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Fillers Adaptations On Traditional and C
Fillers Adaptations On Traditional and C
Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
Fillers: adaptations on traditional and commercial products
Abstract
“The job of the restorer is a most thankless one. In the best case, no one is aware of him
…. his mastery remains invisible, but his failing becomes evident….”
Max Friedländer
Filling remains the key operation when aiming for an imitative reintegration of a
damaged paint surface. No matter how perfect the colour matching can be, the loss of
original material will always remain visible if the underlying infill is not sufficiently
merged in level and texture with the surrounding surface. Thus, a carefully executed
infill, which can be very time consuming, will expedite the retouching phase. Time
invested and quality achieved can be enhanced vastly when working with suitable filling
materials.
Historically various materials have been used to infill losses in the pictorial surface.
Traditionally, these consist of either the application of aqueous or thermoplastic
mixtures of a bulking agent (chalk, gesso, kaolin, etc) and an adhesive (wax/resin,
animal glues, etc). Often additives, such as drying oils were included to improve the
suppleness and working properties of these mixtures. These traditional systems based
on materials that degrade over time have inherent disadvantages in terms of
application, aging and reversibility.
The search for alternative materials continues to this day. Often commercial products
are included within the myriad of filling materials available to the modern conservator.
Finding the correct filling material in regard to application, texturing, flexibility,
absorbency, etc can be challenging, especially as not one filler will be suitable for every
task. This workshop and lecture will highlight two filling systems used throughout the
last decade at SRAL.
The first filling material discussed consists of a mixture of BEVA 371, microcrystalline
wax and a bulking agent, typically kaolin. The second filling material is a mixture of the
adhesives Evacon R and Tylose C30 (both aqueous in nature) and aluminium trioxide as
bulking agent. Formulations for both fillers and how they are made will be discussed
and variables in ingredient proportions will be considered. Simple tests used to show
their flexibility will be demonstrated.
Finally case studies, in which the use and properties of these filling materials will be
highlighted. It is hoped that the possibilities offered by these two infill materials will
allow the practitioner to master the infilling procedure, avoiding failure and ensuring
that the reintegration of the pictorial image remains invisible.
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
Slide 1
Filling remains the key operation when aiming for an imitative reintegration of a
damaged paint surface. Without a perfect fill, a retouching will always remain visible
Filling can take considerable time, but this well invested and can be speeded up if the
materials and their properties are well understood.
Today I will discuss 2 filling materials used at SRAL over the last ten years or so.
Slide 2
As today, traditional fills were mostly aqueous or thermoplastic in nature. These consist
of an adhesive and a bulking agent. Many complex recipes existed and these almost
rock‐like cements can be found in many paintings.
Typical aqueous systems include animal glue (skin or hide glue) mixed with a white
inert mineral pigment (Chalk, Gypsum, Kaolin).
Thermoplastic fillers historically consist predominantly of wax / resin mixtures to
which a similar bulking agent is added.
Additives such as drying oils are often found in old filling recipes.
Both systems have numerous disadvantages especially when considering long term
stability – as seen here in these two images.
Bettina Jessel recounts in her 1977 article Helmult Ruhemann’s filling technique. This
followed a tradition begun in the late 19th century – Ruheman used a putty to fill losses
in all kinds of paintings. The putty consisted of
Ruhemann’s putty:
60 grams gilders whiting
15 grams stand oil
20 grams animal glue in water, rather viscous
10 grams zinc white
5 grams bees wax
To fill and I quote: Combine all ingredients on a hotplate warm enough to melt the wax,
and knead together to a smooth consistency.
Apply the putty to the hole with a small spatula, then use a small flat piece of balsa wood
to push it home. Moisten the balsa wood slightly, and with circular motions wipe the
surface of the filler flat and flush with the paint surface. In this way the putty fills the
hole and finds the right surface more or less automatically. Where necessary, imprint
canvas grain at this stage with a matching canvas grainer made of a thin layer of a resin
which sets hard without losing all flexibility on fiberglass cloth.
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
Allow the putty to dry, and then scrape with a scalpel until the edges of the damage
appear sharp and the surface is smooth. The surface should be slightly lower than that
of the surrounding paint to allow for the thickness of the inpainting.
Insulate the surface of the filling with a thin coat of shellac, taking the greatest care not
to go beyond the edges of the damage. Finally, where there is putty over the original
paint, wipe it off with mineral spirit.
