During deep clearing you should take care of your paintings and take them off of the walls.
Oil paintings
If it is the old, valuable painting, it will be more safety to leave it for professionals. The rest less valuable paintings you should start with wiping out dust with a soft, silk cloth. The canvas are supposed to be cleaned focusing on the small spots, using a wet sponge. When one part of the painting is done, you must rinse the sponge very carefully to not distribute dirt on the whole surface. The interesting way is to use light beer instead of water. In the old guide books you can find grandma’s ways how clean paintings. For instance you can try to use grated, raw potatoes mixed in water.
The recipe for this solution is simple:
1 pound of grated potatoes mix with water, and put on the fire for 15 min. Then leave the pot in the warm place overnight.
Gouache, watercolor and pastel paintings
They usually are protected by the glass therefore we use the same techniques as mentioned for window cleaning. There is one important thing we must remember. The pictures can not remain wet because surface can quickly absorbs spills.
The frame of paintings should be cleaned more often but you need to pay attention not to touch the canvas. You may use a piece of paperboard or the newspaper to cover this part of painting where you wipe the frame. If the frames are old and made of wood, it is recommended only to use dry cloth.
Provided by E&K Cleaning Services Inc. The best www.maidschicago.com.
