44th Annual AIC Meeting, Pre-Conference Session, May 14: "Florence: Days of Destruction" by Franco Zeffirelli


If we try to pinpoint which events have caused major changes in our lives, we might come to the conclusion that many of them unfolded unexpectedly. And the worst ones seem to also happen fast. Whether we realize it or not, the Florence floods of 1966 were such a change. Many might not remember this time at all, and others – myself included – were yet to be born. As any other part of world history, it is a story that needs to be retold.
One of the pre-conference events was the screening of Franco Zeffirelli’s “Florence: Days of Destruction”. The Florentine filmmaker probably found that filming in this time of need was a way to cope with the immense gravity of the situation. What he also did was create a platform for awareness. The original Italian title, “Per Firenze”, reflects Zeffirelli’s attachment to his hometown and to all that it represented. Richard Burton, who narrates the film, could sympathize as he had recently seen his beloved Wales go through something similar. It doesn’t take being in the film business to relate to this feeling.
On Saturday, February 20th, 2010, heavy showers followed by landslides transformed Madeira Island – the place I will probably always call home – into a sort of gigantic mudbath. Everything that could be dragged from the mountain tops to the shore was. People were hurt, some even died that day. In a video published on February 21st by SkyNews, one sees how mother nature was nothing short of relentless:

On the quiet days that followed, there was a collective sense of mourning and loss. Everyone was shocked. I felt numb. Although I usually had no problem taking photographs, somehow I could not make myself pick up my camera. I could never be a photojournalist.
I first returned to work on February 23rd. Walking through the downtown part of Funchal, I saw damage on a scale I never thought I would have seen before. In a way, it felt like it could have been a war zone. Coincidence or not, that’s said in Zeffirelli’s film about Florence.
After about a week, the conservation team at the Arquivo Regional da Madeira, where I was working at the time, was contacted to provide help to a few cultural institutions in need. The buildings where they had their storages were on downtown Funchal, where basements had simply become pools of rubble. After draining the water out, they needed help figuring out how to deal with piles of books and documentation.
This experience changed my attitude towards conservation, setting a whole new standard of what an object in bad condition looked like. As much as those were tough times, they also provided bonding time with my colleagues. We kept each others spirits up amidst less than pleasing working environments when by the end of the day we were proud of our muddy coveralls. I would like to think it was a feeling common to all of those who put themselves to work during that time.

However catastrophic the situation that Zeffirelli’s documentary shows, it also focuses on the positive outcome that even such an event might have. It underlined the importance of cultural heritage in society and how it could bring people together because it was the right thing to do.
Because Zeffirelli’s work transcended into one of those things that are greater than the object itself, the film was shown for the first time after being digitally restored at this year’s AIC-CAC conference. It brought us together again at the conference, even after all these years have gone by. Not all the destruction was in vain after all.
 
 
To see how this event was portrayed in the media of its day, I encourage you to also take a look at the LIFE magazine Dec. 16th, 1966 issue (the report on the flood starts on page 28).
 
 

44th Annual AIC meeting, May 17, 2016, “An Unexpected Surface: Research and treatment of a 19th century mounted oyster shell by Froment-Meurice” by Emily Brown

