Two-week residential workshops on comparative lining techniquestheory and practice of lining

After a first one-week edition in 2008 at the University of Urbino, involving Olivier Verheyden (École Supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc, Belgium) and Hilkka Hiiop (Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallin, Estonia) and myself representing the hosting institution, the project was extended including the Escola das Artes, Universidade Católica Portuguesa of Porto.

The 2013 edition was celebrated in Liège, Belgium, and the 2014 edition was celebrated in Porto, Portugal, and involved two teachers from each institution (Urbino, Liège and Porto), and a total of 40 master students (4^th and 5^th year).

The teachers were:

• Antonio Iaccarino Idelson and Paolo Roma (Urbino);
• Olivier Verheyden and Nico Broers (Liège),
• Maria Aguiar and Ana Cudell (Porto),
• with Hilkka Hiiop as guest lecturer demonstrating the traditional Russian method of the sturgeon glue lining.

For each of the 15 lining techniques, the theoretical and historical background was presented in a presentation, and two teachers worked on it with a group of students. Two techniques were used every day in the presence of all the students, dividing them in groups only for some of the preparatory operations and for the documentation.

The list of techniques:

1. Roman paste glue
2. Modified Roman paste glue
3. Florentine paste glue
4. Wax resin
5. “Mixte” (French traditional glue paste + wax-resin)
6. Russian sturgeon glue
7. BEVA 371 OF
8. BEVA transparent lining
9. BEVA film
10. BEVA with interleaf
11. BEVA spray applied
12. BEVA gel (water-based emulsion)
13. “Mist lining”
14. Modified Mist lining
15. Mehra “three stretchers”

All the procedures were accurately documented, including the quantities, temperatures, time of application of each phase, and were applied to the same Claessens Canvas 15.

This allows for a full repeatability of the methods. The common substrate of application also allows to compare the mechanical characteristics of the lined specimens, and the characterization of the adhesive bond with peel and shear tests.

The outcomes of the program were published in 2014.