THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONSERVATION • JULY 2014 ... · THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONSERVATION • JULY 2014 ... giving a student view of ... the provision of extra

THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONSERVATION • JULY 2014 • ISSUE 53

Botanical illustrations conserved

Also in this issue

Life as a CTQ student

A public paper chase

European Standards update

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Are you thinking of joining the Conservation Register?

www.conservationregister.com

The Conservation Register is the recognised source for finding

For further information and full details on the requirements for inclusion in the Conservation Register visit:

museum, the Council for the Care of Churches;

An individual entry providing full contact details and including

An opportunity to showcase examples of work to potential clients;

Provision of information on the accreditation and skills of you and your staff;

Login access for feedback on how often your own entry is viewed

Practices in which the lead member is an accredited conservator-

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inside JULY 2014 Issue 53

2 NEWSThe CEO column, funds forcpd, European standards,alum tawed skin, Group news

9PEOPLE

11BOTANICALILLUSTRATIONSConserving a Kew collection

13A CHURCH MOSAICGothic revival decorationuncovered

19AROUND AND ABOUTA sunfish, a colourfulexhibition

22REVIEWSIsle of Bute, Qatar, WiltonHouse, mannequins, wirework,Asian paper, lightmanagement and three books

32IN PRACTICEUsing visitors to survey thecollection and In Traininggiving a student view of CTQ

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Institute of Conservation1.5, Lafone House, The Leathermarket, Weston StreetLondon SE1 3ER

T +44(0)20 3142 6799

[email protected]@icon.org.ukwww.icon.org.uk

Chief ExecutiveAlison Richmond [email protected]

Conservation Registerconservationregister@icon.org.ukwww.conservationregister.com

ISSN 1749-8988

Icon NewsEditorLynette [email protected]

Production designerMalcolm [email protected]

PrintersCalderstone Design & Print Limitedwww.calderstone.com

Design Rufus [email protected]

For recruitment and all otheradvertisingRebecca Hendry020 3142 [email protected]

Cover photo:A drawing from the collection ofNathaniel Wallich’s botanicalillustrations held at the RoyalBotanic Gardens at Kew, Middlesex.The image shows a Sterculiaversicolor wall, a tree native to eastasia and India. The drawing issuffering from lead white darkening.Image: ©Natasha Trenwith at RGBKew

Disclaimer:Whilst every effort is made to ensureaccuracy, the editors and Icon Boardof Trustees can accept noresponsibility for the contentexpressed in Icon News; it is solelythat of individual contributors

Deadlines:

For September 2014 issue

Editorial: 4 August

Adverts: 18 August

From the Editor From fish to flowers, via a church mosaicwall, the work experiences of CTQcandidates and a project which used thepublic to gather its data, there is plenty toget your teeth into over the summer in thisissue of Icon News. Not to mention abumper crop of events which Icon members

have attended and report on, from Qatar to the Isle ofBute. And on the topic of attending courses andconferences, it is great to learn of the new source offunding, courtesy of Tru Vue, which is available to mid-career conservators to help with the costs of activitiesaimed at furthering their professional development.

One of the pleasures of my job as Editor is choosing theimage for the cover of Icon News. Given the range ofobjects and places that conservators work with, there areusually some lovely, interesting or quirky candidates to pickfrom. Your object, too, could become a cover star. Justwrite a piece about it (short is good!) and send it to me.And don’t forget that what may seem commonplace to youin your discipline may be fascinating and exotic to the restof us.

Lynette Gill

ICON NEWS • JULY 2014 • 1

Icon is registered as a Charity inEngland and Wales (Number1108380) and in Scotland (NumberSC039336) and is a CompanyLimited by Guarantee, (Number5201058)

IconNews July 2014 03/07/2014 20:08 Page 1

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From the Chief Executive

OUT OF THE ASHESAlison Richmond ACR FIICcelebrates the heart-warming response to thetragic Glasgow School ofArt fire and notes otherdevelopments in Scotland

The devastating fire thatsped through Charles RennieMacintosh’s iconic GlasgowSchool of Art completelydestroyed the famous libraryand much of its art, artefactsand archives collections atthe heart of the building. TheScottish Governmentimmediately pledged £5M tothe restoration fund andplanning is underway to

restore the damaged building and conserve the remainingcontents.

This injection of money is very welcome and is likely to attractmore giving. However, in the midst of the disaster, Icon calledupon another resource, one that couldn’t be paid for. Theresponse to our Twitter campaign calling for volunteers tohelp with the salvage of the contents of the building wasdramatic. In the first three days, more than one hundred andfifty conservators offered their time and expertise for free.Icon’s Scotland Group kept a log of all the offers of help andin the last counting we had conservators of all types, as wellas joiners, architects, archivists. We had people who just wantto help in any way they could. There were offers ofequipment, transport, and buildings nearby, includingequipment on standby in Dundee. This building meant somuch to so many and people really wanted to help.

Although only a few of those who volunteered were called

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professional updateupon to help in those initial days, there were other benefitsthat emerged from this campaign. The story of the campaignwas picked up by the press and appeared in online editionsof The Art Newspaper (TAN) and Salon magazine. It was verypopular on TAN’s website, showing how much people careabout the school and Mackintosh’s building. The Guardianwas watching closely and its journalist Maev Kennedy tweetedthe call. The Chief Executive of the Royal Commission on theAncient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS)mentioned Icon’s offer of help in evidence given to theScottish Parliament. This evidence was recorded and availableon line. Conservators and conservation were brought to theattention of a wider public. I am in dialogue with a number ofpeople about the public benefit that can come out of arestoration project and how Icon might be part of that. Welearned at first hand the power of social media to galvanisequickly. It was a really good example of an Icon Group andthe Icon office working well together to achieve an outcome.

