When we first unrolled the bundle of architectural drawings, it felt like opening a time capsule. These weren’t ordinary sheets of paper — they were made on linen drafting cloth, a tough, translucent fabric once considered the gold standard for architects and engineers. From the late 1800s until the 1960s, this was the material of…
18th Century (1700s) Architects in Europe (and colonial America) drafted on high-quality rag paper (often handmade linen or cotton rag stock) using ink and graphite. Drawings were typically laid out in pencil. Then they were “inked-in” for permanence with quill or early metal-nib pens. Tools like straightedges, compasses, and needle prickers were used to…
Foxing is a widespread condition affecting paper and textile-based cultural heritage materials. While it’s most commonly associated with books and prints, foxing can just as easily mar textile-mounted documents, tracing cloth, or drafting linens. Understanding the nature of foxing is essential not just for conservators but also for collectors, curators, and institutions responsible for long-term…
Date: August 2025By: Heritage Preservation Atelier Pvt. Ltd. Introduction In the quiet archives of the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, a once-vibrant oil painting by renowned artist Kirpal Singh from 1968 sat shrouded under yellowed Japanese tissue, awaiting rescue. What began as a preservation effort 30 years ago had become a fragile mask over…
Capturing a fleeting moment onto a tangible surface for later recollection stands as one of humanity’s most transformative inventions. This material record of people, lives, and memories was not the result of a sudden discovery, but rather the culmination of years of scientific inquiry and experimentation. Long before photography became a formal discipline, many pioneers…
Acrylic, as a material, occupies a nuanced position in art conservation. The general hesitance around the use of acrylics in conservation stems from the potential risks they pose to artworks in certain contexts. However, there are specific instances where acrylic materials, particularly conservation-grade resins and in-painting colors, are both acceptable and preferred. Here’s a breakdown…
Introduction: Art has the remarkable ability to capture the essence of a moment, evoke emotions, and tell stories. However, over time, valuable artworks can suffer from the accumulation of stubborn grime and the deterioration of the surface coating. To tackle this challenge and restore the original brilliance of paper paintings, a customized cleansing system has…
through a Robe worn by Sri Banda Singh Bahadur ji: Story of the first attempt to preserve it One of the most revered heroes of our land and culture is Banda Singh Bahadur ji. Whenever i tried to write about Banda Bahadur ji, i couldn’t. I also couldn’t sleep that night. I encourage readers to…
This hundred year old temple needed an uplift. It had wall paintings that were not clearly visible due to layers of grime and there was also heavy flaking to make the condition worst. The temple authorities had already tried a few artists to over paint the damaged paintings. The new over-painting of course looked brighter,…
What is sellotape? Sellotape is basically a brand of transparent, polypropylene-based, pressure-sensitive tape. But, this term is also used for any such pressure sensitive tape of any brand. Sellotape is generally used for joining, sealing, attaching and mending.The older version of sellotape has shown some changes in its physical and chemical properties over a…
This blog post is about the conservation and preservation of a scrapbook/album with extremely important documents, pictures and maps, that was breaking into pieces because of ageing and brittleness. During initial observations it was found that it is extremely difficult to remove the originals from the brittle backing because the adhesive had turned acidic, brown…
Reports and write-ups on “Conservation of a canvas paintings” generally skip or very slightly mention the problems (and their treatment) at the back of a canvas painting. We need to understand that back represents the health of the canvas support on which the paint layer is resting. Dust/dirt has a tendency to collect on the…
Namita JaspalHeritage Preservation Atelier, Chandigarh, Indianamitajaspal72@gmail.com, heritage.atelier@gmail.comhttp://www.heritagepreservationatelier.comKeywords – Sikh art, Mural paintings, Conservation, Religion AbstractThis case study regarding the conservation of wall paintings at The Golden Temple (Sri Harmandar Saheb Ji) Amritsar, India, intends to highlight some specific conservation issues related to the active religious sites that are historically very important and have huge role…
Introduction to Agarose gel Agarose is one of the two principal components of agar, and is purified from agar by removing agar’s other component, agaropectin. Chemistry – Agarose, the gelling fraction, is a neutral linear molecule essentially free of sulfates, consisting of chains of repeating alternate units of ß-1,3-linked- D-galactose and a-1,4-linked 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose. Agarose is…
An important record of an organization, in the form of a scrap book, was brought to our lab for treatment and preservation. The data was important and the originals need to be rescued from further deterioration. The pictures, maps and documents in this scrapbook were pasted with an acidic glue to the black paper of…
Old photographs are not just pictures showing some image, but, their anatomy, composition, texture and information written/printed/stamped etc. tell a lot more about the time, people, techniques of photography, its stability/instability with time and how it can be preserved or treated. These days , at Heritage Preservation Atelier, we are working on a collection of…
Conservation approach Collaboration between community, religious heads, management, historians and conservation scientists is a remarkable involvement for the sacred cause of Conservation and Preservation of wall paintings of Sri Harmandir Sahib Ji. The conservation approach has to deal with multiple interwoven issues. Some points to consider were: Whether we need to explore the under-drawings, belonging…
A scrap book, which was extremely important for the archives, was brought to our lab for treatment and preservation. The data and photographs were important and these original records need to be rescued from further deterioration. The pictures, maps and documents in this scrapbook were pasted with an acidic glue to the black paper of…
