It’s Not Only Dirt That Can Ruin Oil Paintings
It’s not only dirt that can ruin oil paintings. A lot of other factors can also cause damage to oil paintings like light levels, humidity and even insects! Amazing, isn’t it? For proper maintenance of your oil paintings, do take mind of the following points we’ll be discussing.
You heard me right.
It’s not only dirt that can ruin oil paintings. A lot of other factors can also cause damage to oil paintings like light levels, humidity and even insects! Amazing, isn’t it? For proper maintenance of your oil paintings, do take mind of the following points we’ll be discussing.
DIRT
It’s the universal enemy of just about everything in this world as who could ever want to be dirty in the first place? And if you’ve paid a lot of money to buy your oil painting, you surely don’t want dirt to reign supreme in the surface of your oil paintings, do you? Not only can it make your oil paintings disgusting old and ugly, it can also inflict more damage in other ways. I kid you not.
First, the presence of dirt in your oil paintings also makes it possible for mold to grow on the surface of your oil paintings. Secondly, dirt also absorbs pollutants and moisture – both of which are extremely harmful to your oil paintings.
To minimize the chances of dirt accumulating on the surface of oil paintings, keep it in places or areas that can be regularly cleaned. Your oil painting may look good near the fireplace but do consider the practicalities – soot from the fireplace may attach itself to the surface of oil paintings and that’s almost or equally as bad as dirt.
Likewise, it’s better to keep a NO SMOKING sign in the rooms you keep your oil paintings in because nicotine can also attach itself to the surface of oil paintings and cause disfiguration.
INSECTS
Again, I truly kid you not. Insects – those small and somewhat pesty beings – can wreak much harm to your oil paintings. There are two types of insects you must watch out for: the carpet beetle and powder post beetle.
Carpet beetles are very selective when it comes to their diet – they mainly subsist on protein-based materials. Unfortunately for us, however, oil paintings done on canvas contain such an ingredient and you know what that means – carpet beetles may indeed see your oil painting as a beautiful…buffet!
On the other hand, powder post beetles are fond of drilling out holes into wooden materials. Again, not exactly something you want to happen with the frames of your oil paintings. Also, in general, insects and pests like to live at the back of any kind of painting so do make sure that you regularly check your oil paintings for infestation.
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