Top image – result of animal glue used as an adhesive for a patch
Bottom image – shrinkage cracks of a slow curing drying oil overpaint on a
thermoplastic fill
Slide 3
Fillers with animal glue are usually used at low concentrations and thus loose a lot of
volume when drying.
There is considerable shrinkage when drying – creating tension between the filler and
the underlying area.
Slide 4
This can be clearly seen in this sequence of slides which show the shrinkage occurring
during curing of three different animal glue based fillers
The right image has the highest percentage of animal glue and the most kaolin.
Slide 5
Wax / resin mixtures tend to become brittle and may suffer creep – here we see an
image shown earlier. An oil retouching has shrunk on top of the wax/resin filler. Seen in
transmitted light.
The inherent problems of these traditional fill materials has lead to the search by
conservators (at SRAL) for more appropriate and stable alternatives.
Slide 6
Commercial filling products made for the building / decorating trade have found wide
use amongst conservators and lately products have been developed specifically for the
field (eg Flugger/Modostuc).
Unfortunately, even if the manufacturers give clear data regarding content of these
materials, we as conservators have no choice in the ingredients used. And many of the
manufacturers do not declare what is contained within their commercial products, or
make changes to the formulations without notification.
Therefore it is more reliable to prepare your own filling material choosing specific
ingredients – this does not have to be a complex task, and can be quickly completed.
I will go on to discuss to fillers used and developed at SRAL over the last 10 years or so.
One has thermoplastic properties and the other is based on an aqueous system.
Slide 7
BEVA 371 is a mixture of EVA resins of different softening points, a cyclohexanone resin,
microcrystalline wax, and other resins developed by Berger in the late 1960s. It comes
in various forms the most common being as a solvent solution or in a film. However it is
also available as granules.
The melting point of BEVA 371 is 65C. If the solvent solution is used it is wise to allow
the solvent component to evaporate first before using this as a filler ingredient.
The proportion of Beva 371 to bulking agent, in this case we use kaolin, will depend on
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
the properties you desire for the filling material – it is advisable to experiment
understand how increasing or decreasing the amount of Beva 371 effects the mixture.
By adding an additional microcrystalline wax with a lower melt temperature, the
properties of the Beva 371 filler can be manipulated further. While this makes
application easier (as the filler ‘flows’ better at a lower temperature) and texturing the
end result easier too, the adhesive strength and cohesive strength of the filler is lowered
considerably – I will demonstrated this later. We use either Kremer Kleefwas or Lascaux
Klebewachs – the latter as the addition of another synthetic resin.
Recipe mentioned in Berger SIC 1972 article on testing adhesives for conservation:
A‐C 400 170g
Cellolyn 21 40g
Elvax 150 500g
Ketone N 300g
Paraffin 100g
Kronthal et al Jaic 2003 vol 42, article 9 pp 341‐362:
500g Elvax Resin grad 150 (32‐34% vinyl acetate content, melt index 38‐48, softening
point 116C)
170g A‐C Copolymer 400 (14‐16% vinyl acetate content, softening point 83C)
(two ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers of different vinyl acetate content)
300g Ketone N resin (a condensation product of cyclohexane)
40g Cellolyn 21 (a phthalate ester of technical hydroabietyl alcohol)
100g oil‐free paraffin (Essowax 4610)
blended to form 38% solids in a mixture of aromatic and nonaromatic solvents (1,250g
toluene or xylene and 750g aliphatic mineral spirits)
Slide 8
If using the ‘wet’ BEVA 371 it is important to heat the mixture until all of the solvents
have evaporated.
Solvent evaporation
Not use the same day
Add Pigment with kaolin
Slide 9
Slide 10
More heat for texturing needed with less wax and easier to remove excess with more
wax
More wax = lower melt point but less cohesive power it will break
Point is to adapt for object
Remember that the beva from the pot has a high solvent pot
Slide 11
Simple tests which will not give scientific data but visually illustrates the suppleness of
this filling material.
1mm strips for all 3 test formulations were bend over cylinders with different
diameters, starting from large, until the strip broke.
The formulation without the microcrystalline wax additive could be bent around a
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
cylinder (paint brush handle) of 5mm without breaking.
Slide 12
The formulation with some microcrystalline wax additive failed when bent around a
cylinder (paint brush handle) of 15mm.
Slide 13
The formulation with more microcrystalline wax additive failed when bent around a
cylinder (paint brush handle) of 55mm.
