I’m working on this tray that was made in Greece (probably close to 100 years old). I’m in the process of replacing the broken glass (have taken the frame apart and removed the glass pieces). The mosaic underneath is made of straw glued on a thin board. It has a gloss finish on it which is probably animal glue. What I want to do before re-assembling is to stabilize the mosaic with some kind of finish over the animal glue finish so that it is more durable and doesn’t fail while I’m working on it further. So, two questions:
1. Is there something I can do to confirm that the finish is animal glue (or to figure out what the finish is)?
2. If it is animal glue, what is safe to apply over it without re-activating the glue or dissolving/destabilizing it?
Thanks in advance
Replies
I only caution you to be extremely careful. It will be easy to ruin an antique (valuble?). Do some research on antique restoration and confer with a restorer if you can. I think there are some restoration forums.
I doubt that the finish is hide glue though it's possibly likely that the straw is glued down with hide glue. For cleaning I would use naphtha( good paint store) and if you have difficuty finding that it is the same as white gas. I would tend not to use white gas( like Coleman fuel)for fear of additives but would use lighter fluid because I suspect it's pretty pure. You can topcoat almost anything with unwaxed shellac. You can vanish over shellac as well.
I'm not familiar with Greek straw mosaic trays so I looked them up. Apparently not valuable or particular old either. 1930s- 40s. It's believed that these trays were made by prisoners during the Nazi occupation. So,captured partisans trying to earn cigarette money or maybe food money. So similar to German captive soldiers held by Americans that took up handcrafts in Kentucky during WWll.