Liz Mayfield – Paper + Books Conservator at Artlab
Posted on: Mon 29 Jan 2018
Put an old book in front of Liz Mayfield and you can see her professionalism swing into action. Fiona White did just that when she arrived at Artlab with a 1941 edition of The Snowgoose by Paul Gallico. It was in a well-loved but rather sorry condition.
Interviewer Fiona White
Photos provided by Artlab Australia
Cover photo: Liz Mayfield, Paper and Books Conservator
Below: Liz Mayfield working on a Client’s project
The owner of this uniquely coloured opaltype found this item in her late brother’s belongings and discovered the baby’s portrait was of her late father. This discovery was quite a find and the opaltype became an item of great sentimental value to the family.
Conservation Treatment
The shattered pieces are sorted and reassembled. A tension mounting system, consisting of a backboard and layers of archival matt board are prepared and the pieces are individually glued back together within this system with Hxtal glass adhesive.
Microcrystalline wax is used to fill small areas of loss and this is then retouched with dry pigment and dammar to diminish the visibility of these areas. The finished opaltype is put into an arched mount that follows the original mount lines, ready for framing.
