Lab Practicals

Practical Lab exercises allow for students to experiment with different conservation materials and approaches, as well as gain a better understanding of the materials which constitute artwork and artifacts. Some practical exercises have included:

• Formulating clay recipes and firing small clay objects
• Wall painting replicas, fresco & secco methods
• Plant and animal fiber microscopy 
• Ceramic repair materials 
• Desalination of ceramic objects
• Electrochemical cleaning of metals
• Feather identification, cleaning and repair
• Adhesives and fill materials testing for wood and gourd 
• Leather, ivory, bone, horn, antler, and baleen morphology
• Silver cleaning
• Consolidation and water repellant treatments for adobe bricks
• Identification of plastics

Annotated micrograph of rattan, prepared for plant fiber microscopy practical.

Reconstruction of Minoan Fresco from Knossos. October 2018. Image: Elena Bowen