Surface Cleaning Photographs

It is a basic conservation technique intended to provide the chemical and physical stability of the photograph by removing damaging surface dirt.

You need: 

• Block (polyvinyl) eraser/eraser crumbs/gonzo sponge

• Cotton pads

• Filtered water

How to Do

1. Do dry cleaning of the verso of the photograph. For dry cleaning you can use block eraser, eraser crumbs or vulcanized rubber (gonzo) sponge. I use gonzo sponge to clean the overall dirt and block eraser (preferably polyvinyl) to clean the smaller areas with rigid dirt. If the photograph is mounted on a board, apply the same procedure on the recto of the mount. 
2. Clean the image surface using moisture (it is better approach because the dry cleaning can damage the image). Take cotton pads and make them damp with filtered water. Clean the overall image surface with round movements and leave it to dry. Now the photograph is cleaned.

 Tips

• If you use vulcanized rubber (gonzo) sponge keep it in a plastic bag in order not to get dried, so it can last longer.

• When you do image surface cleaning put the water container in a tray in order to prevent water spilling on the photograph.

• Be careful when you clean the edges of the mounted photograph not to move dirt from the image to the mount because it can cause staining on the mount.