This simple experiment shows that by increasing the proportion of wax, which may give
desired handling properties, lowers the mechanical strength of the adhesive. I am not
advising on either situation – the proportion of the ingredients should be determined by
the object thus not one recipe should be used.
‐Try out different formulations for yourself.
‐Note that changing the bulking agent will also change the mechanical properties of the
end result.
Remember to keep in mind that beva from pot has solvents in it and this will change the
characteristics of the end result
Slide 14
Hot spatula temperature will depend upon the proportion of additional microcrystalline
wax – the hotter it is the better flow will be achieved
Excess material can be removed with a hydrocarbon solvent – the more microcrystalline
wax content the easier it is to remove and less aromatic content is needed. Halo effect
may be present – thus better to use kaolin rather than chalk as this is less ‘white’
Slide 15
Warning: some of the dentist casting materials bleed silicon oil – penetration into a
porous/cracked surface is often not detected and cannot be removed.
Slide 16
Slide 17
Slide 18
Tylose C30: Carboxy methyl cellulose with a viscosity of 30 mPa’s (at 20C) ‐ Change
viscosity and cellulose ether for different effect.
Portafill A40: Aluminium hydroxide Al(OH)3 – this is a more stable version of
aluminium oxide (which will absorb moisture from the atmosphere) ‐ Change bulking
agent will have an effect on shrinkage factor and ease of removal (halo effect)
Evacon R (ethlyene vinyl acetate with a stabiliser) provides flexibility to the mixture.
Again by varying the proportions of the ingredients different properties are noted in
terms of application, mechanical strength and clearance of excess from the surface after
filling.
http://www.sibelco‐specialty‐minerals.eu/ssme/applications/32‐portafill‐a
Slide 19
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
Slide 20
Note the different viscosities
Slide 21
Films of 1mm were spread out on a melinex sheet and allowed to dry.
Shrinkage test – less because of also content
These were subjected to bend tests but are considerably less flexible than the Beva 371
filler previously described. Studying the fracture lines shows that the inclusion of
EVACON R increases the flexibility.
Also has less halo as well
And also easier to pigment
Slide 22
Slide 23
Texture is easier to apply to the wet material – excess material can be removed with
water on drying.
Slide 24
Slide 25
Studio preparations are easy to make and can be adapted to the requirements of the
object.
It is hoped that the possibilities offered by these two infill materials will allow the
practitioner to master the infilling procedure, avoiding failure and ensuring that the
reintegration of the pictorial image remains invisible.
Slide 26
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
Workshop
The workshop will involve making comparative formulations of both fillers
Materials
BEVA 371 (solvent gel solution): CTS, www.ctseurope.com (solvents content should be
evaporated out of c 200g of BEVA prior to the workshop)
Microcrystaline wax: Kremer 62620, Kremer Pigmente, www.kremer‐pigmente.com
Evacon R: Conservation by Design, UK, www.conservation‐by‐design.co.uk
Tylose C300 (carboxy methyl cellulose): Kremer 63641, Kremer Pigmente,
www.kremer‐pigmente.com (500ml of 4% solution should be prepared prior to the
workshop)
Kaoline: Kremer 58250, Kremer Pigmente, www.kremer‐pigmente.com
Portafil A40 (aluminium hydroxide): Ankerpoort/Sibelco, http://www.sibelco‐
specialty‐minerals.eu/ssme/applications/32‐portafill‐a (matting agent / flame
retardant for paints and coatings ‐ we buy this at our local hardware store)
Pigments to colour fillers (titanium white, black, earth colours, etc)
Equipment
Hot plate
Spatulas
Metal dishes in which to melt the BEVA Filler
Silicon Paper or Melinex
Glass plate for grinding pigments
Large (c5cm) flat bladed paint spatulas for mixing fillers
Containers for mixing fillers
Small measuring cups
Hot spatulas with very small heads
Silicon Moulding material for making texture moulds
Mock‐up paint surfaces with damages
Comparative Fillers
Modostuc
Animal glue and Chalk Filler (traditional preparation should be made prior to the
workshop)
Wax/Resin Filler (traditional preparation should be made prior to the workshop)
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
Bibliography
Appelbaum, Barbara 1987 Criteria for Treatment: Reversibility JAIC Vol 26, no 2 pp 65 –
73
Ballestrem, A and Goetghebuer, N “Putty and Puttying” unpublished #
Barclay, R, Mathais, C 1989 An Epoxy/Microballoon Mixture for Gap Filling in Wooden
Objects JAIC, Vol 28, No 1 pp 31 – 42
Barkov, Z. and F. Lambert, 1984 Mechanical Properties of Some Fill Materials for
Ceramic Conservation, in: Preprints ICOMCC, Copenhagen p. 84.
