Underground graffiti removal - the restoration of the Land of Dope and Story

[AR]

Earlier this year some Masson CG members were in Cumberland and found yet more sprayed graffiti. Nothing new there, but some particularly mindless idiot had decided to spray their tag over the "Land of Dope and Story" slab - see the July picture. Generally, I've dealt with spray paint by wirebrushing but in this case, that wasn't going to be an option given the original smoked graffiti underneath.

Having read up on alternative methods, I decided to try solvent-based removal. Armed with various glues and solvents from my garage, I experimented on spots that weren't over the smoking. This proved that evo-stik contact adhesive shifted the majority of the spray paint (if you rolled it around like a giant bogey...), while xylene would dissolve much of the remainder. I then carefully tried a bit over the smoking, and was delighted to find that very little of the carbide soot came away - game on!

However, this inital session taught me another lesson, which was that  exposure to solvent fumes in a confined space isn't good for you - I probably wasn't in a fit state to drive home that night and I had a splitting headche the next day. I was advised to get a chemical filter mask, which I did.

Subsequent sessions were better for my health and more productive, with the result that after last Tuesday's session, there's not much left of the spray paint. I want to do one last mop-up with xylene but I'm really pleased with the result; I'm intending to do a more detailed paper for Cave & Karst Science about the methodology

 

[Graigwen]

That was a great effort, but xylene is incredibly nasty.  You were probably correct in thinking yoiu were not fit to drive!

.

 

[droid]

Reminds me of the dangers of fixing wetsuits....

 

[Mr Dinwiddy]

Thats great. Can I nominate you for one of those cave conservation awards?

 

[Boy Engineer]

Well done Adam. Let?s hope you don?t have to repeat it.

 

[thomasr]

Would anyone like to briefly explain the land of hope and glory graffiti and its significance/importance

 

[2xw]

Would anyone like to briefly explain the land of hope and glory graffiti and its significance/importance

Land of Dope and glory is a bunch of graffiti from some 60s (?) gang that lived in there called the Trogs. Or hung out there I guess.

 

[thomasr]

ok and thanks  Guess it is a shame now to deface it further

 

[SamT]

 

[AR]

Would anyone like to briefly explain the land of hope and glory graffiti and its significance/importance

I'd suggest having a look at John Barnatt's  2015 paper "Graffiti in Peak District (England) caves and mines:
historic record or mindless vandalism?" in Cave and Karst Science (Vol.42, No.3, pp.133?143) http://bcra.org.uk/pub/candks/index.html?j=126 for more information.

 

[Teddy Tunstall]

I decided to post on the UK Caving web site.

"I would like to thank everyone who has bought a copy of my novel, "The Perdix Project", and say a special thank you for the comments regarding graffiti in cave systems \ painting way-markers on cave walls, and my idea, see below.

As someone who cares about not spoiling the natural world, I couldn't bring my hero to spray markings on cave walls and I came up with this -

Extract -

?That's it then.  Tomorrow I'll go to Castleton and buy four wire ladders, a miner's lamp and plastic cups.?

?Plastic cups??

?Yes, as way-markers.  I need something light and easy to carry.  I can't use a can of spray paint.  Marking the walls would be vandalism, so I've got to put down some objects that I can collect on the way out, and I thought of plastic cups.

They are light and they stack inside each other, so they are compact and easy to carry.  I can put stones in the cups to hold them in place, and being brilliant white, they will be noticeable.  They seemed like the perfect things to use.?

-- end of extract.

I do not like what plastic pollution has done to the planet and I support plastic reduction measures, but I wrote that in 2016 before the anti-plastic campaign really got going.  In light of the current anti-plastic campaign, single-use plastic cups might not be available much longer.  I don't know, but in using this idea for cups as markers, I expect the cups to be collected up to be re-used.

Regards,
Teddy Tunstall."

 

[droid]

Piss off.

 

[Teddy Tunstall]

Piss off.

As someone whose style is far too vebose and rambling, I always admire succinct writing.  You seem to be a master of the art.

Succinct - adjective

(especially of something written or spoken) briefly and clearly expressed.
'use short, succinct sentences'

synonyms: concise, short, brief, compact, condensed, crisp, laconic, terse, tight, to the point, economic, pithy, thumbnail, summary, short and sweet, in a few well-chosen words, compendious, epigrammatic, synoptic, aphoristic, gnomic

 

[Pegasus]

[admin]There's no need to be rude, Droid, thank you. [/admin]

 

[droid]

Sorry  :

 

[Pegasus]

That's OK   

 

[Teddy Tunstall]

That's OK   

I second that.  No problem droid, I've had much worse on other boards.