Another trashy treasure

In the same sale, I found a couple of paintings. A small watercolour, and a framed oil. I paid a dollar for both.

But in the clear light coming through my windows, it looked....dirty. Yellowed. Time for some elbow grease!

I consulted Google, who pretty much shrieked 'NOOOOO! DON'T DOOO IT! DOOOM!' so I backed away, abashed, but then....I rethought.

This wasn't an heirloom. This wasn't the old painting Great-Aunt Myrtle did the summer before she went insane and offed Uncle Norbert, and this wasn't anything I was going to mourn if it was lost.

This was just a nice canvas with a sweet picture of trees and a house and two people. It was a stairwell picture, something I thought would look nice in a corner, something I'd be happy to see as I flashed back and forth through the day. And it had a great frame.

(thumbs up from Cass, who likes the rocks in the yard)

So I googled again.

And found this:

In the “Framer’s Answer Book” Paul Frederick explains the following method.

Prepare a solution of soapy water.

Dip a wad of absorbent cotton in the solution.

Add about 15 drops of alcohol to the soapy mixture trapped in the cotton and squeeze the liquid from the cotton.

Gently rub the cotton over a small area until the dirt loosens.

To rinse, saturate a wad of cotton with clear water and tightly squeeze to remove excess water.

Repeat both cleaning and rinsing over adjacent areas until the whole painting has been cleaned.

Wipe it once more with a damp cotton wad and dry the surface with either cotton or tissues.

Clean the surface again with cotton wads dampened with turpentine. This will remove any trace of soapy solution and neutralise any action the alcohol may have had on the painting varnish.

Now, to begin! But! A stumbling block!

No cotton balls. Damn and blast. As long as I rubbed gently, an old soft cotton dish towel wouldn't hurt anything, would it?

Let's try it.

Gentle, gentle, gentle....

Halfway done and making progress:

By this time, I had company. Both my kids wanted to help. Stressing the gentle rubbing and the possible stories behind the painting, we worked on it together.

Aaaand ta-da!

 

Now I had to hunt down a recipe for stained glass cookies, (NOT just for Christmas, honest!) and then my arty night would be complete.

And yummy.

Comments

[kittenpie]

Oh! I love trashy treasures! My favourite thing is dragging home other people's leavings off the curbside in my neighbourhood. Good hunting!