[Nhcoll-l] cleaning echinoderms

[Rogge, Corina]

Hi,



We have a modern art sculpture, created in 2003, fashioned from hundreds of starfish skeletons.  The artist purchased the starfish from a commercial vendor who formalin treated them to kill the organisms  and then painted the skeletons using acrylic paint.  The issue is that the skeletons have begun to smell, I suspect due to the presence of residual organic matter within the skeletons- a few of the skeletons have broken and we can see remnants.  I'd appreciate any ideas people may have on how to address this issue- we can't soak them because of the paint and I'm not sure that dermestids will be safe to use either...  Many thanks in advance.



Cory Rogge

_____________________________

Dr. Corina Rogge
Andrew W. Mellon Research Scientist
At The Museum of Fine Arts Houston
And the Menil Collection

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston
P.O. Box 6826
Houston, Texas 77265-6826
Phone: (713)639-7738

crogge at mfah.org<mailto:crogge at mfah.org>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20130910/af4d858d/attachment.html