Re: Museum Gel France Remillard is retired now, but she did some research on removal of Museum Wax / Museum Gel in 2011. Museum Wax had been applied to a porous Etruscan ceramic and had dripped down, penetrating and saturating the ceramic body, leaving a terrible stain. Analysis done at the Canadian Conservation Institute confirmed that Museum Wax is polydimethylsiloxane. France experimented with mixtures of ethanol, isooctane and acetone in varying concentrations. The one she found worked best was %9 ethanol, 70% isooctane, 21% acetone. The mixture didn't dissolve the the Museum Wax, but it did swell it so that it could be picked off mechanically under bench binoculars. France notes in her report that the results were imperfect, but satisfactory from the curator's point of view.
Today you might have luck with a D4 or D5 cyclotetrasiloxane solvent? Or Velvesil? I've tested Velvesil as a sort of a poultice on leather and found that it comes off well without staining, even without D4 or D5. We got our Velvesil as a free sample from Momentive. If you have any paintings conservators around, they might have some. It is used for cleaning acrylic paint surfaces. But please don't take my word for it. Test first. And if you do try, I'd love to hear how it works out. Jean Dendy, organic objects conservator Centre de Conservation du Quebec ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [email protected] Archives through August 2016 at http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/ Archives from September 2016 onward at https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
