Wednesday, December 12, 2012

How to Remove Paper from Painting

 I received this email and thought I would share. Do you have any other advice for this problem?
 Hi,
I have just been googling how to get paper off an acrylic painting and found your blog on how to pack for shipping.  Unfortuantely our removalists didn't know how to do the same!

They wrap my most favourite paintings, including one my dad painted, with butchers paper.   And now the paper is stuck to the paintings.

Do you have any tips for how to remove?  I am in the middle east and doubt very much I'll be able to find an art conserver anywhere near me.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards 
 
Dear B

I hate to give advice on something that I haven't seen personally but this seems like a simple problem.
I'm going to assume that the  paintings were dry when wrapped in paper (by that I mean not new, freshly painted). 
 
Put the painting on a flat surface and spray the paper with water.Let the water soak in and gently rub the paper. The paper should start to peel apart. You may have to do this several times to get all the paper off.
   

CAUTION!! No not try this on a water color painting or pencil drawing. This is for oil or acrylic paintings on canvas or board only! And if you can, test this process on a small part of the painting first to see what the results will be.

Let me know how this turns out. 

1 comment:

  1. Try using hot water on a rag and dab at it gently.
    I have this problem all the time and it worked for me

    ReplyDelete