It is a very sad day when a building that so many know andlove is damaged, but there is a silver lining. There probablyhasn’t been volunteering on such a scale since the Florencefloods of 1966. One Twitter follower put it this way: Thisunprecedented response to this crisis is historic. Proud to bea member of this professional community [@charleslade02].And so am I.

Icon has been active in more ways than one in Scotland. Wewere one of thirty-one organisations that responded to thecall for evidence made by the Education and CultureCommittee of the Scottish Government on the HistoricEnvironment Scotland Bill. The purpose of the Bill is toestablish a new lead body for Scotland‘s historic environment,to be known as Historic Environment Scotland. One of thethings that we called for in the consultation was listed in themain outcomes of the consultation: the word heritage andhistoric environment mean different things to differentpeople. There is a need for a shared understanding of whatconstitutes the Historic Environment.

We also joined the Built Heritage Forum Scotland and we arelooking at how we will be able to contribute to the StrategicHistoric Environment Forum. These are places whereconservation is talked about but where a concerted voice formovable heritage is needed and Icon can provide that. Weare also starting to think about what a ‘yes’ vote in Scotlandmight mean for Icon and our members This will be consideredby the Board of Trustees at their next meeting.

ICON CONSERVATION AWARDS 2015If you have been reading your Iconnects diligently, you willknow that Icon has commissioned Erin Barnes and GemmaClarke of ArtsMediaPeople to manage the ConservationAwards 2015 for Icon and on behalf of the stakeholders, Bekoplc, The Pilgrim Trust, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers(IMechE) and The Plowden Trust.

Erin and Gemma have a track record of working with themedia and cultural organisations, such as Tate and HistoricRoyal Palaces, developing outreach and liaising with

Glasgow School of Art: wide angle view of the scene affected bythe fire

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audiences. Since achieving a media profile is an importantaim of the project, they have recommended that resources befocussed on one big launch to press and media, rather thanthe original plan of having a ‘soft’ launch in the Spring.

The launch, now scheduled for October, will announce thatthere is one year to go. Erin and Gemma will have time todevelop the website and social media, and to gather storiesfrom previous winners to attract press attention. So, pastwinners, if you have great stories please get in touch with meor Erin Barnes ([email protected])

Here is an outline of the timetable but please watch out forupdates via Iconnect:

• This summer – drawing up the shortlisting and judgingpanels for each award

• November 2014 to April 2015 – open for expressions ofinterest

• Awards Submission deadline – 30th April 2015

• Shortlisting and judging – through May and June 2015

• Awards Ceremony – October 2015

The Awards are:

The Pilgrim Trust Award for Conservation (£10,000)This Award recognises excellence in the conservation of thecultural heritage in the UK. It is presented for a completedproject or project phase judged to be the best of thosesubmitted.

The Beko Award for Conservation in the Community(£5000)The Beko Award for Conservation in the Community will begiven to a project of any size that has been undertaken byvolunteers with the involvement of a conservator and whichhas led to learning new skills and knowledge. The legacy ofthe project will be the learning of the volunteers and theincreased access to the cultural heritage by the communityand by the public.

MORE HELP FOR MID-CAREER CPDIn a piece of excellent news for established conservators, Iconhas announced a partnership with Tru Vue Inc to providefunding for mid-career conservators from across the globe toattend professional development events such as conferencesand training courses.

Although there are a few, valued, sources of funding for thiskind of training, the provision of extra resources for continuingprofessional development (cpd) is very welcome. Icon’s labourmarket research has found that employers’ training budgetshave been drastically reduced in recent years and the needfor this kind of help is increased accordingly.

Conservators from anywhere in the world are eligible to applyto Icon for funding, apart from members of the AmericanInstitute for Conservation (AIC), who should apply to FAICthrough a similar scheme.

The Pilgrim Trust Student Conservator of the YearAward (£5,000)This Award highlights the achievements of studentconservators and the high standards of UK conservationtraining courses. It is presented for the conservation projectjudged to be the best of those completed during training.

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers Award for theConservation of an Industrial Heritage Artefact (£2500)The award recognises excellence in engineering conservationof an artefact or collection for a project that is professionallyled. Applications are invited from individuals or organisationsfor conserving both operational and static examples ofengineering.

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers Award forVolunteering in the Conservation of an IndustrialArtefact (£2500)The award recognises excellence in engineering conservationof an artefact or collection for a project that has significantvolunteer engagement. Applications are invited fromindividuals, organisations or groups for conserving bothoperational and static examples of engineering.

The Anna Plowden Trust Award for Research &Innovation in Conservation (£2500)This award of £2500 recognises the achievements of thoseinvolved in conservation research and development. It ispresented for the best completed programme aimed atfurthering the knowledge and practice of conservation,including research leading to better understanding ofmaterials, their technology of production and theirconservation and the development of materials, equipment,systems or techniques for improved conservation andcollection care, examination, analysis, treatment ormonitoring.

