Consulting and Conservation Assessment

Bynon Art Services offers consulting and conservation assessments. We understand that preserving the historical and cultural value of works of art presents a range of challenges to owners and collection managers. The first step is to be preemptive to try to avoid unnecessary damage before it occurs. Bynon Art Services offers a variety of services from individual condition reports to surveys of entire collections. We can identify potential problems and implement strategies to address potential hazards and advise on treatments where necessary. We would be happy to help with grant proposals to raise funding for any of our services. Preventive conservation is our aim and its implementation greatly enhances the condition of artifacts and collections.

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Frame Conservation

The preservation treatments for frames and gilded objects often combine elements of both conservation and restoration. Commonly encountered materials such as various leaf metals, bole, gesso and animal glues are inherently fragile and therefore sensitive to environmental conditions. Changing relative humidity and temperature can affect wood substrates and overlying layers. Stabilizing and re-adhering unstable areas of the surface can become a time consuming process.

Many treatments may apply to the conservation of frames. Treatments can range from cleaning, consolidating and re-adhering unstable areas of a surface to large reconstruction projects or addressing a frames structural stability. With every project we assess, we aim to do the least invasive treatment and we will work with a client to determine the most suitable treatment, if any. In the past, picture frames have been regarded as secondary objects within a collection, and in some cases seen as disposable. Fortunately these attitudes have been gradually changing over the years. The realization of a frame's importance in a collection has been advanced by high conservation costs or in some cases, reproduction costs.

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Frame Conservation II

A very common condition seen in frames and other gilded objects is improper restoration with bronze powder paint, often applied to mask surface abrasions, fills and losses. The bronze powder paint will have looked "new" and acceptable at the time it was applied, but over time the metal powders in the paint oxidize and become dark or even green. Fortunately, bronze paints applied to water gilded surfaces are often easily removed with appropriate solvents, though this treatment may be very time consuming. Bronze paint applied over oil gilding is difficult to remove and in many cases impossible because of the similar solubility of the paint and oil used to attach the leaf. To learn more about the two methods of gilding please read - "Gilding Techniques" at the end of this section.

Bynon Art Services also specializes in areas frequently neglected or over looked. It is often said that one of the reasons a frame is placed around a work of art, is to provide protection. Too frequently this is far from the truth. Many paintings and works of art on paper, throughout their lifetime, have been framed and re-framed due to taste or damage. It is very common to find a painting pushed into a frame that does not fit and is far from original to the work. Frequently encountered are frames in which a rabbet has been crudely chiseled out to enable the fitting of a canvas. Also regularly seen are artworks held in their frames by screws, rusty nails, various household tapes and many more ingenious methods. The structure and stability of a frame contributes to the safety of the artwork when it is correctly implemented. We do not just ensure that the frame is structurally sound in itself. We make sure that the frame and the artwork are stable and work together. We can also create microclimate frames that work within the constraints of an existing frame.

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Object Conservation

In addition to conservation of frames and gilded surfaces, Bynon Art Services also offers conservation services for historic objects. We have training and experience with a wide range of materials and carry out work on decorative arts, social history, and archaeological objects. We are able to conduct condition assessments for a large collection, treat a single specific piece, or offer expert advice on a variety of conservation related issues from integrated pest management to storage recommendations for historic objects.

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Gilding Techniques

Water Gilding - Is a method that employs several layers of chalk gesso, followed by layers of bole (gilding clay). At the right moment the surface to be gilded is flooded with water. The delicate leaf is placed or almost floated on the water with the use of a gilders tip. As the water soaks into the layers of bole and gesso, the gold leaf becomes adhered to the bole. If a highly polished surface is desired, the gold is burnished with an agate burnisher.

Oil Gilding - Is an easier way to apply metal leaf to just about any surface. First the surface is sealed with a primer or a burnish sealer. This application is to prevent the size (adhesive), from being soaked into the surface and losing its ability to adhere the leaf to the surface. The next step is the application of the size itself. A number of different sizes are available that vary in the amount of time they require for drying. This drying time often dictates the size of the area to be gilded. When the size has become "tacky", the metal leaf is applied and the size is allowed to dry.

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