1. First, find artifact to be preserved
2. Then, put it in an air tight sealed chamber and remove all the air
4. Remove from the air tight sealed chamber (of course!)
3. Identify holes and do some research on the actual design of the artifact
4. Start filling up holes will wood filler and let it dry
5. To clean up access, use cotton bud dipped in water and just swab it off . Or we can use sand paper to sand it into shape again
6. Finally, repeat filling up holes, drying it and removing access until you get the desired result
Sometimes it is better to totally recontruct some parts of the artifact rather than fixing it
Why do we put the artifact into an air tight chamber?
To make sure all the insects/living things inside are dead. This usually take a minimum of 2 weeks
What are wood filler made of?
Wood filler are made of saw dust mixed with PVA glue. It is better to use the saw dust from the same type of wood the artifact is made. But to preserve newer wooden objects, we can buy commercial wood filler in hardware stores
How long does it take to preserve an artifact?
This basically depends on
1. the size of the artifact
2. how bad is the damages are
3. and the characteristic of the filler
The filler will dry and shrink so we have to put more filler until the filler filled the hole and is the same level as the original artifact
A small wooden artifact (size of a palm) usually take a whole day to complete the preservation process
How come some artifacts look aged and some look colorful?
Wooden artifacts can be preserve in 2 major ways
1. preserving it to its original glory look
meaning this requires painting and coloring using made made dyes. Natural dyes degrade through time
2. preserving it to it original shape only
Where the artifacts is just preserved without coloring
This depends on the principal of the organization preserving the artifacts
How do we preserve larger artifact such as boats or ships?
Instead of using wood filler made out of saw dust, we can use cement wall filler to fix the holes
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| kukur kelapa (coconut grater) loaned to Petrosains by Museum Malaysia |
Why do we use cement wall filler instead of the wood filler?
Big artifacts are usually put outdoors. By using the cement filler are more durable in the harsh conditions out side