Alison Richmond, Chief [email protected]

There will be a formal application process with threedeadlines a year. Grants will range from £300 to £900 andthere will be between ten and twenty grants per year.Applications opened on 1 July and full details of theprogramme can be found on Icon’s website and in the specialIconnect.

Alison Richmond writes: ‘We are very pleased to be involvedin this initiative as it is a goal of our National ConservationEducation and Skills Strategy to provide more opportunitiesfor conservators to learn at every stage of their careers. TruVue has been very supportive of Icon, sponsoring our triennialconference and Conservation Register as well as being a loyaladvertiser. We are delighted that our relationship with Tru


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Vue continues to support the profession and the public byproviding the means for conservators everywhere to developtheir skills.’

‘We are pleased to be partnering with Icon and FAIC to offerthese scholarships to professionals who might not otherwisehave the opportunity to attend, and contribute towards theirprofessional development goals,’ said Patti Dumbaugh, VicePresident for Tru Vue, Inc. ‘Our goals for the program includeencouraging international exchange and dissemination oftraining and conference information. We hope conservatorswith a thirst to learn from all over the world will takeadvantage of this program and the knowledge it can bring totheir communities.’

For more information about this grant programme pleasecontact [email protected]

EUROPEAN STANDARDS UPDATEOn 10 April 2014, for the first time in the ten years since thelaunch of the European conservation standards project, theUK played host to a meeting of CEN Technical Committee346, the over-arching body responsible for the developmentof these standards. We were at University College London,accompanied by conservators and conservation scientistsfrom across Europe, at a meeting hosted by Tim Yates,Chairman of the British Standards committee B/560.

It was significant that this should be happening at all in theUK, given our cautious, not to say sceptical approach to thisgrand European project right from its inception. Launched byarchitectural conservation scientists in Italy, this collaborativeproject has now resulted in no less than eighteen publishedBritish Standards covering a range of topics from the mostgeneral to the very particular, all under the broad heading ofConservation of the Cultural Heritage (google search for CENTC346 Conservation Standards). These standards now taketheir place alongside thousands of others, most of which wetake for granted in our private and professional lives, whetherit’s the window glass in our cars or the blades of our scalpels.

This annual plenary meeting was chaired by Dr Vasco Fassina,

whose founding chairmanship was renewed for another threeyears. Much of the meeting was taken up by reports from theconvenors of the eleven Working Groups listed here. Due totheir efficiency (reports were circulated in advance), theaccumulated experience of the somewhat arcane procedures,and the relative lack of controversy, the meeting wascompleted in one day, rather than the planned two.

Of the topics which gave rise to discussion, the followingpoints are of note:

• WG1 is trying to complete its lexicon of alteration terms bycompiling accompanying photographs.

• WG2 drew attention to a parallel project (not a standard),co-funded by the European Union, to develop ‘a richlyillustrated glossary’ for the conservation of wall paintingand architectonic surfaces (The EwaGlos Project).

• WG3 reported on potential new standards for cleaning, onwhich I drew attention for the need to incorporate wordingwhich respects the special judgment and skills ofprofessional conservators.

• The work of WG4 is threatened by the withdrawal of(Danish) funding for its secretariat. Meanwhile, its workcontinues on a standard for integrated pest management,another on risk management, and another called ‘New sitesand buildings’, the only project under UK leadership, whichhas now been formally activated, the final draft due forapproval next year. It is expected that this will eventuallydisplace BSI’s Published Document PD5454:2010 Guide forthe storage and exhibition of archival materials and PubliclyAvailable Specification PAS 198:2012: Specification formanaging environmental conditions for cultural collections.

• WG5’s work on a transportation standard is close tocompletion; its Packing standard was published in 2011.

• WG6 had completed its work on exhibition lighting incollaboration with another (non-conservation) LightingTechnical Committee (TC169)

• A new work item was approved for work by WG 8 (Energyefficiency in historic buildings), namely ‘Guidelines forimproving energy performance of historically, architecturallyor culturally valuable buildings’.

• WG11 continued to elaborate the main elements of whathas been called the ‘conservation process’, which shouldoffer a conceptual and practical framework for approachingall conservation projects.

• It was suggested that a new work item should be proposedfor the next three-year work programme, namely a standardfor the investigation of paint layers and other surfaces inthe built heritage. There will however be wide consultation

CEN/TC346 Conservation of Cultural HeritageCurrent Working Groups

WG 1 General methodologies and terminology

WG 2 Characterisation and analysis of porous inorganic materials

WG 3 Evaluation of methods and products for conservation works on porous inorganic materials

WG 4 Protection of collections

WG 5 Packing and transport

WG 6 Exhibition lighting of cultural heritage

WG 7 Specifying and measuring indoor/outdoor climate

WG 8 Energy efficiency of historic buildings

WG 9 Waterlogged wood

WG 10 Historic timber structures

WG 11 Conservation process

CurrentCEN/TC346 Conservation of Cultural Heritage

WG 1

WG 2

orking GroupsWWoCurrentCEN/TC346 Conservation of Cultural Heritage

General methodologies and terminology

WG 2 Characterisation and analysis of porous ino

CEN/TC346 Conservation of Cultural Heritage

General methodologies and terminology

Characterisation and analysis of porous ino

Characterisation and analysis of porous inorganic materials

WG 3

WG 4

WG 5

WG 6

WG 7

WG 3 Evaluation of methods and products for conservation works on porous inorganic materials

