Woodwork Conservation with Adeline

Adeline is working to make all wood in the house stable and safe, fixing items at their current state without adding any new wood. She describes a previous job in which she had to conserve a table whose legs were facing every-which-way – so frustrating not to be able to put them straight, but to have to make the table stand firm in its dilapidated state! However, such is the nature of conservation: Adeline understands the importance of 575 and all its contents looking as they did when Khadambi Asalache left the house to the Trust.

During my visit, she was working on fixing this chair, which was losing paint. The wood was covered with several porous layers which gave the ‘weathered’ effect; they included animal glue and whiting, red clay, gilding and silver powder. After testing several possible fixing substances, she chose a very light ratio of fish glue to water.

Adeline has been working on just the furniture so far, which she describes as ‘not so scary’ in comparison with what is to come! She must also remove all the floorboards and replace them with plywood so that the ceilings can be easily accessed for their restoration. The fretwork on the walls will have to be protected, using polycarbonate sheets, while the conservation work is taking place. When the Perspex that is currently keeping parts of the ceiling in place is removed, some fretwork will come down with it, so Adeline must record exactly where each part was and test glues with which to put it back when the ceiling work is finished.

Advertisement