This talk focused on the research and treatment of Froment-Meurice oyster shell artifact made by Emile Froment-Meurice.  The conservation concerns were identification of the corrosion layers and treatment of the metal surfaces.   The artifact was purchased by William Walters in 1878.  It is a composite artifact that depicts two putti discovering a pearl inside of an oyster.  The oyster shell holds a natural pearl in a metal mount.  The mermaid stem and putti are a silver copper alloy, the base is silver with a gold enriched surface and the hinge is a gold alloy.  The oyster shell artifact was damaged and repaired multiple times in the past.  The 1930 photograph from the museum shows the object in one piece.
The main condition issue for this treatment was the heavily tarnished metal surfaces.  The silver and gold elements were nearly black with heavy tarnish overall.  In the 1840s the goldsmiths would often intentionally create a darkened oxidized surface on silver.  In a 2003 French catalogue “Tresors D’Argent” (translated as “Silver Treasures”) two similar shell objects are included, but both have polished and shiny metal elements.  Other artifacts are listed as “oxidized silver and painted sheet metal” objects.  A similar oxidized silver surface can be found on the commemorative shield (c. 1881) by Froment-Meurice in the Art Institute of Chicago labeled as “an elliptical shield of oxidized silver”.
There are a few differences between tarnished silver and oxidized silver.  Tarnished silver is an unintentional patina created by airborne pollutants.  Oxidized silver is an intentional antiqued patination created by chemical compounds.  The small traces of silver chloride found on the surface of the artifacts may be a byproduct of silver chloride that was used to antique the surface of silver objects.  With this in mind, the decision was made to clean the silver, but not remove the black surface.  The gold elements would be cleaned until bright.
The gold and gilt silver components could not be cleaned with abrasion or normal polishing.  Instead an acidified thiourea xantham gum gel was used to clean the surface.  The gel as applied with a cotton pad and rinsed with water.  The dwell time was kept to a quick 5 – 10 seconds.  The process was repeated as needed.  For the metal clasp, mylar was placed between the metal and the shell to protect the surface of the shell.  The gel was applied with a brush and then rinsed with the use of chem-wipes and a bristle brush.  The gel cleaning produced a bright and shiny surface.  The process had excellent control and a quick removal of the material was possible.  The putto were adhered into place, but the shell was left partially unassembled for transportation.  A complex and well-designed storage and shipment box was created for the artifact.  This storage box was featured in the STASH flash III on May 14th and will be published on the AIC STASH website.

44th Annual AIC meeting, May 17, 2016, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do? The Conservation of an Italian Marble and Micromosaic Tabletop” by Elizabeth La Duc

Elizabeth La Duc gave an engrossing talk in the Objects Specialty session on the conservation treatment of a 19th century Pietre Dure and micromosaic tabletop belonging to the Josiah Quincy house of Historic New England. The stone tabletop, positioned on top of a painting and gilded wooden base, had and been conserved in the past.  Her treatment was readdressing this past treatment and returning it to exhibit-able condition.
Pietre Dure translates into English as “hard stone”.  The Pietre Dure portions consist of decorative stones set into the carved channels within the black marble base and adhered with a rosin and beeswax.  The micromosaic areas are images made up from tiny tesserae called smalti.  The smalti are cut to shape and inserted into an adhesive of linseed oil, lime and marble dust.  The top surface was polished to a flat surface and the gaps between the tesserae were filled with tinted beeswax.  This beeswax can be seen under ultraviolet light, but it has often been lost through over cleaning and use.
The table top was in poor condition.  The four sections were poorly adhered and slightly misaligned.  A large crack in the stone tabletop ran across the middle of the tabletop and transected both the Pietre Dure and the micromosaic elements of the table.  Two stone inlays were missing and there were losses in the micromosaic along the central break.
The conservation treatment started with a surface cleaning of calcium saturated water with the pH raised to 8.5 with ammonia and added drops of Triton.  Acetone was wicked into the old joins to dissolve the older restoration adhesive.  B72 and microballons were used to glue the pieces back together.
For the conservation of the Pietre Dure portions two options were considered.  In Florence, the missing elements would have been replaced with new cut stone.  The Pietre Dure objects are decorative and require a high level of finish.  Another Italian treatment option is to cast crushed stone and resin to recreate the missing inlays.  This second approach was chosen and the new Pietre Dure elements were created with tinted epoxy bulked with fumed silica cast into silicone rubber molds.  In some areas it was necessary to back of the Pietre Dure areas of loss with a layer of Japanese tissue coated with B72.  The epoxy elements were then cast directly into the loss.  Gamblin conservation colors were used to finish off the top of these fills and a layer of Acrysol WS24 was brushed on top to give a polished shine.
The micromosaic repairs were based on similar micromosaic designs.  Since the micromosaics were mass produced with only a small range of designs, similar images could be used as guidelines for decorative elements on the fills.  The areas of loss in the micromosaics were backed with acid free matt board topped with a layer of modostuc.  Gamblin conservation colors were used to inpaint the surface in two steps.  The first step painted the background colors and the second step painted the individual small tesserae.
This was an elegant and well executed treatment with results that were aesthetically pleasing and reversible.  Under close examination, the areas of filled loss are distinguishable from the original material.  This was a great talk and I hope to get a chance to work on micromosaics someday!

