Denis Allen, [log in to unmask], wrote:

>While working at the Bell Museum years ago I was informed by John Jaros,
then the preparator at that >institution, that one of the most effective
ways of cleaning mounted specimens that had become dusty
>was with bread.  A loaf of sliced bread is cheap, already in usable sized
pieces, will not blow arsenic >dust or other harmful materials used in old
mounts all over, and is easily obtained.


Let's get sensible. Really, BREAD!!! And I suppose you rub raw potatoes
over your oil paintings and feel the need to "feed" your furniture, too. Do
you still believe that boiling linseed oil makes it "ok?"  Do you freeze
your insect infested artifacts by putting them on the roof of your building
in the winter? When was the last time you consulted a professional
conservation journal? Food products are hardly appropriate materials to use
for caring for cultural property.There are reams of published material
dedicated to caring for natural history specimens and none of them cite
bread as an appropriate tool. Perhaps you should update your library and
refrain from dispensing erroneous conservation advice.

A preparator is not a conservator. A preparator does not usually have a
degree in chemistry. A preparator ofted works under the direction of a
conservator.

And as for Mr. Jaros, perhaps that's why he's working as a director and not
as a preparator any longer. 

Diane "On my soapbox again and holding out for moments of rational thought"
Gutenkauf