00:09 - Okay.

00:09 - This is our our latest acquisition,

00:12 - our most advanced technology in the lab.

00:16 - It's, it's called an Indiana laser.

00:20 - It was designed and manufactured

00:23 - by a conservator in Chicago.

00:26 - There are other lasers there used for fine art.

00:30 - They're very precise.

00:34 - But because of their design, the laser light goes like this.

00:38 - So each time it hits and comes back, there's a hot spot because it's doubled.

00:44 - His laser.

00:46 - This laser that we use is a circular laser.

00:49 - There's no hotspot.

00:50 - There will be no over cleaning on anything.

00:53 - It's also the same sort of laser that removes tattoos.

00:55 - It's that level of intensity.

00:58 - Now, when we use it here,

01:00 - we do have blast shields that we put up here.

01:04 - These are all safety precautions.

01:06 - So a blast shield.

01:07 - We have to put down all the blinds on our windows.

01:10 - Just in case the laser beam goes astray.

01:14 - We have to close the blinds on our windows.

01:16 - That way.

01:17 - We do wear specialized goggles.

01:20 - No one is.

01:21 - We have to lock the door

01:22 - so no one just comes in the in the room while we're using it.

01:26 - So we're very cautious.

01:27 - We're very safety oriented when it comes to the the laser.

01:31 - So we worked on this bust

01:34 - for probably a year and a half

01:37 - to get this half sort of done.

01:41 - We could not break through the barrier of

01:47 - probably cross-linked cleaning supplies,

01:50 - dirt, oil that they had in the past

01:53 - been sitting on heating registers in the sun, like on a windowsill.

01:58 - So things were baked in and we couldn't get it off no matter what we tried.

02:03 - That's why we got the laser.

02:06 - What took a year and a half to do?

02:10 - Or. Okay, not a year and a half.

02:14 - This much cleaning right here

02:18 - would have taken us probably six months.

02:22 - We were able to do this in about 15 minutes.

02:26 - So you could imagine the time savings.

02:28 - It does not look exactly like bronze right now.

02:33 - That's because the light refraction is off.

02:36 - What we will do after we clean it.

02:39 - Get the rest of this black off.

02:41 - Getting back to.

02:42 - I don't want to take everything off because the top layer has oxidized

02:48 - just the way silver tarnishes.

02:50 - If you take that off,

02:51 - you've actually taken off a layer of metal, a layer of the object.

02:55 - That's why over time, silver

02:58 - designs will disappear because you have polished them away.

03:02 - Same thing would happen here if we cleaned him down

03:04 - all the way to the new shiny surface.

03:07 - So we stop at what we call a conservation layer.

03:11 - It's the coop, right layer.

03:13 - It's where.

03:15 - It's the oxidation of the original outer layer.

03:20 - So we will leave that.

03:22 - And then we just apply a conservation grade

03:24 - wax that refracts the light enough that this will look

03:29 - just like a shiny bronze bust when we're done.

03:33 - We haven't done anything to make it shiny other than to put this wax

03:37 - on, which will protect it,

03:39 - but it also refracts the light.

03:40 - So you see it as a complete conserved object.

03:46 - So our laser is amazing.

03:48 - What we do

03:50 - is there are infinite settings on the laser,

03:54 - for intensity, and the strength of the laser.

03:59 - So we, we do all our settings based on our tests,

04:03 - and then it's a pretty heavy hand piece.

04:05 - We can only work for about an hour before we're just fatigued

04:09 - and can't do it anymore.

04:11 - But we will hold this up.

04:12 - You have to be at just the right distance, and it will show you when it's on.

04:19 - You'll get different reactions as you go closer and further away.

04:22 - But this is what we do.

04:24 - And we just do this

04:27 - and all of that black.

04:29 - We've done some here. It just pops off.

04:32 - What it does is it excites the electrons.

04:35 - The carbon electrons,

04:37 - and they pop.

04:38 - They pop off and they take the dirt with them, with it.

04:41 - So this is, like I said, for about an hour.

04:45 - We could do stuff like this.

04:48 - And that's all there is to it.

04:50 - And like I said, you know, took us a year and a half to try and get to that.

04:54 - So, the reason we haven't finished

04:58 - this is we do have to wear specialized protective equipment.

05:02 - We have to wear we have to be fitted for a filter.

05:06 - We have to go through annual exams

05:08 - at the clinic to make sure our eyes have not been damaged.

05:12 - And to make sure we're still fit and healthy.

05:15 - We were the first one to buy one.

05:18 - I loved that we talked to the owner, the creator.

05:21 - They just wanted to rent it to us.

05:24 - That's what they. In the beginning.

05:25 - That's what he would do. Rent it.

05:27 - And he would provide his crew

05:29 - because he didn't want you destroying your object or blaming his equipment.

05:32 - Fair enough. So

05:36 - he said he would rent it to us.

05:37 - And we said the army doesn't rent.

05:39 - You know, they don't like to do that.

05:40 - The army buys.

05:42 - He was confident enough in the Army's and the government's, safety regulations

05:48 - that he was willing to sell it.