OT: Restoration gone horribly wrong

[Mr Grumpy]

In a news update, the so-called conservators have been identified.

Reminded me immediately of this

http://youtu.be/wPv64jmcqoA?t=14s

[gramophone78]

In keeping with our interests.....I think this is a close second.... .

http://youtu.be/oxGWENAv_oA

[Lucius1958]

Well, if these guys suddenly die of mysterious causes, we'll know who did it.....

[phonogfp]

There's a chance that this guy in Netcong, N.J. was helping with the Tutankamon restoration:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Model-H-edison- ... 6016.l4276

George P.

[tinovanderzwan]

I had an acquaintance do reverse glass painting for two of my clocks. He is a professional. I let him know that he can have my clocks as long as he wants. And yes there are impatient clients who want the job done quickly. But I don't think that applies here.

I recently bought an 18th C mirror in need of conservation. It was not a major project, no real challenges. But I studied it for a week before I did anything. And because I was working with hide glue I did a dry run first with all my clamps. All that for a $55 purchase. I know that, if in the process of working on something and I run into a problem. I don't act on any brilliant ideas that just come to me. Those are a recipe for disaster. I back off and come back to the problem later after I thought it through and decided on a course of action.

What happened in the Cairo Museum is beyond belief. I believe that museum has the resources--both financial and in terms of expertise--such that this should never have happened. I can not believe that those who epoxied the beard back on had any training in conservation whatsoever, the first rule of which is, whatever you do should be reversible. Nothing had been thought through. All the worse if they were professional conservators.

i have some doubts about the conservators being professional
in the last view years a lot changed in egypt many of the former leading figures of the cairo museum are now either in jail or under house arest because they were found corupt under the previous regimes
hastily replacements where found but are they professional??....
yet the former head of egyptology zahi hawaz din't do his job very well either some of egypts minor monuments are in serious disrepair and some are even used as garbage dumps it now seems he primarily conserved his wallet and made sure he looked like a modern day indiana jones on the national geographic channel

i restore antique books of the 16th 17th and 18th centuries when i take a book inn i always say that it could take a long time since i could find unforeseen difficulties
the 16th century book im busy with now had several unforeseen problems the oak panels where cracked and had to be glued and the books flat ribs where pieces of a 12th century psalm book witch needed to be cleaned and preserved they also needed to be replaced with new pieces of parchment the inside of the boards where covered in latin script hidden by paper and layers of centuries old hide glue witch had to be removed without damaging the writing underneath

the glues i use for my projects are
1 hide glue called as such because its boiled from animal skin but a same type of glue can be derived from bones large amount of chicken bones can give you a very good glue
2 starch glue
3 milk lye glue
these glues have in common that the proceedings can be reversed if needed we all make mistakes even after a 1000 or so books it sometimes happens that you make a major f***up recently i glued in a text block upside down!! because of the right materials used i could correct that error

nice example of an mid 16th century book

1551 B joannis leonis 1.jpg (21.15 KiB) Viewed 1842 times

tino

[NEFaurora]

I saw that Tut Death Mask botch yesterday morning....Unreal..

"I have some doubts about the conservators being professional." - Yeah, so do I....They are probably just some young college students.

You'd think that the country's greatest treasure would be taken care of with the utmost of care...Nope...I guess not...

That would be like us taking the Declaration of Independence and gluing it to a back board..

)

At least I think that once the Egyptian government gets some real restoration pros in there (most likely from Europe or the U.S.), They'll be able to fully restore the affected areas. I'm pretty confident of that..

Hey, It could have been a lot worse.

It's a pretty big embarrassment for the Cairo Egyptian museum...and the Egyptian government for such a National Treasure....and world treasure.

)

Tony K.

[52089]

That would be like us taking the Declaration of Independence and gluing it to a back board..

The Declaration of Independence is now almost completely illegible due to decades of improper handling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_h ... ossed_copy

[NEFaurora]

Wow, It really has faded badly.

Can you see the difference from even 1951 until today??

It actually looks like most of the fading has happened in the 20th century within the last 65 years!!

Look at the 1951 pic, and look at it today!

Years ago there was a rumor that a copy was on display and not the original. I would not be surprised if that was not true today. It would not surprise me at all.

)

Tony K.

[bbphonoguy]

They should've used duct tape. It fixes everything.

[Player-Tone]

That would be like us taking the Declaration of Independence and gluing it to a back board..

The Declaration of Independence is now almost completely illegible due to decades of improper handling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_h ... ossed_copy

I was in DC a few years ago and saw the Declaratioin of Independence. It's a little disappointing for sure, but still interesting just to see it.