Retouching, a taboo in paper conservation?

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Rita Udina

Retouching is among the most sensitive within ethics in conservation since it means to establish the aspect a restored object is expected to have.
My opinion is that the looks of an historical object is often as important as its physical-chemical condition, and not intervening provides poor results that might mislead its readability more than a proper intervention. The more we intend to make it as neutral as possible, the least arbitrary, we need to admit that retocuhing requires good taste. Continue reading →

A Safe and Efficient Method for Silver Mirroring Removal in Photographic Conservation

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Rita Udina

At last a deffinitive method, safe and efficient for silver mirroring removal in historical photographs. This new treatment will change the way the issue of silver mirroring removal has been addressed in photographic collections. See it in this video and value the results. Continue reading →

Posters conservation: virtual inpaint vs “virtuous” retouching

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Rita Udina

The bike riders from Sants reached my studio squeaking, rather than cycling!
Tears, foxing, discolouration, brittleness, acidity… All these damages have been carefully restored in order to let the splendorous riders finish line at the Municipal Archive of Barcelona. They are almost centenarian… and yet they ride wild along the repository! I’ll explain which beauty and health treatments these illustrated posters have passed through Continue reading →

Gone with the wind

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Rita Udina

I don’t like much having war books, but I must admit that this one is particularly beautiful. The velvet binding seemed to me a challenging issue on the restoration, which did not have major complications besides this.

I show the restoration of this book because of the headaches it has given me when solving the lost areas, the wooden work. The considerable losses on a laborious woodcarving work, and the lack of originals of many of the missing pieces fairly complicated the subject (the shields on the corners were different). Continue reading →