During the summer Cassie Myers (Lecturer, Architectural Finishes Seminar; Owner, Myers Conservation) and Nour Jafar (MSHP 2025; PhD student in Architecture) have been testing materials to consolidate distemper paints. The results of these tests, which expand upon Franny Hutchins’ (MSHP ’25) externship with Cassie to document distemper finishes on site.
Methodology: The researchers made three sets of distemper paint samples using recipes from historic treatises. With plaster of Paris disks serving as the substrate, they sized the surfaces with shellac before applying one of the two hues of paints colored with hand ground pigments. After the samples had dried, they applied a selection of six conservation grade materials used in similar applications. The researchers then tested their performance with standardized ASTM tests and changes in color with photographic and colorimetric methods.
Interpretation of the results and field testing will follow.