May 28, 2013 – Small pieces of metal in the cinder block have, over the years, oxidized and dripped rusty “tears” down the face of the mural. As part of the repair work on the wall, we had the worst of these metal pieces bored out and then patched over with mortar. We then used denatured alcohol to clean off the long, rusty stains below the holes. The alcohol removes the rust streak but causes the varnish on the mural to cloud, or “bloom”. Here, you can see one such patch at the top of a long streak of discoloration. The bottom of the streak has been cleaned off with denatured alcohol, leaving clouded varnish behind.