Making Mounts for Artifacts.

Post by Shakhawan.

In order to show objects in the exhibits of museums in a scientific and modern way that gives an aesthetic value, we have to choose suitable materials for object bases that should have the following characteristics such as:

1- The chosen material should not harm the artifact

2- The size, shape and its color should fit with the object

-In order to support the object with the mount, we can use epoxy putty.

Epoxy putty used to make mounts.

-Another thing that we have to do is filling out the missing parts particularly places that directly connect to the base

Practicing making a mount to replace a missing part.

– Compared to the rest of the object, we have to color the replacement parts in dissimilar color.

Paints used to color epoxy mounts.

– After we had used epoxy as mount material, in order to stick the object to the base, we prefer to use B-72 in 30% as adhesive.

Plexiglass bases for the mounts.

In order to replace the missing parts, we have to discuss what type of adhesive we should use that is appropriate to the object, therefore we have to do tests to the materials that we should use in this process.

Working at the Erbil Civilizations Museum to mount artifacts.

Learning pottery restoration.

Post by Sara.

Practice pot before treatment.

Gluing the pieces of pottery using Butvar B76 with concentration 3% and 10%.  The Tg is 62-76˚C so this material fits the Iraqi environment.

Gluing sherds together.

For filling the lost places we have to use three different materials such as plaster, glass micro balloons and epoxy putty.  But before we apply the fill we coat the surface of the joints and around the joints with Acryloid B72.  Also we have to put backing materials behind the fill such as wax or Plastiline.

Wax backing behind losses.

Fill in place.

Painting the fills with acrylic and water colors and trying to choose a color which is close to the original one.

Discussing color choices for inpainting.

Practicing inpainting.

Making Pottery in the Laboratory, 2012

Post by Barnadet.

1. Prepare pure clay in the laboratory and remove dirt.

Preparing clay.

Continue to prepare clay and filter out dirt.

Preparing clay.

Students making pots in the laboratory.

Making pots.

Prepare the oven/kiln to fire the clay pots.

Preparing the kiln.

Extract pieces of fired pottery after the fire has cooled, then clean them.

After firing.

Removing the pots.

Exhibit the pieces in the laboratory.

Testing storage materials.

Post by Pshtiwan.

Test for chlorine in materials being used to preserve artifacts in the storage, like plastic bags, plastic boxes … etc.

Required materials:

1. Flame
2. Metal wire (copper)
3. Tweezers
4. Materials to be tested

Heating the copper wire.

The Process:

We heat the copper wire until it gets red, and then we stick it to the material that we want to test to take a sample. Then we put the copper wire again over the fire.  If the color of the flame was green, it is asign that there is chlorine, but if the color of the fire doesn’t change, it is sign that there is no chlorine in the material.

Looking for a green flame that indicates a positive reaction.

Lion of Babylon

Post by Ahmed.

Maintenance of the Lion’s base.

Before repair.

Because of the bad structural situation of the Lion’s base which was close to collapse, and because the Lion is one of the most important landmarks in Iraq, the maintenance committee in Babylon decided to build a new base that surrounds the old one.

During repair.

During repair.

During repair.

After repair.

Conservation Documentation

Post by Sara.

Picture 1. Conservation documentation photograph, before treatment.

When we want to conserve an archaeological piece in addition to taking a picture by camera (picture 1) it is good to draw the piece at the same time.  It is good to view all the parts and from different angles, to know better the technique of making the piece (picture 2) and the writings and decoration (picture 3) to be more clear and understood.

Picture 2.

Picture 3.

It is good to plot one of the pictures on graph paper to record the measurements (picture 4).

Picture 4

Also, mark all the damage on the pictures to make a plan for conservation (picture 5-6).  Each picture should have the object’s name, museum, and the name of the person who worked on or conserved the piece.  All this should be written on the picture.  It is important to keep three copies of the documentation in order to protect from losing them.

Picture 5.

Picture 6.

Repairing a human skeleton.

Post by Nyan.

Dry cleaning.

1. Dry cleaning with a soft brush to remove the dust and dirt.  We just use dry cleaning because the bone is so fragile we cannot wet clean.

2. Broken pieces were identified for repair.

3. For each break a base layer of 10% Acryloid B-72 was applied to both sides of the break.  Then 50% Acryloid B-72 adhesive was applied to one side of the break and the joins aligned. 

Applying a primer layer.

Gluing the two fragments.

4. Each repair was allowed to dry with the break aligned horizontally.

The join should dry horizontal.

Maintenance of the Ishtar Temple

Post by Mohamed.

Editor’s note: One of our Conservation students sent back pictures of work going on at Babylon.

The Ishtar Temple at Babylon.

Large crack in the wall of the Ishtar Temple.

Supporting the exterior wall from the right side of the temple with big shoring and scaffoldings to prevent the wall from falling down.  Also putting an indicator to monitor the crack monthly.

Shoring to stabilize the crack in the Ishtar Temple.

Another view of the shoring.

Learning how to stabilize and lift objects from the field.

Post by Dlshad.

Exposing the object by using a brush to avoid causing any damage to the object.

During the process of excavation – a scale and label have been included in documentation photographs.

After exposing a big part of the object, some cracks appeared on the surface of the object.  So it had to be consolidated to be removed safely.

Wrapping with a bandage is one consolidation method.

Showing the process of wrapping.

In the lab, removing the soil that was inside the pot carefully to discover if there are other materials inside.

Excavating fragile artifacts.

Post by Raoaa.

صور  لمتدربين  لدورة  المبتدئين  في  المهعد العراقي لصيانة الأثار والتراث , يناقشون  في  حقل  تدريبي  (معد مسبقا ) كيفية  رفع  مجموعة  نماذج  مقلدة  لقطع  مدفونة  في  مربع  دفن واحد , يتناقشون في  أعداد خطة  لأدارة عملية  رفع هذه  القطع  وتقرير  الطرق  الأأمن  والأمثل  والأدق  لعملية  الرفع  بأدق  الطرق  للحفاظ على القطعة  اثناء وخلال  التنقيب  وحتى  خلال  نقلها الى  المتحف  أو المختبر .

Documenting a fragile basket before lifting.

Discussing how to lift a fragile artifact.

Lifting a fragile necklace.

Practicing excavation techniques for fragile artifacts.