I got my hand slapped for washing overglaze decorated ceramics in 1975,
and have never done so since; dry brush only, and a soft brush is better
for that.  The hard brush and the water are for underglaze decorated
ceramics, and glass.  Painted glass, by definition painted above the
surface of the object, should also be dry brushed, and with a soft
brush.  I was also trained to wash most metals, on the theory that
they've been wet in the ground, and one more time won't hurt them.  But,
this is not the case--as any conservator will tell you, most metal
objects reach an equilibrium with their surrounding soil matrix, and
will be very badly affected by removal of this matrix through immersion
in water and scrubbing with a brush.  Dry brushing is messier and much
more time consuming, but it is the Dept. Interior (NPS?) standard, for
the above reasons.

D. Babson.
 

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Archaeological & Historical Consultants, Inc.
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 10:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: hardware cloth, drying racks, etc


"always wondered about the origins of that phrase, since the mesh is
not, at all, "cloth."  actually the good screen material, almost
imposible to find now, was woven like cloth, with the strands of
"across" (weft) wire going under and over the strands of "up and down"
(warp) wire.  Nowadays, the wires are just laid over each other and
galvanized to effectively solder the joins together.  But his version
does not hold up to screening and needs frequent replacing.

As for using paper towels under your drying artifacts - I recommend
newspaper.  Think of it as useful recylcing.

Hard toothbrushes are not supposed to be good for tooth enamel, which is
pretty hard stuff.  So they are probably not good for ceramics either.
Are you scrubbing the overglaze decal decorations off?  Maybe you should
just accept the cultural shift and use soft brushes.  If the artifacts
are not getting clean, would a little dish soap help, or a longer soak
before scrubbing?

Meli Diamanti
Archaeological and Historical Consultants, Inc.