Heritage and its conservation/preservation are both not very well understood by us. This is understandable, because, we lag behind in care and understanding of even more important and basic areas of life, like environment, waste-management, religion etc. In any case, each and every profession has to develop and grow in a positive way irrespective of…
Condition Assessment and Treatment Record A Life -size photograph print that came for treatment to our lab could not be taken inside immediately at its arrival, as it had live termite all over it. All the life stages of a termite could be seen on the huge framed photograph. It was extremely difficult to control…
Some objects and art work is priceless because of its historic or cultural value. It is wise to make a highly trained and educated conservator do it’s conservation with most expensive conservation grade material taking days and days of labour. But, if the work is of value only to the owner and he/she want to…
Many a times while treating certain artifacts, specially on paper, one might feel that certain old repairs or treatments might be kept as such. But, when we proceed with the treatment we find that it was better if everything added as a repair was removed before starting our own treatment. Removing old repairs or not…
Another opportunity for budding conservators to understand and learn: Conservation scenario in India The basic material and techniques used in archival conservation The basic materials and techniques in oil painting (on canvas) conservation possible job and business prospects Queries can be send here: Some glimpses from earlier workshops:
Its our experience that insects that damage books are mainly attacking spine. This is because the spine receives liberal amount of adhesive while book making. After eradicating all the various stages of insects thriving in the books, book conservators repair damaged and deteriorated bound materials. We treat them further so that readers/researchers can consult them…
Aspergillus niger is one of the most active cellulolytic fungi. The roll of drawings in the above picture is mainly infested by A. niger and Chaetomium sp. as identified from the cultures isolated from the deteriorating inner-side of the roll. This culture was maintained on potato dextrose agar slants. Following are the digital pictures of…
This black powdery sheet (!) is not burnt paper, but, paper eaten by fungus. Cellulolytic microorganisms are hiding nicely all around us and are much more destructively powerful than we can expect from the tiny spores. Storage enclosures that were designed and created for protection turned out to be actually working with the deteriogens…
In paper conservation literature, there are many ways and materials advised to be used to remove foxing or at least lighten its scars. Here i am not going to suggest what to use, but would like to mention the importance of a thorough knowledge of chemistry and physics too apart from the deep appreciation of…
That peculiar smell/odor when some old books are opened, might at times be associated with mold and foxing. We come across books with foxing that may have very strong odor. All old books have vellichor, but some have stronger musty odor. Foxing is an age-related process of deterioration that causes spots and browning on old…
We come across many different kind of problems associated with old black and white photographs. Fading, yellowing, redox blemishing, silver mirroring etc are some common problems with old photographs. These problems are generally due to the inherent causes or reasons present within the Photograph either because of the technique or material involved in making of…
All the conservation labs/workshops have mylar or melinex as the most commonly used material while treatment procedures as well as in packaging and safe storage or display etc. Such widely and frequently used material is known to all by these trade names (Mylar and Melinex), but not many know the exact properties and actual name…
Info from the print Condition Assessment We received the map in a folded form. There was some adhesive residue visible on the outside. On opening of the very first fold we found that due to the application of some adhesive, the folds were stuck to each other. There was an attempt in past, by someone…
Finally, all the books that came to our lab have been restored and given a kind of new life. They are going back to the library tomorrow morning. Following is a re-sharing of a summary of all the conservation processes performed in our lab: Team Heritage Preservation Atelier had a challenging task of conservation of…
Team Heritage Preservation Atelier had a challenging task of conservation of a set of books that could not be digitized by a library because of the extremely brittle pages and stuck up and deteriorated condition. We started with making a detailed condition assessment report. After initial documentation, we opened up the worn out and damaged…
The drawing under study is made in 1868 (as evident from the signature) and the watermark mentions the paper manufacturing year to be 1866. ‘Watermarks’ are markings put into paper during its production, by making thinner or thicker layer of pulp when it is still wet. It becomes visible when paper seen with light source…
June 26, 2018 By Manit When we first saw the drawing on site, it appeared to be in a fairly good condition. Once it arrived in our conservation lab and we started a thorough diagnosis, there were a lot many observations and analytical details that were required to be considered before any treatment methodology…
Case of a 150 year old engineering drawing
One of the miniature paintings we came across last month was showing some signs of biological degradation, but no active microbes were visible on the surface. This was unlike other miniature paintings of the same lot, which had visible mold on surface, specially at the back of the painting. This painting had no mold visible…
When a conservator gets art works like the above miniature painting, it is not just the damages that interest him/her, it is also the history/mythology and story depicted in the painting that attracts the conservator. Story/history/mythology apart from the technique and place in timeline/age, would scale the importance of the painting. We study a painting for…