44th Annual Meeting – General Session, May 16: “Race, Diversity and Politics in Conservation: Our 21st Century Crisis,” by Sanchita Balachandran

The theme of this year’s annual meeting focused on disasters and the unexpected in conservation. However, in her talk, Sanchita Balachandran, conservator at the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum, focused not on emergencies threatening the collections we care for, but, instead, on a crisis within the field of conservation itself: the crippling lack of diversity in our profession.
In one sense, conservators are very aware of the problem. As Balachandran pointed out, we are trained to recognize the intangible as well as the tangible values inherent in the objects we treat. Implicit in this training is the fact that, as conservators, we have the power to erase history.

2016-05-16 14.43.37
Sanchita Balachandran: “We must conserve not just objects, but the lives of people inscribed on them.”

What happens when that type of power is wielded by a small, homogenous group? Graduate school prerequisites require applicants to have spent a significant amount of time gaining experience, largely through unpaid internships, which effectively excludes people from less affluent backgrounds – and by extension, certain minority populations.  Similarly, people from these backgrounds may be less willing or able to make such drastic sacrifices for a field where the job opportunities after prolonged graduate study are low-paying and scarce. This limits the field as a whole, since more diverse groups have been proven to be more innovative and more productive.
The lack of diversity also has a more problematic effect on our work. When we treat an object, we choose which tangible and intangible values to retain, and which to discard. In doing so, we privilege certain types of objects and treatments. How do we approach the issue of Confederate monuments in Baltimore that were spray-painted with the slogan, “Black lives matter”? Should the slogan be removed?
Balachandran argued that we must confront the unequal ways in which objects come to institutions; museum processes were created by a colonial framework, from which conservation itself is not exempt. If nothing else, museums and libraries exist on land taken from Native American peoples. Museums must focus on cultural heritage, as opposed to cultural property, and work to rebuild connections between objects and the communities from which they were taken.
This issue of diversity is hardly a new problem. The people who become conservators largely come from a similar racial, cultural, and socio-economic background, and tend to be overwhelmingly female. However, by raising the subject in the annual meeting, Balachandran paved the way for a real discussion on how the field can encourage the participation of people of all backgrounds. At least, that is my hope as a fledgling conservator: that this will serve as a clarion call to the AIC board, graduate programs, and administrators to reflect upon their roles as gatekeepers to the field and to implement real changes to make our profession more inclusive. The fact that Sanchita Balachandran got a well-deserved standing ovation leads me to believe that my hopes are shared by others.
Edited to add: Read the full text of the talk at Race, Diversity and Politics in Conservation: Our 21st Century Crisis, posted by Sanchita Balachandran.

Grants to join us in Los Angeles for the 2016 IIC Congress – Only two weeks left to apply!

IIC 2016 Los Angeles Congress-logo_0A range of grants is now available to assist practising conservation professionals and students to attend the IIC 2016 Los Angeles Congress.  The Congress is on the intriguing and challenging topic of Saving the Now: Crossing Boundaries to Conserve Contemporary Works and will take place from the 12th to 16th September 2016.  Please note that the deadline for application for all these grants is 31st May 2016.