WG 4 Protection of collections

WG 5 Packing and transport

WG 6 Exhibition lighting of cultural heritage


Characterisation and analysis of porous ino

Evaluation of methods and products for conservation works on porous

Protection of collections

Packing and transport

Exhibition lighting of cultural heritage

Specifying and measuring indoor/outdoor climate

ganic materials




WG 7

WG 8

WG 9

WG 10

WG 1

ff


WG 8 Energy efficiency of

WG 9 WaWaterlogged wood

WG 10 Historic timber structures

1 Conservation process


ficiency of historic buildings

Historic timber structures

Conservation process


Standards under discussion: the CEN TC346 meeting in London



Events Organisers – Helen Warren & Sarah DelvesGraduate Student Representative – Tiago OliveiraOrdinary Member – Sarah Cheng

Planning has now begun for the next Icon Ceramics and GlassGroup conference, if you would like to submit a paper, orhave any suggestions for sessions, then please do get intouch with the Group Chair.

Rachel SharplesCGG Chair

Paintings GroupThe Paintings Group AGM was held on 27 February at theFreemasons’ Hall in London. Chair Francis Downingaddressed the attendees and reported on the past year’sevents and plans for the future. Treasurer Rebecca Greggreported that the Group’s finances remained in a healthycondition to date. Members Michael Correia and JemmaEdwards were proposed for and voted on to the PaintingsGroup Committee, where they will assist with the Group’sactivities.

The AGM was held immediately prior to Alexandra Gent’s talk‘Reynolds, Replication and Restoration: Some results from theWallace Collection Reynolds Research Project’, which we arevery pleased to report was a sell-out and attended by overone hundred people.

Our next upcoming talk is on the evening of Monday 29September. Charlotte Bolland of the National Portrait Gallery,Project Curator of ‘Making Art In Tudor Britain’ will give a talkon the market in copies in Renaissance Britain. The talk willtake place at 6:30pm (doors open at 6:00pm) in our usualvenue, Freemason’s Hall, 60 Great Queen St, London WC2B5AZ. Please see the Paintings Group section of the Iconwebsite for further information and details of how to book.

This year has also seen the introduction of a reduced rate of£5 for students attending our evening talks (even if they arenot Icon members!), which we hope will encourage greaterattendance and involvement of the upcoming members ofour profession. Those wishing to obtain this student rate arerequested to bring valid Student ID with them when payingon the door. The normal rates of £10 for members and £15 fornon-members remain.

The Paintings Group Annual Conference will this year havethe title ‘Modern Conservation: What’s New?’ and will be heldon Friday 10 October 2014 at the Wallace Collection inLondon. Ticket prices are £75 for members, £95 for non-members and £45 for students. At the time of going to pressa final list of speakers is still to be confirmed; please checkback on the Paintings Group section of the Icon websitewhere further information and booking procedures will bepublished in due course.

We thank all of our members for their continuing support andask you to email the Icon Paintings Group with any ideas,suggestions or feedback.

The Icon Paintings [email protected]

on selecting this and other possible topics for the next workprogramme. Readers of Icon News are invited to proposetopics.

Incidentally, also recently published is the purely Britishstandard, BS 7913:2013 Guide to the conservation of historicbuildings. This, together with all other British and Europeanconservation standards, is available to purchase fromwww.shop.bsigroup.com. If you or your institution is amember you may qualify for half-price.

It will soon be time to start the revision of the earliest standards –a five year cycle – so your chance will soon come to commenton anything you think could be improved next time round.

David Leigh

NEWS FROM THE GROUPS

Book & Paper GroupAs I write this, the next committee meeting of the Book &Paper Group will be coming up on 25 June. For the committeeto exist, we need members... We are volunteers who try to makethings happen, by discussing what we need as a profession rightnow. While we have recently gained some excellent newcommittee members, there may still be opportunities to joinus. I would encourage you all to think seriously aboutvolunteering your time as a committee member so that wecan look after our profession in the best way possible

Although committee work does require commitment, thereare great opportunities for camaraderie and a feel-goodfactor in knowing that we are doing our bit to pool resourcesand make things happen. So, if you are interested in making acontribution, please do get in touch:[email protected]

Isabelle EganBook & Paper Group Chair

Ceramics and Glass GroupIt’s been an exciting couple of months for the Ceramics andGlass Group. In May we held our annual conference in York –look out for the review on page 26. It was an action packedcouple of days and we’ve had some really great feedbackfrom all those who attended.

I’m also very pleased to announce that the Nigel WilliamsPrize and Nigel Williams Student Prize were both awarded atthe conference to two excellent projects. See page 8 for moreinformation about these awards.

At the AGM there were several changes to the Ceramics andGlass Group committee. Our Group Chair Kathleen Swalesstepped down after six years’ service on the committee. Shehas been a real asset to the Group and we wish her well forthe future. The committee is now as follows:

Chair – Rachel SharplesSecretary – Becky SandersonTreasurer – AC OrrNigel Williams Prize Coordinator – Ronald Pile


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spreading the word about the rescue effort in Japan. Sayawill be a much missed member of the committee and wewould like to wish her well for all she is involved in in thefuture. Saya has reassured us that while she is no longer acommittee member, she will continue to be an activemember of the Group. We look forward to seeing her againat Group events.

