Crystal plates

I have just finished restoring some big crystal plates from a
contemporary artist.  When being exposed in public they are filled
up with water and have some crystal cubes in them as well.  They had
some cracks in the bottom and I have consolidated them with an epoxy
resin (EpoTek 301-2).  I'm asking myself some questions:

Will the water affect the resin (because the plates can be exposed
sometimes for a few months)?

Should I isolate the resin with some silicone (but that will also
make the restoration less reversible)?

What will be the best water to fill up the plates during
exhibitions: de-ionized water (but with the risk of taking away some
elements of the glass)?  Tap water (with the risk of having some
calcareous deposits and the fact that the tap water is not the same
in every country)?  Boiled tap water?  Mineral water with few
mineral elements?

As the pH of the water has to be neutral, what would be the best
element to add to the water to adjust it ?

As the plates are very large and it will not be easy to change the
water very often, what should we add also to the water to avoid the
proliferation of microorganisms, but without making the water
cloudy.  And what would be the impact of such a product on the glass
and on the restoration?

Geraldine Bussienne
Private glass and ceramics conservator


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:4
                   Distributed: Sunday, June 7, 2009
                        Message Id: cdl-23-4-023
                                  ***