  • The Getty Foundation

Thanks to the generosity of the Getty Foundation we are able to offer a limited number of grants to enable practising conservators to attend the Congress. These grants are not available to students nor to recipients of other IIC-managed grants related to attendance at the IIC 2016 Congress.
Application is open to individuals from any country not part of Western Europe, North America, Australasia or Japan, currently in employment in either a public or a private capacity. For this Congress, applications are particularly welcomed from south and central America and the Caribbean.

  •  The Brommelle Memorial fund: help for Student Members of IIC

Applicants for these IIC grants are required to be enrolled in a full-time course of conservation training leading to a recognised academic qualification. Students may apply for this funding at any time during their course of study, including their final year or internship.
These grants are not available recipients of other IIC-managed grants related to attendance at the IIC 2016 Congress. As the fund can offer only limited support, it is not expected that these grants will cover the whole costs of attending the Congress and recipients should obtain additional funding from elsewhere.

  •  Tru Vue

Thanks to the generosity of Tru Vue, we are able to offer several grants each of US$1,000 to assist practising conservators to attend the Congress.
These grants are not available to students nor to recipients of other IIC-managed grants related to attendance at the IIC 2016 Congress. Application is open to individuals from any part of the world currently in employment in heritage conservation in either a public or a private capacity.

  • The Gabo Trust

As with previous IIC Congresses, we are delighted to have the participation of the Gabo Trust in the 2016 Los Angeles Congress. The theme of the 2016 Congress Saving the Now: Crossing Boundaries to Conserve Contemporary Works is particularly relevant to the work of the Gabo Trust.
 Applications and further details
Instructions for applicants and more information can be found on the IIC Congress pages at https://www.iiconservation.org/congress/2016losangeles/grants.
 
–Graham Voce

44th Annual Meeting – Objects-Wooden Artifacts Session, Monday 16 May 2016, "The study of boxwood prayer beads and miniature altars from the Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Metropolitan Museum of Art” presented by Lisa Ellis

Lisa Ellis, Conservator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), presented collaborative work on the study of boxwood prayer beads and miniature altars from the early 16th century (c. 1500-1530). The beads and altars are very small, complex, and intricately carved artifacts whose construction has not been well characterized. Teams at the AGO and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) are exploring the carving techniques and joinery strategies using careful examination, micro-computed tomography (µCT scanning), and physical deconstruction of select artifacts to better understand how the pieces were created.
Because of their depth and small size, traditional photography has been inadequate to capture the various layers in focus within one image, making distance sharing and comparative work impossible. In order to better share between institutions and scholars, the AGO set out to photodocument these artifacts with high resolution images that are in focus throughout the depth of the artifact. In order to do this, they are taking a series of photos at various focal depths, then stacking the images to maintain sharpness. The image quality is profoundly improved from the old hazy images that made it impossible to understand the detail.

 Workshop of Adam Dirksz, Prayer bead, AGOID.29365. Detail showing “The Coronation of the Virgin.” The Thomson Collection of European Art © Art Gallery of Ontario.

Prayer bead, AGOID.29365. Detail showing “The Coronation of the Virgin.” The Thomson Collection of European Art © Art Gallery of Ontario.

 
Through preliminary x-radiography, they found that the artifacts can be grouped in to two broad classes: artifacts created in simple relief and artifacts created with a complex design. The complex artifacts were then µCT scanned, revealing the multiple elements joined together. Using medical imaging software, they were able to better understand the parts and see that the beads were created in layers. With the software, the various layers could be virtually deconstructed so that each layer could be examined and stacked, as if each piece were separate. At the MMA, Pete Dandridge, Conservator and Administrator, was able to disassemble a bead to physically see the pieces, which further helped to interpret the µCT data and reinforced the understanding of the layers. Since not all artifacts can be taken apart, the µCT scans provided to be invaluable in examining the construction and documenting the process. One example showed a bead attached to a rosary that had multiple roundels set into the main structure. The roundels could be virtually removed with the µCT scans and software, revealing a numbering system beneath.
Workshop of Adam Dirksz, Prayer bead, AGOID.29365. Micro CT scan revealing use of pegs in depiction of “The Coronation of the Virgin.” The Thomson Collection of European Art © Art Gallery of Ontario. Scans courtesy of Sustainable Archaeology at Western University.
Prayer bead, AGOID.29365. Micro CT scan revealing use of pegs in depiction of “The Coronation of the Virgin.” The Thomson Collection of European Art © Art Gallery of Ontario. Scans courtesy of Sustainable Archaeology at Western University.

