2025 Poster Session

Objects stuck to their glazing (or other materials) is not an uncommon problem in conservation. However, much of the literature regarding adherence to glazing focuses on photographs stuck to glass, and there is little to be found highlighting other circumstances. Thus, when tasked with separating thick oil-based printing ink from acrylic glazing, experimentation with novel removal techniques was required.

Untitled (1983) by David Engel, in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, is an abstract etching and linocut on heavy wove paper. The linocut component consisted of several thick and textured layers of oil-based printing ink. Untitled had been float mounted with wide margins onto a backing board and framed without a window mat or spacers to hold the acrylic glazing away from the media, resulting in parts of the topmost red ink layer becoming adhered to the acrylic. Raking light photography emphasized the areas of the ink that were stuck.

A mechanical method was deemed the safest avenue for removal, due to the possibility of microcracks forming in the acrylic when exposed to solvents and since the margins surrounding the print made the media inaccessible for testing. As removing the print in pristine condition was highly unlikely, the primary goal of treatment was to remove the print with the least amount of media loss possible.               

To try different removal techniques and determine how best to release Untitled, I created linocut mockups and used acrylic glazing to recreate the conditions of Untitled as closely as possible. I tested several mechanical methods of separating my mockup prints from their acrylic, including (careful!) brute force as a control, humidification, and temperature modification. All the mockups were removed with a microspatula, using a gentle twisting motion near the stuck ink. The results of these approaches can be illustrated through images and micrographs.  

My testing showed that freezing the entire mockup was the most successful method. Using a chest freezer, I froze Untitled and removed it from the acrylic slowly, over the course of several days. The largest adhered areas were less responsive to my microspatula technique, so after testing a few more frozen mockups, I found a mat cutting blade very effective for separating the remainder of the ink from the acrylic while Untitled was still frozen. These techniques resulted in a freed print in very good condition; the few areas of loss that occurred during the removal process were easily reattached or filled and inpainted. After treatment, there was virtually no visual evidence that the print had been adhered to its glazing.

Though the materials and condition of an individual object affect the feasibility of freezing, these experimental results provide a new technique to consider for the separation of hydrophobic media stuck to acrylic glazing.