Keep an eye on our Icon webpages, facebook and twitterfeed for further updates.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ICONPhMG

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ICONPhMG

Textile GroupThe committee has welcomed two new members. KateFrench, from the National Museums of Scotland has becomeour new secretary and Stella Gardner from TextileConservation Ltd. is now web editor. The committee wouldlike to take this opportunity to thank Sophie Downes who hasended her term as web editor. We thank her for all her hardwork and dedication to the role.

There have been two very successful visits: one to ProportionLondon, Mannequin makers and the other to the Paul Smithexhibition at the Design Museum. Thank you to DebbiePhipps and Susana Farajdo respectively for organising theseevents. There are reviews about these visits elsewhere in thispublication.

Look out for upcoming events on Iconnect, the website andour facebook page.

ICRI LAUNCHThe official launch of a new conservation body – The Instituteof Conservator-Restorers in Ireland – took place on 27 May.ICRI is a single unified professional body formed from themembership of the Irish Professional Conservators andRestorers Association (IPCRA) and the Institute for theConservation of Historic and Artistic Works in Ireland(ICHAWI).

The launch was held in the National Gallery of Ireland andwas very well attended by representatives from the widermuseums and galleries community, the Heritage Council andother bodies. ICRI was also pleased to announce its solepatron, the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

More information can be found atwww.conservationireland.org

The event was also the occasion for an inauguralConservation Lifetime Award, which was presented toAnthony Cains and to Maighread McParland, in recognition oftheir commitment to the profession both in Ireland andabroad. Anthony Cains retired as Keeper of Conservation,Trinity College Dublin, having established the conservationlaboratory, following his involvement in the Florence floodsrescue operation. Maighread McParland, who also took partin the Florence rescue operation, established the Paper

Photographic Materials GroupIcon’s Photographic Materials Group would like thank allthose who attended the Liverpool AGM and associated visitsat the beginning of May. Particular thanks are due to AnnStewart and her colleagues at the National MuseumsLiverpool Conservation Centre who made us feel verywelcome and provided an informative presentation and tourat a time of such uncertainty: the recent announcement of theintended reduction of staffing at the National MuseumsLiverpool is expected to hit the centre hard. Having seen first-hand an example of just a small part of what conservationstaff at the centre are able to achieve, the news of likelyredundancies is a huge blow. The Photographic MaterialsGroup would like to echo the support for the centre and itsstaff as expressed in Alison Richmond’s letter to the Secretaryof State for Culture, Media and Sport:http://tinyurl.com/kzq6bfz

A report of the event, which also included a behind thescenes tour of Liverpool Archives, has been written by astudent on the MA Conservation of Historic Objects course atLincoln, Emma Bonson. This can be found on page 28.

At the AGM section of the day, new committee memberswere elected into position as follows:

General Committee Members:• Anthea Henton• Caroline Dempsey• Elspeth Jordan• Jacquie Moon• Rosalind BosSecretary: Lorraine FinchThey will join:

• Louisa Coles, who was elected as Chair

• Dominic Wall, who continues as Treasurer

• Zoe Kennington, who continues as Programme Coordinator

We also said farewell to two committee members:

• Sarah Allen, who has been Acting Chair since September of2013, and a member of the committee for three years.Sarah will continue with the Group as a general committeemember, but is taking a break from committee work whileon maternity leave. Sarah has done a fantastic job sincestepping in as Acting Chair in September, and in particularhas put a huge amount of time into the organisation of theLiverpool event and AGM. We wish her well and lookforward to welcoming her back early in 2015.

• We would also like to thank Saya Miles as she moves on.Saya has been a key member of the Icon PhotographicMaterials Group committee for three years, and has beeninstrumental in organising many of the Group’s events inthis time. Particular highlights were the talks delivered byYoko Shiraiwa in London and Edinburgh on the subject ofRescuing Tsunami Damaged Photographs in Japan. Thiswas a subject close to Saya’s heart, and she put a greatdeal of time and effort into arranging these events and



Conservation Studio in the National Gallery of Ireland in 1970from which she retired as Head in 1999. Both were honouredfor their huge contribution to the professionalisation ofconservation in Ireland.

ALUM TAWED SKIN – A FOLLOW UP Icon News readers may be interested to know thatconservators at Oxford Conservation Consortium and theBodleian Libraries, along with Christopher Clarkson, met on 7May with Tova Irving, Assistant Manager at William Cowley,Manufacturer and Supplier of Fine Parchment and Vellum.This was a follow up to our first meeting in November 2011.See Icon News issue 38, p.4.

Tova brought a good selection of skins that she had beenworking on, goat and calf, and again talked us through theprocessing of the skins and the effects that subtle changes inprocessing can have, such as the addition of more fat liquorto improve handling qualities. She reported that Cowley’s arenow using English goats which seem to result in a firmer skinwith more body.

Tova was interested to hear that conservators are lessconcerned with skin pigmentation, saying that not having toworry about dark areas in the skin would make her life mucheasier! We impressed on her that we are interested in thickerskins, i.e. over 1mm in thickness, so that we can shape andpare the skin to suit the requirements of a binding. The skinslooked very good and an initial order was placed on the spot,with a visit to select further skins planned for the near future.

Tova also brought two swatches of her experiments withdyeing alum tawed to produce a base colour that can then betoned to match a book undergoing treatment. Theseswatches looked very promising, and we are working with

Tova to develop a product that Cowley’s can market, so willkeep Icon News readers informed about progress.

We’re very grateful to Tova for working so closely with us tomaintain the production of high quality materials forconservation. If anyone is interested in joining this project,please contact OCC.