 

 
In addition to examining the construction, they also looked at the limited polychromy present on some beads. Although most pieces were unpainted, a few pieces had painted details in blue, black, or red. These elements, along with adhesives and coatings, are being analyzed at the MMA and the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) with a suite of techniques.
These artifacts and findings about them will be presented in an exhibition, Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures, opening in Toronto on Nov. 5, 2016. The exhibition will feature over 60 boxwood carvings from institutions and private collections across Europe and North America. Following its debut at the AGO, the exhibition will open at the The Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Feb. 21, 2017, before travelling to the Rijksmuseum on June 15, 2017. For more details about the exhibition and related programming visit www.ago.net and follow #miniAGO on twitter and instagram.
For images and further details on the work being carried out at the AGO, visit this link at the CODART eZine: http://ezine.codart.nl/17/issue/45/artikel/investigating-miniature-boxwood-carving-at-the-art-gallery-of-ontario-in-toronto/?id=119#!/page/1
Investigation on these materials have been on-going. For some background on earlier work that started this process, visit this link on the AGO website: http://www.ago.net/idea-lab
Other collaborators not mentioned above include: Alexandra Suda (AGO), Andrew Nelson (Sustainable Archaeology, Western University), Barbara Drake Boehm (MMA – Cloisters), Elizabeth Moffatt (CCI – retired), Jennifer Poulin (CCI)

Joint 44th AIC Annual Meeting & 42nd CAC-ACCR Annual Conference, General Session, May 16, “Clandon Park – rising from the ashes,” by Christine Leback Sitwell

In the spring of 2012, as a conservation student at UCL, I had the privilege to visit Clandon Park during a field trip. When I heard of the fire that occurred almost three years after my visit, I was shocked and devastated. My attendance to this talk was driven by a personal resonation with Clandon as well as the curiosity and fascination to see an emergency plan in use, despite the circumstances.
IMG_5215

A personal photo of a classmate in the marble hall, 2012 and the marble hall post fire, 2015

Christine Sitwell, the Paintings Conservation Advisor for the National Trust in the UK, discussed the emergency response plan in regards to the fire at Clandon Park. The fire started quite small in a basement office on the right side of the building in the late afternoon of April 29, 2015. The fire then rose through the empty elevator shaft, enabling it to reach the lead covered roof and travel across to the left side of the building. Because of this, items and rooms on the left side, albeit still damaged, were not as badly damaged as the right side of the building. It was estimated that the amount damaged and/or completely lost totaled ninety-five percent.
Clandon Park, being under the auspices of the National Trust, has an emergency plan in place. Ironically, five weeks prior, a training procedure involving the fire brigade occurred at Clandon. Christine briefly went over the basics of the plan, including their incident reporting system. The system involves a phone tree, salvage areas to move objects, security, and something called star item sheets. These star item sheets were developed by property staff that prioritize objects as great significance to the property or of great art historical value. They are clear, simple, and to be used by the fire brigade when salvaging items. They are laminated and have two copies, one on the property as well as one in the regional office. Below are the two example slides she provided.
clandon slide1 clandon slide2
 
