Bloom

PMG Inpainting page mentioning bloom

Bloom is a cloudy, waxy, powdery, or hazy deposit on the surface of an object composed of wood, leather, paint, metal, or plastic (Getty). Bloom can appear feathery, crystalline, or matted (Pack 2013). Bloom can sometimes be mistaken for mold, but examination under the microscope will make it clear which is which. Bloom can be white, soft, waxy or melted.

To learn more about bloom read the IIC Studies in Conservation article Fatty Bloom on Wood Sculpture.

An image of a wooden object showing white haze. Credit: Smithsonian Anthropology Conservation Lab.

Related Terms[edit | edit source]

Blanching; Chalking; Efflorescence; Chill, Cloudiness.

Synonyms in English[edit | edit source]

Chill; Clouding; Fatty Bloom; Fatty Spew; Haze

Fatty bloom on lighter wood. Credit: Crista Pack and the Alaska State Museum.

Translation[edit | edit source]

English	Bloom
Dutch	Waas
French	Bleuissement
Spanish	Florescencia
Portuguese	eflorescência
Italian
German
Russian
Arabic
Chinese (Traditional)	起霜

Fatty spew on dressed hide. Credit: Crista Pack and the Alaska State Museum.

Discussion[edit | edit source]

Although these white-ish deposits may look like Mold (biological infestation), blooms are very different from mold. Often one can distinguish between mold and bloom because the object has been kept under stable environmental conditions, at the proper relative humidity and temperature, making mold growth difficult (Smithsonian Anthropology Conservation Lab 2003). The reason behind why bloom develops differs from object to object and is linked to the object's materials (Museum of Fine Arts). One common cause of bloom is that moisture was caught in one of the varnish layers (Stoneledge 2006). Another prominent cause of bloom, particularly on leather, is the past treatment of leather with oils and soaps, which were originally thought to preserve leather (Pack 2013).

References[edit | edit source]

"Bloom." Getty. Accessed March 20, 2014. http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=bloom&logic=AND&note=&english=N&prev_page=1&subjectid=300186215

Crista Pack. "What's That White Stuff?" Alaska State Museum. Last modified August 2011. http://alaskawhitestuffid.wordpress.com/

"The Conservator's Eye: Learning to Expect the Unexpected." Smithsonian Anthropology Conservation Lab. Last modified September 2003. http://anthropology.si.edu/conservation/whatsnew_acl_2003-10.htm

"Bloom." Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Accessed March 20, 2014. http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Bloom

"Bloom." The Fine Arts Conservancy. Last modified 2006. http://www.art-conservation.org/?page_id=1192

Jewett, D. 1983. A glossary for recording the condition of an artifact. Ottawa : Canadian Heritage Information Network, National Museums of Canada.

example of bloom seen on the surface of a painting. Image courtesy of Fine Arts Conservancy

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