The Framers Forum

I know the answer is absolutely 'don't do it', or 'give it to an expert'. But...
I have been given an old watercolour of very little value except sentimental. It is quite dirty with dust and dirt spots and smears.
The customer is not wanting to get it restored and is happy if I frame it as it is, but is asking if it can be cleaned up at all.
Can I dab it with a damp cloth? white spirit?

Conservators use a diluted bleach solution for some things, like removal of foxing and acid burn - but not the stuff you do the bog with, the stuff you do babys' bottles with - 'Milton' sort of stuff, but that's conservators.

Lion do a few things you could consider http://www.lionpic.co.uk/product-search ... h=cleaning but personally I'd draw the line at a quick going over with a big soft, dry brush; I'd avoid any sort of moistening at all, especially spirit-based, but if I were to attempt a wet method I may have a good slug of something spirit-based first!

you can try a slice of non greasy bread , just rub it on, it Will turn into little balls and lift off dirt, try it on a non visible place first and go gently, works on prints too.
I got that tip off the antiques road show.

Lion do these which are basically a muslin bag filled with rubber granules. You can also buy the granules loose. The idea is, you can either rub lightly over the surface to lift loose dirt. Or sometimes sprinkle the granules on and gently roll them about. It's a nice (fairly) safe method of cleaning mucky paper. It won't remove ingrained dirt or foxing, but it's surprising what does come off.
Useful for cleaning mucky mounts as well.

This is the limit to how far I'd go. On no account apply any liquid.

Thanks everyone. I've ordered a cleaning pad so we'll see how it goes.

Blu tack is great stuff for lifting dirt off - dab and lift rather than rub & roll. I would be wary of using bread in case of it leaving yeast deposits.

Sometimes you just have to use your loaf.

I know artists use blutak when doing pastels but it can leave greasy marks. You notice this on posters that get brought in for framing that have been on a wall with the stuff.

I also notice it when trying to retouch the walls in my 10yr old daughters bedroom!

Roboframer wrote:Sometimes you just have to use your loaf.

You answered you own question in the opening post, leave it alone, if the customer is saying they don't want it restored, they are really saying they don't want to spend the money to have a restorer do the job.

Can anyone help?
The place I ordered the pad from is out of stock, and I can't order from Lion as they have a minimum order amount and I don't need anything else from them at this point.
Does anyone have a spare one sitting about that they can send me at special Framers' Forum mates' rates

Only got one and that's got several holes in it.

Try these folks....

https://www.preservationequipment.com/S ... er-$4-Pads

£26.62 incl VAT and carraige.

Roboframer wrote:£26.62 incl VAT and carraige.

You've added a 2 at the front by mistake

I've ordered the one from Propero's link. Many thanks to all - now we'll see how well it works.