Once these objects have been removed from the property, they are moved to designated salvage areas, inventoried, and finally moved to more secure locations. Three of the items salvaged included three paintings that, fortunately or unfortunately, had to be cut from their frames as the paintings in their frames were much too heavy and risky to be removed together. Positively, the frames were saved as well. Clandon has bottom hanging frames just for this reason, the frames hang at the bottom for ease of removal.
Once the bulk of the items are salvaged things are not over. In addition to inventory and conservation, the next issue is security. Christine mentioned that the ease of information through the internet, smart phones, and the press increased risk of theft of items and perhaps more subsequent damage to the building. The emergency plan for Clandon Park includes a communication officer. Their duty is to be the point of up to date information regarding any changes, and updates during and immediately following an emergency. They are the point of contact with the press and the public.
Christine then shared a video diary she recorded during the aftermath of the fire. It included a school that was shut down for two days to help store some of the objects. The video diary is below.
Rescued from the ruins – a video diary of the salvage operation at Clandon Park
More issues occurred because of the many different salvage sites. A collections management system was created in a spreadsheet manner in order to determine the different levels of damage to each object within each salvage site. The building construction was damaged but intact, leaving a shell of a building. The damage was assessed with a 3D laser and the building’s structural stability was able to be evaluated. There were various other methods of surveying the damage, including a drone.
There were also the health hazards associated with the burning lead roof. The burning created about six feet of lead oxide dust and debris inside. The possible risk of mercury and asbestos poisoning was also present. Therefore, admittance had to be regulated and personnel properly outfitted in order to excavate the burnt layers to retrieve small finds.
The final part of the talk was in regards to the future of Clandon Park. It was stated that the General Director of the National Trust will rebuild Clandon Park, but to what degree. There have been instances with other National Trust properties on how they have handled such a large devastation. The options with how to handle Clandon park were to: demolish, maintain as a ruin, restore completely, reinvent for another purpose, or a use blended approach. The latter seems the most likely to occur.
To end her talk, Christine shared another video about the future of Clandon Park. The video can be seen below.
Clandon Park: The Future
Overall, it was intriguing and somber to see an emergency plan being utilized during such a destructive event. I enjoyed the fact that it was not a talk on the development of a plan in case of emergency, but rather the practice of it in the moment. Not only was this a learning experience for the National Trust and everyone involved in the process, I’m sure it meant a great deal to everyone who was present at Christine’s talk. If anyone else had the chance to visit Clandon before the fire, then you are aware of how such a startling loss this has been, not only for the local community, but for admirers around the world.  I am hopeful for Clandon Park’s future.
 
Further information:
Clandon Park at the National Trust
Our Work at Clandon Park

44th Annual Meeting – Book & Paper Session, May 17, "Targeted Cleaning of Works on Paper: Rigid Polysaccharide Gels and Conductivity-Adjusted Aqueous Solutions," Amy Hughes and Michelle Sullivan

The past few years have seen an uptick in the number of BPG session talks focusing on cross-disciplinary materials and techniques that allow for more targeted treatment approaches. Specifically, the use of rigid polysaccharide gels, such as agarose and gellan gum, and conductivity-adjusted waters are techniques with a more established history in paintings and objects conservation that are being adapted for treatment of works on paper.
Michelle Sullivan, Graduate Fellow in the Department of Paper conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum, spoke first about the use of gel systems in targeted cleaning of works on paper. Sullivan outlined the advantages of gel systems, which include:

  • targeted, precise application by cutting gels to shape
  • restricted lateral movement, minimizing tideline formation
  • increased dwell time for reagents in solution and solvents
  • no mechanical action, protecting paper fibers
  • colorless, transparent/translucent gels facilitate treatment monitoring
  • ease of removal, virtually no residues

While the science behind these gel systems is best left to the experts in the postprints, here are a few notes worth keeping in mind when designing treatments with gels:

  • Agarose is more opaque than gellan gum; gellan gum’s translucency allows you to more closely monitor treatment.
  • Casting thinner gels affords greater control over solvent diffusion.
  • Pore size is inversely related to concentration; the higher the concentration, the smaller the pore size, which leads to greater capillary action.
  • You can use a range of modified aqueous solutions with the gel systems, including pH- and conductivity-adjusted waters, chelators, and enzymes.
  • The gels can be used with polar solvents; just soak the prepared gel in solvent of choice overnight. Sullivan noted that the gels become more rigid when soaked in solvent, so she recommends cutting them to the desired shape and size prior to soaking.
  • Examination under UV revealed more consistent washing with the gel than with a traditional blotter wash.

