Two polychrome statues, one whose hand was previously repaired incorrectly.
Both were quite dirty.
Our job was to remove the poor repair, repair it correctly,
and clean and stabilize the finish on both statues.   The treatment was a mixture of conservation techniques and restoration techniques.

With the warring club removed, it is easy to see
the fingers were glued into place backwards and upside down.

Mitchell built a box to allow for proper safe clamping, and we used
florists foam to mold a bed to protect the statue during treatment

A heated scalpel cut through the prior glue, separating the incorrectly glued fingers.
That same technique lifted bits of glue inside the palm.

The fingers lost part of their original materials during the incorrent reparation;
we added wood to carve for the proper fit.
This process took two separate glue and cure phases.

The wood was carefully carved after the glue set.

Both statues were dirty and had never been professionally cleaned.
Kate removed layers of embedded grease and grime from
a century of use prior to painting the infill on the new parts.

We are often asked what we use to clean various items.
The reason we do not state this publicly is that someone might use what
we used successfully on the wrong object without testing
the technique or formula and harm their object.

Finally, the newly carved infill was painted using Gamblin oil paints,
No other infill was performed.

Before and after treatment.

©MPF Conservation
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