At Shelburne Museum, the gel is applied with a small flat brush and then gently agitated.  It is wiped from the surface using cotton wadding or a cotton swab and then cleared with a two-step process.  The first step is to clear the surface using a buffer with the same pH as the gel on cotton swabs and the second step is to clear the surface with deionized water on cotton swabs.

This two step clearing method was introduced due to concerns over an assertion in Noveon product literature that "waterproof emulsions can easily be prepared"

Case study 1

Dentzel carousel giraffe (paint on wood)

FC-7.9 Collection of Shelburne Museum

Please refer to the How to make the gel page for information on gel preparation.

CO20075242 Carousel Giraffe Final Report.doc

Cleaning tests key for giraffe.doc

During her cleaning tests to remove maintenence linseed oil from the painted surface on a Dentzel carousel giraffe, Laura Brill found that the Pemulen emulsion prepared with triethanolamine and benzyl alcohol to be too agressive.  She started experimenting with using the Pemulen gel without the addition of solvent and found that it was effective in ways that the aqueous Carbopol gels had not been.  She felt that the Pemulen gel was working to emulsify the linseed oil off of the painted surface to a greater extent than the Carbopol gel (some of the possible mechanisms are described on p. 56 Cleaning Painted Surfaces).