DOLL PRAM (c.1930's)
A doll pram belongin to the Helsinki City Museum. The pram was made by a German company Naether and the materials include painted plywood, pegamoid and painted iron. The object had been stored in very poor conditions before being donated to the museum in 2014 and showed signs of water damage, mould and corrosion as well as damage caused by pests.
The aim of the treatment was to clean the object so that it could be safely placed in storage but could also be placed on display in the future if needed.
The mould on the object was removed using ethanol and the pagamoid textiles cleaned using saliva. Water was used for cleaning of the plywood. As much corrosion as possible was removed mechanically from the metal parts without damaging the remaining paint. Afterwards the corroded areas were treated with Dinitrol. The deattached ribbon on one side of the object was reattached with a cellulose nitrate adhesive.
After the conservation the object was placed in storage with proper support.
More information about the history and conservation of the object can be found in Helsinki City Museums Työn alla-blog (in Finnish).
The metal parts on the object were corroded and the corrosion had pushed some of the paint off the surface.
As much of the corrosion as was possible to remove without damaging the remaining paint was removed.
The object was very dirty when it arrived at the museum.
The object was vacuumed and the pegamoid textile was cleaned using saliva.
The detached ribbon was reattached with Cellulose Nitrate adhesive.