Introduction in repair of sculpture. How to make a diagnisis and read the conditions of a sculpture
The part of the castle where I am going to work on
Balcony element
First thing – diagnoses. The 18th century element was carefully analysed and examined before any treatment could be approached to it. Some parts were really fragile, therefore extra attention was paid to preserve and save as much as we could.
A small part of the surface was used to do a trial of a cleaning method.
Small toothbrush and a sponge was used to clean a back surface using a spray with clean water
The difference after cleaning
This cleaning method seemed to work fine and we have considered it as the most appropriate way for the primary cleaning
The next step is to consolidate the stone and to make sure that fragile parts are protected and safe in the same place where they were initially. What is more important to prevent the stone from water/weathering penetration inside the stone through the cracks
I have injected a liquid lime mortar into the cracks
After the frigile parts are protected, all cracks are filled with mortar, we can continue with stone cleaning. However, this time I am using a glass powder and a pressure stream to get deeper and clean better
The final part is to mix right pigments that would match perfectly with a stone to fix the missing or damaged parts of the sculpture
Clean and preserved historical element ready to be placed back to the balcony