Sullivan then presented two case studies. First, by tracing the outline of a stain onto a sheet of polyester film and then using this template to shape the gellan gum, she was able to reduce the stain locally without the risk of tidelines. In the second example, Sullivan humidified a print and then washed it overall by placing it face-up on a sheet of gellan gum. A medium-weight sekishu paper was placed between the print and the gel. (She tried Hollytex as a washing support, but it did not allow for consistent penetration.)
Experimentation is currently underway to determine whether or not gel residue is left behind on the paper substrate. Agarose, gellan gum, and methylcellulose are being tagged with UV-fluorescent dyes in order to track their movement onto the paper; results of this testing should be available  in 2017.
Next, Amy Hughes, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, spoke about her research into the use of pH- and conductivity-adjusted waters in treatment. Adjusted waters minimize swelling of the paper fibers while at the same time improving wetability and solubilization of degradation products, allowing conservators to design treatments that are more sensitive to the object. Again, I’ll leave the scientific explanation to the expert (though I have to note her lovely illustration of osmosis featuring a very plump carrot), but the procedure involves measuring surface pH- and conductivity of the object using agarose plugs and handheld meters (this video from the Getty clearly outlines the process) and then combining ammonium hydroxide (weak base) and acetic acid (weak acid) to form ammonium acetate (neutral salt) that, with water, can be used to create an isotonic solution (a procedure also outlined in a Getty video). Hughes did note that some objects washed in adjusted waters retained a vinegar odor that took 3-5 days to dissipate; further testing is underway to address this issue.
These talks left me feeling very inspired to begin testing out these new treatment methods in my lab!
 
 

44th Annual Meeting – Research and Technical Studies, May 17, "Characterizing the Age of Ancient Egyptian Manuscripts through micro-Raman Spectroscopy" by Sarah Goler

This is another session that I tweeted (@taradkennedy), so not a long post, but enough to give you the gist at least.
Ms. Goler was using micro-Raman spectroscopy for dating of Egyptian manuscript material.This is super cool because normally we’d have to take a sample of a manuscript and do carbon dating in order to determine a date of an unknown. With this method, we don’t!
So, how does it work? Essentially measurements are taken of the carbon black ink on a particular manuscript using micro-Raman spectroscopy. Using the difference in the dominant peak heights in the spectrograph with ink samples where the date is known, ratios are plotted and graphed to show dates:

Height ratio between peaks D & G and document date ranges
Height ratio between peaks D & G and document date ranges

So, the more plots you have, the more dates you have; and the more dates you have, the easier it is to determine the date range of an unknown manuscript.
To test that this would work, Ms. Goler analyzed a manuscript where she didn’t know the date range, but the librarian/ curator did. Using this method, she was able to date the manuscript within a 70 year range!
Got the date right +/- 70 years. That's pretty damn good and safer for the object than carbon dating.
Got the date right +/- 70 years. That’s pretty damn good and safer for the object than carbon dating.

It was nondestructive in that the energy level of the laser used didn’t “burn up” the ink sample. One of the issues that a conservator from the University of Michigan else mentioned during the Q&A portion was that in order to get the peak response that Ms. Goler got, she would destroy the sample. Since my experience with Raman spectroscopy is zero, I can’t really speculate why Ms. Goler was successful and this other woman from U of M was not.
I did think this is a really promising technique, provided I understood the content correctly. If people have edits or corrections, be sure to comment below!

