ALABASTER 'THE THREE GRACES'

ALABASTER SCULPTURE 'THE THREE GRACES'

This alabaster is of the three graces (after Canova), very beautiful piece but she's very dirty and the central figure has a finger missing on her left hand. There are a lot of striations in the alabaster giving it darker and lighter in places which also accentuates the sculptural forms.  It is very heavy to carry so I just managed to get her onto the table and I realised that newspaper was not a good idea as the base would pick up the newsprint ...... it's now on acid free tissue:

Now to make the missing finger - I decided to do this before I started cleaning the whole as I could remove the remainder of the moulding material in one go.  Normally I would use dental silicon (Coltene™), plus it's pink in colour and as alabaster stains easily so I didn't want to take that chance.  I thought I would try this silicon putty from Tiranti's to make the mould, it was a cream colour, quite sticky, although it advises you to wet your hands with water whilst manipulating to get the catalyst mixed in thoroughly. 40-70 minutes setting time, it was sticky and I worried that it wouldn't remove easily.  I did a test on the indented back of a tile (more absorbent than a stone surface) to see how it would cure. It made a very good impression and picked out amazing detail.

RTV Putty Silicon from Tiranti's - it worked well, good stuff for the job!

Now a question of what I'm going to use in the mould.  I think I will use special epoxy, fumed silica and historic pigments as I am now confident I can get the colour and transparency to replicate the alabaster.  To attach it may prove more problematic, I don't want to use epoxy to fix it on.  What I could do maybe is use some Paraloid B72 on the rough end prior to fixing with epoxy.  I'm still thinking about this..............

Tried two moulds on different hands to see which was the best

It took three tries before I got the right tint

Mmmmm not bad I'd say

 Will come back to this after cleaning the whole sculpture and do some research.

CLEANING THE ALABASTER

You cannot clean alabaster with water as it will dissolve, so very delicate.  I used white spirit (Stoddards) and de-ionised water with a small amount of detergent (Synperonic 7) to make it into and emulsion.  I knew about this from University and it worked well using a continuous stream of cotton swabs wound on a bamboo barbecue skewer.  To work quickly and to keep the dirt in one place it's a good idea to get a jam jar with a lid and make some holes in it with a bradall, this makes easy removal of the cotton swab from the stick as you work.

Amazing how much dirt comes off!!

As you turn the sculpture you see bits that you miss all the time! A process of continual observation.

Cleaned area on the lower back where you can see the difference

Getting lower down the back of the legs now, it's coming up really well

I will up-date this as I go so keep coming back to view.  Just before I'm publishing this I turned the sculpture on it's back and saw there is a smallish previous repair to the base with a loss so will deal with that tomorrow..........

Surprise!! broken base stuck with old fashioned epoxy

Am looking at this page from 1993 on the V&A web site about conservation of alabaster, some useful information V&A Alabaster Conservation Link

The finger is on, consolidated broken edge with PB72 in acetone and used special
epoxy/fumed silica tinted with historic pigments for the missing finger

Finger attached, didn't want to fiddle too much with it as the alabaster
scratches very easily so care had to be taken

After I had filled the base and given it a coat of Renaissance Microcrystalline wax she was ready to go on display.  The wax took out the unsightly marks in the alabaster on the legs in above photo. The client came to collect unannounced so I was unable to get a finishing shot......

FOUR FIGURINES

FOUR FIGURINES

Here are 4 figurines that have recently arrived in the studio.  Previous restoration is evident on all of them with losses and discolouration of varying degrees.  First thing I need to do is to get rid of the old gunk! So DCM, soak, rinse, steam cleaned.  You have to be careful cleaning the tiny pieces as the pressure of the steam can cause small fragments to shoot off in any direction.  One way of stopping this is to use a fine metal gauze placed over the piece that needs to be cleaned.

