An oil painting in desperate need of cleaning
Paintings get dirty just like anything else, and need to be cleaned every so often. Depending on the paint that was used to create the paintings, there are different methods for cleaning them. Learn clean oil paintings, since this type of painting is one of the more difficult ones to clean.
Instructions
The Bread Method
1. Lay down your drop cloth on a table or the floor to protect the surfaces in your home while you're cleaning the painting. Place the painting on the drop cloth.
2. Pull chunks of dough from the center of one of the loaves of bread. Take the chunk of bread and scrub the surface of the oil painting gently. You will be able to see dirt come off on the bread. When the bread is dirty or begins to disintegrate, get a new piece and repeat the procedure until you've done the whole painting.
3. Use the soft bristle paintbrush to brush off any bread crumbs that stuck to the painting. You don't want them on the painting because they will draw bugs that could do further damage to your artwork.
The Museum Method
4. Take a photograph of the front and back of the oil painting you are going to clean. This is to preserve any writing and for you to know what the painting looked like prior to cleaning.
5. Make sure the room you are cleaning the painting in has good ventilation because the substances you will be using to clean your oil painting have very strong chemical odors and should not be inhaled.
6. Cover the table you are going to work on with brown Kraft paper.
7. Lay your oil painting face up on the Kraft paper, and put surgical gloves on.
8. Take a piece of white cotton wool or cloth and put some Gainsborough Neutralizer on it. Use the cloth to gently wipe over the entire surface of your oil painting and this will pick up any dirt from the surface.
9. Take one of your 6-inch cotton swabs and dip it into a bit of Gainsborough Emulsion Cleaner and then test it out on a corner of your oil painting. Right after the test, take another cotton swab and dip it in Gainsborough Neutralizer and apply it to the test spot. Repeat this process with the Gainsborough Varnish Remover. The Neutralizer will stop any cleaning action of these cleaner and the varnish remover.
10. Take another cotton swap and dip it in the cleaner that worked best when you did the tests. Using a rolling motion with your cotton swap apply the cleaner to your oil painting. Do this over a 2-inch area of your painting and make sure when doing so that you are only removing dirt and old varnish and not paint. Once you've cleaned the 2-inch area, then apply neutralizer to stop the cleaning action for that area.
11. Repeat Step 7 with a new cotton swab for every 2-inch area of your oil painting until the painting is cleaned. When you get to the half way point of cleaning your oil painting take a photo with your digital camera.
12. Take all your used cotton swabs, cotton wool and or cloth and put them in a metal container with a lid before disposing of them.
13. Allow your oil painting to dry overnight.
14. Apply Gainsboro gloss varnish to your oil painting with a flat bristle paintbrush. Allow it dry for a day or two, take a new photograph of it, then hang it back up.
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