AT CITY & GUILDS OF LONDON ART SCHOOL

CONSERVATION PROJECT 2010

This is the Buddha at the Buddist Centre in Kennington, South London.  
This stone carving had been out in all weathers and was in need of some care and attention.

Buddha partially cleaned with steam cleaner

Here you can see clearly where the Bath stone has been cleaned.  

This was done using an industrial steam cleaner, lots of brushing and using

a biocide to get rid of and to prevent algae forming on the stone.

Buddha totally cleaned

Here is the buddha all cleaned to begin the pigmented limewash prior to the gilding work.

Buddha limewashed and partially gilded

 Here we've put on the pigmented limewash and have gilded the head, hand and feet.  
We used a coating of 3 hour gilding size on top of the pigmented limewash to take the gold leaf. 

We didn't gild the cushion or the hair (bumps of knowledge) as historically these are not gilded.

We painted the 'bumps of knowledge' with casein paints which will cross-link with the stone over time.

The unveiling of the Buddha after finishing the project

And here is the finished Buddha, gilded in two shades of gold leaf.  At the unveiling ceremony the original carver of the Buddha came and we threw silk scarfs onto the buddha and said prayers.  It was a lovely project to be involved with.  A hood has been made to protect the gilding from bad weather.

Left to right top row, Marina Sokhan, Head of Conservation at City & Guilds School of Art,
Hugi, Jonathan Kemp V&A, Nick Durnan (the original sculptor of the Buddha) Yelena, Jennifer Dinsmore (stone tutor),
myself, Caroline, Lou, Sara Healey V&A

The Cosmati Pavement - Westminster Abbey

One of my summer placements whilst at City and Guilds of London School of Art was at Westminster Abbey, conserving the Cosmati Pavement with my fellow classmates Lianne and Lucy which has now been completed.  Unfortunately, I was not present at the filming of the video as I was rushed into hospital!!  I did however manage to work for four weeks doing the same work as my colleagues.  Lucy now works at Westminster Abbey in the Conservation Department.

Click on the link below to see a video of what we did..........

Summer Placement 2009 Westminster Abbey 

This tomb intrigued me the most because the turquoise, red and white mosaics
were made of glass and there was no evidence of where it originated. 

After taking away the hard Victorian portland cement from around the tesserae we
built walls of Paraloid B72 and microballoons to protect the stones prior to new fills. 

Another part of the floor that has had the old hard mortars removed and
are being protected prior to new fills.

Lazer cleaned part of one of the tombs that is part of the floor

New Purbeck marble sections from the original quarry
 to replace the worst deteriorated stones in the floor