Jane Eagan ACR FIIC Oxford Conservation Consortium

ICON AT THE M&H SHOWIn May, Icon took part in the Museums & Heritage Show atLondon Olympia for the first time. Icon staff and a volunteergroup of members staffed a stall in the Ask The Expert area,promoting Icon and the Conservation Register and fieldingquestions from members of the public on a wide range oftopics and objects.

This would not have been possible without the efforts of thenine experts who volunteered their time over the two days ofthe show and between them represented the conservationComparing dyed alum-tawed with natural swatches at OCC

Icon experts at the Museums & Heritage show

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Examining calf skins with Tova Irving (second on left)


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specialisms of paintings, books, paper, photographs andarchives, textiles, leather and antiquities.

So three cheers for

Nicholas Burnett Sarah Cove Francis Downing Lorraine Finch Sharon Oldale Melanie Leach Eileen Powell Theo Sturge Heather Tetley

For Membership Manager Michael Nelles, this was his firstouting with the team. ‘I felt quite lucky to be starting my rolejust as the M&H Show came round,’ he said. ‘I’d only been inthe role a week, and already I was hearing all about thefascinating projects our members were working on. It was alovely induction!’

The show organisers seemed pleased with the popularity ofthe ‘Ask The Expert’ stands and have already invited Iconback for next year’s show. Watch this space!

THE NIGEL WILLIAMS PRIZE 2014‘I can honestly say that I think this is the highest calibre ofapplications since the award began. We (the judges) wouldlike to express our thanks to all the candidates for theirapplications and the thoroughness with which they addressedthe judging criteria’ (Sandra Smith, Head of Conservation atthe V&A and chair of the Nigel Williams Prize Judging Panel).

Well done to all those applicants who supported the NigelWilliams Prize 2104! As well as the Main Prize, entries werealso invited for a new Student Prize this year, and clearly bothcategories contained applications deemed to be strongcontenders for the honours. The 2014 Award ceremony tookplace at the Icon Ceramics and Glass Group conferencedinner in York this May, and many congratulations again tothe winners:

The Main Prize was awarded to Pete David (privateconservator) and Judy Pinkham (National Museum of Wales)for their intriguing project on the conservation of acontemporary artwork that was to be shown in the 2012 ArtesMundi (Arts of the World) exhibition in Cardiff. Described bythe judges as a ‘thoroughly professional approach to whatmust have initially seemed a rather daunting and dispiritingproject’. Against considerable time pressure, the art-work - aseries of floor tiles on which a friend of the artist had beenmurdered - required the treatment of severely damaged areasand remounting of the whole, all the while sensitive to theartist’s desire to retain the existing surface blood and dirt.

The Student Prize was awarded (in absentia) to Sara Ameriofor her conservation work on the restoration of a 19thc.stainedglass angel window from the depository of Milan cathedral.

This project originally formed part of her MA dissertation atTurin University and, among other contemporary techniques,included some interesting experimentation with Photoshop.In their final assessment her application was described by thejudges as ‘an accomplished piece of work with professionalpresentation, excellent illustrations and plenty of evidence ofa wide range of research and understanding of historicalcontext’.

Abstracts for each of this year’s applicants, together withinformation relating to current and former Prize winners, willshortly be posted on the Icon web-site (follow links to ‘NigelWilliams’). Meanwhile the co-ordinator would like to drawattention to the fact that in each case, whether involving ‘old’or ‘new’ techniques, or more usually a combination of thetwo, the judges commented favourably on the level ofunderstanding of materials and general practical competency.It is good to be reminded that the element of craft thatcharacterised Nigel William’s own period at the BritishMuseum is still mediated through contemporary conservationpractice, re-interpreted in the light of the situation today.Nigel himself was quite ‘open to having to make changes tofit with changing ethics etc.’ (quote from Loretta Hogan, whoworked with him at the British Museum). It is intended that theapplication criteria for the Prize reflect both the constraintsand the opportunities open to conservators today, whether inthe private or public sector.

While acknowledging the sometimes difficult and alwayscreative role played by the panel of judges, the co-ordinatorwould also like to take this opportunity to thank the Williamsfamily for their on-going enthusiasm and practical support forthe Prize. It was a privilege and pleasure to have Nigel’spartner, Myrtle Bruce-Mitford, together with other membersof his family in attendance at the Award Ceremony, and we alllook forward to the next event in two year’s time (2016).

Ronald PileNigel Williams Prize Co-ordinator

CORRECTION

A mistaken mothThe picture of a moth on page 6 of the last issue of IconNews was incorrectly labelled as a Monopis fungus moth. Infact, it is the Obvious moth, Monopis obviella, formerly knownas the Monopis ferruginella. This is a potential new insect pestand has only been found on traps in recent years. It was givenits common name at the 2011 Pest Conference in Londonwhen the suggestion Obvious moth won the popular vote.

Pete David (3rd from right) with members of Nigel William’s family



Also thanks to a QEST scholarship,Susan Catcher will be spending time ina conservation studio in NanjingMuseum alongside a practitionerinstructing her in scroll mounting andthe nuances of ink rubbing.

Susan is a Senior Paper Conservator atthe Victoria and Albert Museum whereone of her responsibilities is to conserveits collection of Chinese works of art onpaper and silk. She is also passionateabout Chinese ink rubbings and thisaward provides the perfect opportunityto learn how they are made andenhance her understanding of theirconservation. The art of taking arubbing is in danger of being lost inChina, partially due to the introductionof photography, and is almost non-existent in the West.

