A stitch in time…

Stitches lacuna

Conervators at work

Another conservator at work

Stone masons working alongside conservators – literally.

Stitches in place

Detail of corridor mosaic

For the past few weeks, we have been busy stabilizing the mosaics on site.  The wobbly bits are in danger of getting broken or moved around during the upcoming phase of construction, so we are tacking them down with a removable stitch.  The stitch is made of geotextile (just like the ones we talked about for covering the mosaic) cut into tiny strips and tacked down with a removable acrylic adhesive on top of the tesserae. 

This method allows us to keep the loose vulnerable tesserae in place with a brace but with a very light touch.  Once the building is up and mosaics are ready to be unveiled, the stitches will be removed with a tiny swab of acetone and the mosaics will be once again just as they were found during the excavation.  This is a very time consuming process, so all hands have been on deck for over a week solid now.  We’re finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and hope to be finished by the end of this week with stitch bracing all four excavated mosaics. 

Here are some images of what the stitches look like on the mosaic.

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