Caley, Tom 2000 Warning: A change in the Formulation of Fine Surface Polyfilla The
Picture Restorer ABPR (now BACPR) Spring pp 19 – 20
Falvey, D. 1981 The Advantages of Mowiol (Polyvinyl Alcohol): Comparative Studies of
Organic and Synthetic Binding Media for Fillers for Paintings on Canvas Preprints ICOM
CC, Ottawa 6th Triennial Meeting pp. 81/2/13
Fuster Lopez, L 2004 Fillers for canvas paintings: criteria, materials and methods UPV
Gansicke, Susanne, Hirx, John 1997 A translucent wax‐resin fill material for the
compensation of losses in objects JAIC, Vol. 36, No. 1 pp 17 ‐ 29
Grattan, D, Barclay, 1988 A study of gap‐fillers for Wooden Objects Studies in
Conservation no. 33 pp. 71 ‐ 86
Green, J., Seddon, J. 1981 A Study of Materials for Filling Losses in Easel Paintings and
Their Receptiveness to Casting of Textures” Preprints ICOMCC, Ottawa 6th Triennial
Meeting pp. 81/2/12
Hatchfield, Pamela 1986 Note on a fill material for water sensitive objects JAIC Vol 25,
no 2 pp 93 ‐ 96
Helmut, Richard 2002 Stärke als Fullstoff und Farblackträger in Malschichten. Nachweis
bei Kunstobjecten in Österreich Restauro, nr. 6, pp. 426‐429.
Hummelen, Ij 1980 Over materialen voor het stoppen van lacunes in schilderijen op
doek” Het Retoucheren in de Restauratie van Kunstwerken Jan van Eyck Akademie IIC
Nederland pp. 73 ‐ 77
Jessell, B 1977 Helmut Ruhemann’s Inpainting Techniques JAIC Vol 17 No 1 pp 01‐08
Morgos, Andras, Magy, J, Palossy, L., 1984 New silicone rubber mould‐making materials,
the addition type silicone rubbers, in: Preprints ICOMCC, Copenhagen 20:17‐20 pp 17 –
20
Rees Jones, S., Hermesdorf, P. 1959 The Adhesive Strength of Whiting‐wax‐resin
Cements Studies in Conservation pp. 5 ‐ 12
Reschke, Sybille 1992 Die plastische Oberflächengestaltung gedilleter Fehlstellen
Zeitschrift für Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung, Jahrgang 6 heft 2 pp. 275– 297
Schneider, Renate 1981 Infilling on painted surfaces with special reference to paintings
on canvas, wood and metal ICCM Bulletin Vol. 7 pp. 43 ‐ 47
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
Young, C, Ackroyd, P, Hibberd, R, Gritt, S 2002The mechanical behaviour of adhesives
and gap fillers for re‐joining panel paintings” The National Gallery Technical Bulletin No.
23 pp 83 – 96
Seymour Fillers: Adaptations on Traditional and Commercial Products 2013
Lecture Presented at NOVA, Lisbon
Biography
Kate Seymour is an art historian who received a Masters of Arts in the Conservation of
Easel Paintings from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle in 1999. She moved to
the Netherlands in 1999 to work at the Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL),
Maastricht (the Netherlands) as a painting conservator and is currently the Head of
Education at this institution. Her position entails supervising the practical and research
work carried out by post‐graduated students from the University of Amsterdam
programme for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, as well as
teaching and lecturing on a variety of subjects, both academic and practical, throughout
the two year Master of Arts in Conservation Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her
interests include the structural treatment of both canvas and panel paintings, cleaning
polychromed surfaces, filling and retouching systems and varnishing systems for
painted surfaces. In addition, Kate Seymour is the current ICOM‐CC Coordinator for the
Working Group Sculpture, Polychromy, and Architectural Decoration, a post held since
2008.
KATE SEYMOUR, SRAL, AVENUE CERAMIQUE 224, 6221 KX, THE
NETHERLANDS
tel + 3 1 4 3 3 2 1 8 4 4 4 Mobile + 3 1 6 1 9 8 0 8 1 2 5 email
K.SEYMOUR@SRAL.NL