Although competent in Mandarin, shewill first spend an intensive fortnight inShanghai learning the technicallanguage required to exchangeconservation information before arrivingin Nanjing. As Chinese-specifictechniques are not so readily availableoutside China, Susan will present apaper at the IIC Conference in HongKong to disseminate the knowledgethat she will bring back to the V&A

The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust,ever generous to the conservationprofession, has benefited two Iconmembers in its latest round of awards.With QEST’s help, paper conservatorSamantha Cawson will be able toundertake an internship at The TeylersMuseum in the Netherlands under thesupervision of Robien van Gulik, theHead of Conservation. She will take upthe assignment upon completion of herMA Conservation from the CamberwellCollege of Arts this month.

Samantha has already gained valuableexperience of conserving paper records,19th century architectural drawings andphotographic slides working with anumber of organisations such as TheChildren’s Society Archives, The RoyalCollection Trust and the HornimanMuseum and Gardens. This latestplacement will provide her with essentialexperience of working with a variety ofobjects and on a major exhibition, aswell as building crucial links with otherinstitutions abroad within the heritagesector.

Congratulations to Dr Jim Tate forwinning the Royal Warrant HolderAssociation’s 2014 Plowden Medal. Theaward recognises his significantcontribution to the advancement ofconservation and his unwaveringpassion for the application of science inpromoting the understanding of artefacts.

Jim’s background is in physics and hiscareer eventually took him to Head ofthe Department of Conservation andAnalytical Research at NationalMuseums Scotland, a post he held from1986 to his retirement in 2012. At heart aconservation scientist, Jim alwayscombined his managerial role withapplied research on the nationalcollections, mainly into non-destructivemethods of analysis and identification.He also maintained a wide ranginginterest in all aspects of conservationand the museum world, including thechairing of Icon’s Science Group andthrough his involvement in the initiation,development and establishment of theNational Strategy for Science inHeritage, for which he has presentedevidence to the House of Lords.

Of his award he said ‘I am honoured tohave had such a fascinating job withfantastic colleagues, and then to beawarded a medal – long liveconservation and heritage science!’

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In Conservation by Design’s annualcompetition for the Nicholas HadgraftMemorial Scholarship, Liz Ralph haswon a prize that will enable her toattend the Montefiascone BookConservation Summer School in Italy. Lizis a trainee book conservator and hasjust completed an Icon internship withPZ Conservation C.I.C. in Truro,Cornwall.

The CXD Scholarship nominally offersone winner the opportunity to attendthe Montefiascone Summer School andthis year the main prize went to astudent at the Institut National duPatrimoine in Paris, France. HoweverCXD’s Managing Director DirkHendrickx said ‘the entries were soimpressive that, for the second yearrunning, we have decided to award arunner-up prize too. Elizabeth Ralphdemonstrated considerable skill andpassion for her craft, so we aredelighted to invite her to attend herpreferred course at the summer school’.

Katy Smith has taken up the post ofTextile Conservator at The BowesMuseum, Barnard Castle, thanks to agenerous grant from the EsmėeFairbairn Foundation. Katy completedher basic training at University CollegeLondon on the Principles ofConservation (MA) and Conservation forArchaeology and Museums (MSc)courses. She specialised in textilesconservation with a three-year diplomain Textiles Conservation at the Victoriaand Albert Museum, followed up by ashort contract working on objects forthe new Europe 1600–1800 galleries,V&A.

A far cry from Kensington, she now findsherself in a French-style chateau in themiddle of the Teesdale countryside, andis preparing to take on two Icon/HLFinterns a year, working towards the re-display of the Textiles & Dress Gallery.

Moves



The Nathaniel Wallichconservation project

THE PROJECTIn 2011, one hundred and fifty Wallich drawings were initiallydigitised and published on Kew’s website, when it wasthought that these were the only ones in Kew’s collection.Shortly after this it became clear that other Wallich drawingsexisted but had been wrongly attributed to other collectionsfrom the 19th century. The illustrations required conservationto preserve them and get them ready for digitisation. Ibecame the Wallich project conservator a year ago and theconservation side of the project has now come to completion.The project consists of 412 botanical illustrations, painted byanonymous Indian artists from Wallich’s time spent in Indiaworking on the East India Company’s Herbarium.

I began the work by surveying the collection; this was to giveme an idea of the condition the illustrations were in and what

treatments and requirements they should need. The majorityof the illustrations were adhered to a sugar paper backingwith four blobs of animal glue in each corner. The sugarpaper had become acidic and the cellulosic sugar had startedto ferment, thus causing a detrimental threat to the artworkand needing to be removed. Other treatments includedsurface cleaning, tear repairs, lining, pigment consolidationand repair and bespoke archival quality storage.

LEAD WHITE TREATMENT Whilst surveying the collection I noticed that a number of theillustrations had a black/silvery tint to several of the highlightsand especially the white pigments. This is known as thedarkening of lead white and this pigment deterioration usuallyoccurs when lead white reacts with sulphur in the environment

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s Collections conservator, Natasha Trenwith,describes the conservation of Nathaniel Wallich’s botanical illustrations

Botanical illustration: Magnolia Insignis WallAn example of sugar paper fermentation

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During lead white treatment


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to form lead sulphide, a brown, black or silvery black product.