THE LADY ON PEDESTAL

The above lady's head was partially joined to the body.  On further inspection a matchstalk had been lodged into some grey putty in the head hollow.  The bow on the hat has losses and the rim of the bonnet has a slither lost.

Finished figure

THE VIOLIN PLAYER

This elegant violin player has suffered breakages and losses.  The leg looks to be a clean break but the small hand has missing fingers and the violin has lost the carved scroll machine head.  The broken leg was relatively easy to attach using special epoxy which I propped up using sculptors plasticine.

Mould of scroll made of sculptors plasticine ready for silicone, very tiny piece!

Tiny end piece made and attaching to the violin and hand. I also had to
extend the missing finger and thumb that was playing the strings.

COMPLETED FIGURINE

BOY IN BLUE TROUSERS

This one is more problematic in that there are several losses not obvious until I get it out under some good lighting and magnifying specs. Some pieces remain so this will be a good jigsaw! After having cleaned the pieces individually I can see that the discoloured piece beneath the body is not ceramic but some kind of old fill, looks like plaster.  It has been badly repaired and I'm not sure which angle the head will go? There seems to be a loss on his right cheek which may suggest that the hand touched there.  The head was totally askew when it arrived so I have to think about this one.

       

LOSSES

• Base losses on each side of the feet to base
• Loss on the join of proper right knee
• Loss on joint of proper left knee
• Loss from top of wood stump that joins to the blue trousers (proper right)
• Large loss on proper left ankle and foot
• Loss on inside proper right jacket (yellow)
• Front chip off white blouse and part of the 'v' neck of blouse (front)
• Chip on basket (dark maroon)
• Loss underneath proper right arm around to the back of the jacket (pink enamel)
• Loss to proper right hand which pushes against the pink jacket which has to be created
• Losses of gold borders in many places
• Loss of proper left thumb that's holding the basket

FILLS

I mixed up 3 grams of special epoxy, bulked it up with fumed silica and let it rest for half and hour.  I then mixed some Titanium Oxide white into a small amount of epoxy, to achieve the colour of the white body. Blending the white mix gradually into the rest of the mix to get the correct opacity, looking and holding it against the white body and to the daylight.

Fill on the back shoulder propped up with sculpting plasticine.
Below the fill to one side of the base

Next fill at other side base and fills at the knees held at an angle whilst curing

Fill at neck and part of right hand

What was I thinking!! I've been looking at how I put the head on and it's just not right at all.  This is tricky and I have come to the conclusion that I have to dismantle and re-do.  The head and shoulder took a good couple of days to come apart again, right ready to go again ........

OK this looks better!!

I used sculptors plasticine to prop up the head and shoulder so I could see exactly how it might fit into the proper position.  I then used part of the epoxy mix to fill only part of the neck.  The next day it was still soft enough so that if I wasn't happy I would be able to move if necessary.  It was ok, so I left it to cure another day. 

• A.  Top of the shoulder filled up to where the collar of the jacket is to be created
• B.  Loss on the top of the cuff
• C.  Fill of the frill on the blouse
• D.  Fill where there were chips on the neck

• E.  Join where the forefinger meets the cheek
• F.  Cut off piece of pipette to keep the shoulder in position which will be removed

I am now going to allow this to cure, put the rest of the epoxy mix in the freezer and come back to it again to create the collar of the jacket.

Now we've got to get the legs and base back on......  when I took the boy apart again I didn't remove the fills that I had previously done on each side of the base.  so I have to refill the knee joints and the large loss on the proper left foot.

AT LAST DONE!

LADY WITH FLOWER

This lady carrying a basket of flowers looked only to be a clean break at the waist but is actually in three pieces with a slither.   She also looks as though she was holding a flower which are missing and also that her little finger looks as though it was extended these have to be re-modelled.  I also re-modelled a leaf and flower petal that had been missing in her basket.

Recreation of flower and extended finger

The finished lady with her missing finger and flower remodelled and tinted.

The final pictures..