Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
I am currently in Concordia, Kansas, working on a scenery restoration project at the Brown Grand Theatre.
I returned to the theater yesterday morning to discover bat guano scattered across my clean drop. This was something that I did not anticipate and added a layer of annoyance. It would not be a one-time issue.
My recent encounter with bats makes me leery of them now. I am sharing this story, as it taints my view of bats at the Brown Grand. My first “residential bat” experience occurred last month. It was when Jenny Knott visited my studio and helped document my restoration process. Keep in mind that my studio is in the woods and for the past eighteen years bats have never been a problem. That being said, I had never been in close proximately to a bat in any house. There is nothing quite like waking up to a bat that is repeatedly slamming itself into your screen window and then erratically flying around the room.
I did not run screaming from the room, but immediately panicked and hid under the covers. I would have stayed there until the morning if it hadn’t been ungodly hot at the time. Jenny and I dealt with it, eventually directing the winged critter into another bedroom at 2am in the morning. I had always thought that I would handle a bat encounter better, with calm determination as I vanquished the unwelcome invader from my home. I was wrong. I think the majority of my fear stems from the unpredictability of their flight pattern.
Anyway, after cleaning the droppings from the drop, I proceeded with my plan for the day. By the way, don’t worry, I am fully masked and gloved for this project anyway. I continued addressing the minimal cracks and paint loss throughout the painted composition. As I scooted along on a piece a plastic, I explored the varieties of the painted surface and actual colors. First of all, the drop had been touched up by a well-meaning individual at some point, but there was also a slight sheen to some of the original colors. I surmised that the reflective quality was result of two different things: the strength of original size (glue) in the paint and a later sealant added to some areas.
The main colors affected were all greens. Most of the painted green draperies will not reactivate with water. I have never encountered this problem with a strictly dry pigment and diluted hide glue (size water) mixture. This suggest that a premix paint was added to the dry pigment/size water medium. This means that an additional binder is added to the mix, and the paint will remain fixed.
Also, the malachite green (in the shadow areas of the drape) is the most reflective of the colors, but these dark colors are definitely composed of dry pigment and will reactivate. Some dark dry pigments are notorious for dusting, even upon initial application. They require a stronger size water than normal. However, you have to make sure that there is not too much glue in the size water or it dries shiny. That is possibly what happened here.
The light greens are also a problem, as they do not reactivate with water at all; suggesting that premixed paint was added to the mixture upon application. I suspect that it was the same white paint used to prime the drop. The white primer does not reactivate when water is introduced either. This is problematic and contributes to the overall flaking and dusting of colors. The dry pigment paint mixture never fulled bonded to the primer.
This same pre-mixed white paint was likely added to lighten the green drapery colors. I have explored the addition of premix to dry pigment mixtures in the past to analyze the final finish. White dry pigment is a wild card. It can lighten a color an unbelievably amount when only a little bit is added to the mix. This makes mixing light colors extremely tricky and why I always try to lighten color with another color of a lighter value instead of white. A premixed white paint (casein, latex, acrylic) will lighten colors at a different rate and remain more predictable. It is never an option when restoring an historic drop.
In addition to the color issues, there is also a sealant problem. At some point, a sealant was applied a few areas; the brushwork is very identifiable. Overtime, the sealant darkened and remains fixed. My guess is that the composition was dusting, and someone tried to consolidate the loose colors.
In addition to repairing minor paint damage, I also continued to work on the top of the drop. The entire top section was removed, damaged beyond repair from a solvent-based glue that was applied when the top sandwich batten was replaced. Yesterday, I prepared, placed, sized and base-coated the top patch. This will be applied to the frontside of the patch placed yesterday.
Finally, the new top battens were delivered by a volunteer, and they look absolutely beautiful!
To be continued…
