an aesthetic value, we have to choose suitable materials for object bases that should have the following characteristics such as:

1- The chosen material should not harm the artifact

2- The size, shape and its color should fit with the object

-In order to support the object with the mount, we can use epoxy putty.

Epoxy putty used to make mounts.

Epoxy putty used to make mounts.

-Another thing that we have to do is filling out the missing parts particularly places that directly connect to the base

Practicing making a mount to replace a missing part.

Practicing making a mount to replace a missing part.

– Compared to the rest of the object, we have to color the replacement parts in dissimilar color.

Paints used to color epoxy mounts.

Paints used to color epoxy mounts.

– After we had used epoxy as mount material, in order to stick the object to the base, we prefer to use B-72 in 30% as adhesive.

Plexiglass bases for the mounts.

Plexiglass bases for the mounts.

In order to replace the missing parts, we have to discuss what type of adhesive we should use that is appropriate to the object, therefore we have to do tests to the materials that we should use in this process.

Working at the Erbil Civilizations Museum to mount artifacts.

Working at the Erbil Civilizations Museum to mount artifacts.

Posted in Advanced Students, Archaeology, Conservation, Museum Studies, University of Delaware | Leave a comment

Learning pottery restoration.

Posted on September 16, 2013 by

Post by Sara.

Practice pot before treatment.

Practice pot before treatment.

Gluing the pieces of pottery using Butvar B76 with concentration 3% and 10%.  The Tg is 62-76˚C so this material fits the Iraqi environment.

Gluing sherds together.

Gluing sherds together.

For filling the lost places we have to use three different materials such as plaster, glass micro balloons and epoxy putty.  But before we apply the fill we coat the surface of the joints and around the joints with Acryloid B72.  Also we have to put backing materials behind the fill such as wax or Plastiline.

Wax backing behind losses.

Wax backing behind losses.

Fill in place.

Fill in place.

Painting the fills with acrylic and water colors and trying to choose a color which is close to the original one.

Discussing color choices for inpainting.

Discussing color choices for inpainting.

Practicing inpainting.

Practicing inpainting.

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Making Pottery in the Laboratory, 2012

Posted on September 2, 2013 by

Post by Barnadet.

1. Prepare pure clay in the laboratory and remove dirt.

Preparing clay.

Preparing clay.

Continue to prepare clay and filter out dirt.

Preparing clay.

Preparing clay.

Students making pots in the laboratory.

Making pots.

Making pots.

Prepare the oven/kiln to fire the clay pots.

Preparing the kiln.

Preparing the kiln.

Extract pieces of fired pottery after the fire has cooled, then clean them.

After firing.

After firing.

Removing the pots.

Removing the pots.

Exhibit the pieces in the laboratory.

Posted in Advanced Students, Archaeology, Conservation, Introductory Students, University of Delaware | Leave a comment

Testing storage materials.

Posted on August 26, 2013 by

Post by Pshtiwan.

Test for chlorine in materials being used to preserve artifacts in the storage, like plastic bags, plastic boxes … etc.

Required materials:

  1. Flame
  2. Metal wire (copper)
  3. Tweezers
  4. Materials to be tested

Heating the copper wire.

Heating the copper wire.

The Process:

We heat the copper wire until it gets red, and then we stick it to the material that we want to test to take a sample. Then we put the copper wire again over the fire.  If the color of the flame was green, it is asign that there is chlorine, but if the color of the fire doesn’t change, it is sign that there is no chlorine in the material.

Looking for a green flame that indicates a positive reaction.

Looking for a green flame that indicates a positive reaction.

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Lion of Babylon

Posted on August 12, 2013 by

Post by Ahmed.

Maintenance of the Lion’s base.

Before repair.

Before repair.

Because of the bad structural situation of the Lion’s base which was close to collapse, and because the Lion is one of the most important landmarks in Iraq, the maintenance committee in Babylon decided to build a new base that surrounds the old one.

During repair.

During repair.

During repair.

During repair.

During repair.

During repair.

After repair.

After repair.

Posted in Advanced Students, Archaeology, Conservation, University of Delaware | Leave a comment

Conservation Documentation

Posted on August 11, 2013 by

Post by Sara.

Conservation documentation photograph, before treatment.

Picture 1. Conservation documentation photograph, before treatment.

When we want to conserve an archaeological piece in addition to taking a picture by camera (picture 1) it is good to draw the piece at the same time.  It is good to view all the parts and from different angles, to know better the technique of making the piece (picture 2) and the writings and decoration (picture 3) to be more clear and understood.

Picture 2.

Picture 2.

Picture 2.

Picture 3.

It is good to plot one of the pictures on graph paper to record the measurements (picture 4).

Picture 4

Picture 4

Also, mark all the damage on the pictures to make a plan for conservation (picture 5-6).  Each picture should have the object’s name, museum, and the name of the person who worked on or conserved the piece.  All this should be written on the picture.  It is important to keep three copies of the documentation in order to protect from losing them.

Picture 5.

Picture 5.

Picture 6.

Picture 6.

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Repairing a human skeleton.

Posted on August 8, 2013 by

Post by Nyan.

Dry cleaning.

Dry cleaning.

1. Dry cleaning with a soft brush to remove the dust and dirt.  We just use dry cleaning because the bone is so fragile we cannot wet clean.

2. Broken pieces were identified for repair.

3. For each break a base layer of 10% Acryloid B-72 was applied to both sides of the break.  Then 50% Acryloid B-72 adhesive was applied to one side of the break and the joins aligned. 

Applying a primer layer.

Applying a primer layer.

Gluing the two fragments.

Gluing the two fragments.

4. Each repair was allowed to dry with the break aligned horizontally.

The join should dry horizontal.

The join should dry horizontal.

Posted in Advanced Students, Archaeology, Conservation, University of Delaware | Leave a comment