Cyclododecane

Arlen Heginbotham <aheginbotham [at] getty__edu> writes

>We are considering using cyclododecane as a temporary consolidant
>for flaking gilding and paint on a very large retablo which is going
>to be deinstalled and moved to a new site for treatment.  Due to
>time limitations, it is not possible to treat the retablo prior to
>deinstallation. We would be interested in hearing from anyone with
>experience using cyclododecane on a large scale, particularly on
>gilding, and particularly regarding the pros and cons of spray
>application vs. melt application.  Any tips on the best solvents to
>use for spraying, practical considerations when working with large
>amounts of melted material, or other concerns or encouragement would
>be appreciated.

Having seen the retablo in question, cyclododecane is an attractive
way to go, given the delicacy of the surfaces. However, in recent
tests, there is reportedly some residue left on glass slides after
sublimation of cyclododecane.  Sara Caspi and Emily Kaplan spoke
about it at the objects specialty group session at AIC this year, in
the context of stabilizing archeological ceramics.   Still, it may
be the least of all the possible "evils" with regard to
preconsolidation/stabilization, and testing would be interesting.

John Griswold



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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:7
                   Distributed: Friday, June 29, 2001
                        Message Id: cdl-15-7-006
                                  ***