Consolidation of Ceramics

Today, I consolidated both the Islamic bowl I have been working on and a second Parthian jug.

The jug is larger and thicker than the other jug I did. I had previously cleaned and desalinated the ceramic. It took a long time to desalinate, over two weeks. There are still some soluble salts in the fabric, but the conductivity plateaued. The jug is unglazed and fairly porous. Although a couple pieces are missing, for the most part it is whole, broken up into two dozen pieces.

I used the 10% solution of Paraloid B-72 in acetone that I had made up last week to consolidate the break edges. Using a small paint brush, I sealed all the edges of these two ceramics, which took several hours total. The Parthian jug was easy. The break edges were wide and relatively cleanly broken. The Islamic bowl was harder. The pieces are quite small, and I only wanted the consolidant on the ceramic, not the glaze. When some went onto the glaze, I cleaned it off with acetone. For the laminated pieces which are just one sided sherds of glaze, I consolidated the non-glazed side.

The Paraloid B-72 dried quickly. Some of the ceramic edges look slightly darker than they were, but otherwise they appear to be the same. They feel slightly smoother now though. The consolidation will prevent the ceramic from soaking in the stronger adhesive that I will use next week to join the objects and will protect the pieces from crumbling. It will also make it easier to take apart next time if someone needs to treat it further.