conservation

advice & treatment

introduction

The glass conservator is responsible for drawing up condition reports, advising on glass conservation and carrying out treatments, including preventive treatments. Their academic training covers the physical and technical properties of glass, deterioration processes and treatments, including preventive treatments. A glass conservator is qualified to diagnose deterioration, advise on conservation and carry out restoration treatments. Ethical considerations, historical and art-historical factors and many other aspects of the wider context all play an important role in this work. Professional glass conservators keep abreast of developments in the field through continuing education.

Glass is widely recognised as a fragile material, but repair options are less well known. Fragments can be bonded together and missing areas reconstructed using synthetic materials. Each case is unique, so specialist treatments are tailored accordingly.

Examples of the wide range of work undertaken by glass conservators include:
— preparing installation or handling instructions;
— diagnosing glass instability and other forms of deterioration;
— interviewing artists about conservation issues;
— drawing up a conservation strategy for an entire museum collection;
— providing guidelines for physically numbering glass objects in museum collections;
— advising on the cleaning and maintenance of glass art in public spaces;
— carrying out cleaning treatments;
— providing advice on making buildings and the glass art within them more durable;
— investigating damage and degradation processes;
— researching innovative treatment methods;
— advising on relocating glass artworks in public spaces;
— providing advice and assistance on glass conservation when planning exhibitions or building collection storage facilities;
— drawing up emergency plans for glass collections or serving on an emergency response team;
— collaborating with glassmakers and the glass industry on conservation issues;
— advising on conservation before or during archaeological excavations;
— couriering glass objects during international and domestic transport and installation;
— drawing up maintenance plans for chandeliers and other glass objects in buildings;
— attending specialist workshops and conferences to incorporate new knowledge into practice;
— conducting or commissioning technical analyses of materials to interpret deterioration phenomena or develop treatments, including preventive treatments;
— monitoring environmental conditions to inform preventive and remedial conservation advice; — documenting an object’s conservation history;
— collaborating with conservators in other fields when an object is made from multiple materials and jointly developing conservation strategies.

Carrying out conservation work on glass cultural heritage requires a professionally equipped studio with state-of-the-art equipment and tools.

It falls outside the scope of this platform to go into specialist treatments and procedures in depth. Instead, it shows how different areas of expertise can be brought together to devise conservation strategies. This advice & treatment section addresses a number of conservation issues and references other websites offering guidelines on glass conservation.