Royal Collection Trust: Restoring Porcelain, Part 2

In this second video, we will dismantle the vase by soaking it in a solution of biological washing powder, which contains enzymes, and which will help to break down the animal glue currently holding the vase together. The first thing we need to do is to dissolve the biological pre-wash in the water in the sink. I'm just going to mix this around now just to see that it's all nicely dissolved. Before we put the pot into the sink, I'm going to take the label off the base. This will be replaced once the restoration is complete. It's come off very nicely. We're now ready to put the pot into the solution. The sinks are made with a butyl rubber lining. This is to minimise any risk of damage during the washing process. It's now fully submerged. I'm just going to turn it a little bit to make sure the water gets in all the cracks. Already I can feel it starting to creak and move as the glue is breaking down. We can leave the vase soaking in solution until the glue starts to soften and break down. At this point, you never know quite how long it's going to take. It may be a few minutes or sometimes many hours. It's been in the water for five minutes now and already it's started to come apart. I'm just going to let this roll around and be able to start to see all the pieces coming apart. Behind it here, you can see the bandages that have been put in as reinforcement by the first restorers. The vase has now come apart in two main sections. I'm trying to move it apart to give a little more space to stop the edges grinding together, which will cause more damage. Just taking a piece out of the wash to have a good look at it and a little brush round. Already I can see it's beautifully clean. The enzymes have done their work and all the traces of the glue have gone. Sometimes at this stage, we do need to do further treatment, which involves bleaching or steam cleaning, but these are fine and they can go straight in the rinse. I shall carry on like this until the vase has been completely dismantled.