We first learned how to back a cracked canvas with a newer canvas. This painting originally had an old mend which was first taken off. Then we used brushes to remove any dust or dirt that would effect the process of lining the painting. This can be really stressful and frantic because you need to quickly line the old canvas without any ripples and wrinkles so the type of glue won't set in the wrong place.
We also finished taking our frescoes off the plaster from my last post. It's a little complicated to explain but here it goes: A canvas is first applied to the wall or in this case a plaster block that has a fresco on it and glue is swiped over the top of it. After that dries for a day the canvas is peeled off the plaster as shown below. Sometime plaster is still stuck to the canvas so to get as much of it off the canvas as possible it is gently pounded with a mallet or scraper. Then another canvas is attached on top of the canvas you scraped the plaster off, thus sandwiching the fresco in-between the two canvases. We waited another day for that to dry. The cloth in front was then moistened with water to remove it. The finished product basically looks like an oil on canvas painting.
My classmates are slowly peeling away the canvas from the plaster and then scraping the left over plaster off.
Here's my sibyl freed from the plaster!
On one of the last days we went to an actual site and worked on restoring frescoes on walls. I think the house was used for many ceremonies, especially weddings. It was good experience to work at an actual site. If you think the arched, small space below looks confining imagine conservator's working on Vasari's frescoes inside the Duomo. It makes my neck hurt just thinking about it!
Also it depends on how busy I start to get, but I'll try to post some of the field trips we went on with Lorenzo . He had many connections from all the buildings and objects he restored for clients so we got a lot of exclusive tours and see some rarely shown art.
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