44th Annual Meeting, May 16, Research and Technical Studies, Visible-Induced Luminescence Imaging: Past, Current and Future Applications in Conservation Research, Dawn Kriss and Anna Serotta

I was excited to see the most recent update on VIL imaging as it is an accessible imaging technique that can be used to localize pigments with specific characteristics. It is useful for anyone interested in painted surfaces, and can be used in conjunction with other multispectral imaging, or as a standalone technique.
The basic idea is that you need a light source to produce visible light, a camera with its infrared filter removed, and a bandpass filter to limit the type of light that gets to the camera sensor, along with some standards to help process the images. The pigment particles on the object are excited in the visible range, and emit infrared radiation which is detected by the modified camera. This technique can be used to detect trace remains of pigments that are all but undetectable to the naked eye. The technique was developed by scientists from the British Museum and the Courtauld Institute (see Verri et al., 2009) [1].
In the case studies shown in Dawn and Anna’s presentation the focus was on Egyptian blue, which produces luminescence in the infrared (~910nm) when exposed to visible light. Optimizing the capture and processing protocols will mean better results and hopefully, a means of standardizing and sharing information between conservators working in different labs.  While VIL is gaining popularity as more museums add it to their workflow (for example. as part of the APPEAR project spearheaded by the Getty), the technique is still being developed, with much more progress on the horizon. Dawn and Anna reported on results of a survey of VIL users to show where progress has been made and where we can still expect some improvements in the technique.

gif showing VIL and normal illumination images of Brooklyn Museum's portrait, Noblewoman, ca. 150 C.E. Encaustic on wood. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc., 86.226.1, image courtesy Brooklyn Museum
Click for larger image and to view transition! A gif showing VIL and normal illumination images of Brooklyn Museum’s portrait, Noblewoman, ca. 150 C.E. Encaustic on wood. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc., 86.226.1, image courtesy Brooklyn Museum
Capture: varying light sources
There are many options for lights used for excitation, so choosing a light source that is targeted to your research question is critical. As an example, the authors described work by my classmate Brian Castriota showing that red LEDs with an output centered at 630 nm caused greater luminescence of Egyptian blue compared to white LEDs. More research on the luminescence characteristics of other pigments will help users optimize their light sources to target specific pigments.
Processing: calibration, standards, and protocols 
While many conservators using VIL use the CHARISMA protocols (developed by the British Museum), others are using Photoshop to process the images. Egyptian blue VIL images are usually shown in monochrome, but as the technique is expanded different overlays or crossfades will help communicate the results by registering the images with other photographs, as Dawn and Anna did for the images shown in their presentation. This is one of the greatest advantages of VIL: it’s very easy to understand the images that are generated and easy to communicate the results to the public. However, capturing good metadata and using appropriate standards are critical for the intercomparability of these data in the future. It will be crucial to develop a luminescence scale or target in order to compare images from institutions who may not be using the exact same capture or processing parameters.
What do we have to look forward to? 
While its initial development as a tool for identifying Egyptian blue has led to its popularity among archaeological conservators, it seems like the technique is ripe for more widespread adoption for research into modern pigments, some of which also have unique luminescence properties.
Conservators can use a variety of wavelengths using targeted or tunable light sources (e.g. the CrimeScope, adapted from the forensics field) to survey visible-induced luminescent pigments (other examples of which include dragon’s blood, Indian yellow, Han blue, cadmium red and yellow). Dawn and Anna showed an example of imaging surveying cadmium pigments used in Stuart Davis’s Mellow Pad carried out by their Brooklyn colleague Jessica Ford. For more on the work from the team at the Brooklyn Museum, see their recent blog post here.
References.
[1] Verri, Giovanni, et al. “Assyrian Colours: Pigments on a Neo-Assyrian Relief of a Parade Horse.” The British Museum Technical Research Bulletin 3 (2009): 57–62.