Featured Did anyone watch AR last night?

Hi,
My SIL was over last night and we were watching AR. When one of the painting experts said "The best cleaner for paintings is spit." My SIL almost fainted. She said I heard you say that for years and I just figured you were nuts. She is always questioning my comments. My favorite one was the one were I said that Santa's reindeer were all female. She said females do not have antlers. She quickly looked it up on her PHONE and said that I was right since the females keep their antlers for the winter and the males lose theirs. She was so mad that she could almost spit. her kids keep telling her that I am the smartest person they know.
greg

 

Agree with Greg...spit is a fine solvent.

 

I remember you saying that Greg, I am always learning here.

 

You could go around the neighborhood and collect a bucket of spit.

 

EEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

When an English cameo-collecting friend contacted the V&A over a delicate cleaning matter, the conservation department recommended saliva.

 

Hi,
It was enough to save your own by spitting into a glassful several times a day for a week. Keep it in the refrigerator and well marked!!!!! Five of us did that for a week.
Then we started, take a Q-tip and dip it into the salvia and gently rub over the painting in 2 sq inches, let sit and then with a new Q-tip dampened with a tiny bit of water and rinse off the area you did. Then taking a clean Q-tip dampened with alcohol wipe off the area you just washed and rinsed. The five of us took several weeks to clean two of the painted panels. They were 2 feet wide and 7 ft tall. We had a total of 12 panels to do. That was the start. The four other helpers did help when ever they were able. Usually four hours a week, I did at least three hours a day. They were stunning when done. They were the easy part. The large plaster Stations of the Cross were six feet by six ft, They took much longer since they had no protective final finish on top. Every tiny spot ½ inch square was done at a time with the saliva and then rinsed and dried with a hair dryer. No rubbing or the color would lift off.
greg

 

Greg, we all have know that for years!

When I started in graphic design many years ago everything was done by hand. That means if we wanted to show a layout with type all rendered in color very often we had to paint the lettering in gouche, an opaque water based paint. I would swish the brush in water, tap off the excess and then dip it saliva. It made the brush gather to a perfect point!

 

Hi,
Thank you Marie. (I am missing an embarrassed emoji )
greg

 

Hi Marie,
Just be careful, remember all of those young women who died of radiation poisoning by using their mouth to sharpen the points of the brushes when painting radium on watch dials.
greg

 

I would think there'd be more investigation into this phenomenon including production of a base formula using the same chemicals but without bacteria?? Or has this been tried in vain? Does one brush one's teeth before spitting into a collection glass? Or does that destroy some of the best cleaning ingredients? And are there foods more preferable to eating prior to spitting? Is there a difference between human and say, dog saliva (which can be far more copious) as per effectiveness? Do the gross rich who buy old dirty master paintings for millions require their cleaning staff ie housekeepers to have good spit? Or do they use their own as a means of marking their new "territories" of wealth... The questions are endless!!!

 

Spit will work but remember it's still a solvent. Better to start with distilled water if you just have to clean it yourself and not have a restorer or conservator do it for you.

 

Hi,
Never clean with water distilled or not. It can seep into tiny cracks and dissolve the gesso layer thus causing flaking and other paint loss. This was STRESSED by the MET the damage may not show up for months afterwards.
greg

 

No worries Greg, it has been many, many years since computers took over and hand work has fallen by the wayside! More’s the pity, I do miss the artistry of hand work

PS, I didn’t want to gross out boardies, but I did use my mouth to sharpen the point and still do when I work on watercolors. Love the nice, sharp point it makes

 

http://www.fineartconservationlab.c...aliva-wins-chemistry-harvards-ig-nobel-prize/

 

I hope the woman in the photo only tipped that brush ONCE into her mouth! If more than once, why not just lick the painting? You'd think conservators would be fully aware of the poisons and toxins used in paint/varnish, ntm crap from the air these days that fall onto objects. Again, this 'cleaning fluid' needs more investigation. I'd even bet there's a plant or bug in the rain forest that has the same composition, also far more pure, than possibly noxious human spit. Conservators of the future may rue the day humans vainly thought our bodily fluids most adept, as diseases once totally eradicated are now seeping out of the Mona Lisa...

 

Conservators only "lick" the swab once. Actually, they typically hold one or more in their mouths to get wet, while working with another one. Looks sort of funny, actually. They are also well versed in the hazards of materials, old and new.

 

Hi,
The fact is the Met taught us to dip the Q-Tip in the salvia NOT to hold Q-tips in our mouths. They are disposed of after ONE swipe. Hell if it was one swipe after washing dishes we would all be dead by now. Dish Washers DO NOT sterilize dishes only removing nastiness.
Zinnie, I think there would be far more danger of unknown insects having noxious
microbes. Remember our salvia is washed off and "germs" die when they are air dried. You are probably are a person who believes that hand sanitisers sterilize your hands. Remember that for alcohol to sterilize, the item has to be submerged in 70% alcohol for 24 hours. The less than the under i percent of hand sanitisers have even 1 percent of alcohol in their formula. Sanitising is far different from Sterilizing.
greg

 

Nope, I stopped using any kind of 'sanitizer' long ago - what a scam. I'm as organic as possible but I even rinse produce thoroughly. It's good to know they only use the q-tip once. I hope they use organic cotton ones though. Yes, I suppose we'd have heard if conservators were dying from diseases off old paintings by now. Insects would no longer be 'unknown' if thoroughly dissected for possible use. I'm thinking a plant might prove a better source though. We just haven't explored all that the rain forest provides for us, even as we keep chopping it down. And how often has it been after the fact that we've figured out human/animal bodily fluids are far more dangerous than just inconvenient? Plague, anyone? Continuing dead lakes and rivers?