Re: removing shellac from old oil paintings

In Reply to: Re: removing shellac from old oil paintings posted by rob howard on 06/11/00 at 8:52 AM:

Yes I am aware that shellac will soften readily in denatured (or any wood) alcohol for that matter and that turpentine is the solvent for damar varnish (except in my experience.. when damar is very old--even turpentine has problems softening it).

My problem is old paintings (I have several very old ones ) that appear to have been not only coated with shellac for the protective finish, but also apparently were done with the pigment mixed in shellac or some other alcohol soluble medium.

In the process of attempting to use denatured alcohol to remove a test patch of the shellac which contained plenty of embedded trash (such as newsprint bits and roach excretion) in it from being improperly stored in a hot old attic for years the pigment itself itself started to come off too--quickly and easily.

Back to my original question: Can you make any suggestions as to how to clean enough of the surface shellac off to remove all the nasty trash..alcohol is too aggressive...

Thank you,
Barbara
Re: removing shellac from old oil paintings rob howard   Posted at: 06/11/00 (1)

 

 
A. A. Art. This Site designed and maintained by Alexei Antonov
Translation from Russian Copyright (c) 1999 Vladimir Pavlov.
Copyright (c) 1999 Alexei Antonov. All rights reserved.