Do I dare offer more on the whiteout/nailpolish (ahem) discussion?
 
Well, in for a penny, in for a pound:
 
Working with a small amateur museum recently, I got smart (I thought) and
suggested that we try using white nailpolish on which to write the numbers
on a lot of dark metal objects (domestic irons, tubs etc).  Two at one
blow, I figured.
 
So I bought some white nailpolish, and discovered why it isn't really the
answer.  It's not sufficiently opaque; the white is actually composed of
tiny granules floating in the nailpolish medium, and the fine black number
didn't show up adequately.
 
What this story does tell is the search for *easy* numbering techniques and
materials.  For instance, I once organised paraloid B72 and the stuff to
dissolve it in for a teaching/advisory trip to the back of beyond, but
found myself out in the sticks with a thick, sticky, resinous mixture that
was impossible to paint on in a neat slick - and no way of getting more
whatsit to thin down the stuff.  It destroyed the faith of the locals in
paraloid (it probably should have destroyed their faith in me, for having
provided it), and we reverted to nailpolish.
 
Lesson A: lateral thinking is sometimes the wrong direction!
Lesson B: learn to use your materials before taking them into the bush!
 
 
C'est la guerre, eh?
 
Linda Young
Cultural Heritage Management
University of Canberra
 
[log in to unmask]