It was a difficult decision whether to carry out a conservationtreatment to revert the pigment back to white using ahydrogen peroxide and diethyl ether mix, as the treatmentdoes not change the pigment back to lead white but rathertransforms it into a more stable lead sulphate. So a decisionhad to be made whether to proceed with the treatment or tokeep the pigment as it is in its natural state. I finally came tothe conclusion that as the illustrations are still a heavily usedresource by the public, researchers and botanists, it wasimportant to ensure that the illustrations represented theoriginal colours of the specimen as closely as possible andtherefore I treated the darkened lead white.

COPPER GREEN DETERIORATION The survey also revealed further pigment deterioration onsome of the illustrations containing green highlighting. Thiscan be seen as an unusual rust coloured strike through ontothe back of the illustration and, interestingly, is only presenton wove paper. (There is a mixture of paper types within thecollection.) Through research and pigment identification, thiskind of deterioration showed signs identical to the damageproduced by copper-containing pigments such as verdigris.Artworks suffering from this sort of damage have been knownto become so weak that they can fall out of the page, leavinga hole. The deterioration evident in Wallich’s illustrations is ofa lesser extent and only a browning of the paper can be seen.An alkali wash using magnesium bicarbonate can inhibit thedeterioration, together with storage with a low relativehumidity reading.

The collection of botanical illustrations is now fully conserved

Before and after photographs showing the effect of treating lead white darkening

and the pigments are in a much more stable condition.Bespoke housing has been made for the collection that willprovide sufficient protection to limit any further damage. Theillustrations are awaiting digitisation so that they can beavailable on Kew’s database as a resource for further research.

Information about Nathaniel Wallich’s colourful life can befound on the Royal Botanic Gardens’ website and hiscollection can also be searched in detail there:www.kew.org/science-conservation/collections/nathaniel-wallich

Illustration of Pterocarpus Indicus: an example of copper greendeterioration

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BACKGROUND All Saints, Harrow Weald is a grade II listed buildingconsecrated in 1849. The principal architect was the notableVictorian William Butterfield (1814–1852), a contemporary ofAugustus Pugin. Both were Gothic revival architects.Butterfield was a supporter of an organisation in the Churchof England called the Oxford Movement, as was the first vicarof All Saints, Edward Monro. As a result the church wasdesigned and built in a Gothic revival style.

The Oxford movement was controversial in the context of thetime; the Catholic Emancipation Act had recently beenpassed, and one of the criticisms levelled at the movementwas that it led to ‘popery’. This accusation has dogged AllSaints over the years until more recent enlightened times.However in the 1950s the vicar of the time decided to takematters into his own hands and have the most decorative area

of the church – the mosaic covered East Wall of the chancel –painted over. He also had a curtain hung over the remainderof the mosaic decoration. The only clue to the design andextent of the mosaic was a black and white photograph whichhad been taken just prior to the wall being painted over

COMING UP WITH A SOLUTIONIn 2009 Northstar Restoration was approached by the currentvicar, the Reverend James Mercer, to come up with aproposal to remove the paint. At that stage it was not knownwhether more than fifty years of coverage with an unknownpaint had caused any permanent damage to the mosaic tilesand mortar. After a period of research into various methodsand stripping materials it was decided to use a chemicalpoultice method that was relatively easy to apply to walls,allowed the stripped material to be contained and easilyremoved and resulted in a neutral ph surface after washingdown. Suitable test areas were identified and trials carried outwith three different chemicals which resulted in a clear winner.

ESTABLISHING THE PROJECT The first step was to work out an accurate cost for the projectso that the necessary funding could be sought. A lot of thetest work had allowed key data to be derived, particularlydwell time for the poultice to work effectively, as well as theinfluence of ambient temperature. Most of the cost elementscould therefore be accurately scaled up from the tests.

The other constraint was inevitably time: like most churches

Revealing a WilliamButterfield MosaicWilliam Northover, Conservator and Restorer of Northstar Restoration,Pinner, describes the uncovering of a Victorian mosaic wall in All SaintsChurch, Harrow Weald in Middlesex

The cover of the booklet that contains the tantalising description ofthe fountain’s colour scheme

The gable wall of the church in June 2013 before the work starts.The curtain covering the lower third of the wall had been removedby this stage.

The last image of the mosaics on the gable wall before they werepainted over, c.1955


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All Saints is busy throughout the year, however it was possibleto negotiate a six-week window during the warmest part ofthe year – June and July. To complete the work in the timeavailable was calculated to require four conservators to workin parallel or in pairs and at height. A lot of work went into thedesign of the scaffolding to allowed safe working at twometre intervals all the way up the wall, as well as into thewindow recesses, where cantilevered sections were necessary.

A fund raising team from the church set to work to raise thenecessary money and towards the end of 2012 it wasestimated that the funds would be available to meet thetarget date by the middle of 2013.

IMPLEMENTATIONWith our conservation team formed, in mid-June thescaffolding was erected with its three levels or ‘lifts’ at twometres’ vertical separation. The overall height from the

ground to the point at the top of the gable wall is 9.4 metres.With all the necessary risk assessments and site safety signagein place the four members of the team paired up, with onepair starting on the top lift and the other pair on the second.

The method entailed covering a workable area with acombination of chemical poultice and plastic covering andleaving it overnight for the chemical to work. At the end ofthis dwell time the plastic covering is removed and thepoultice is eased off with a plastic spatula to reveal the firstsigns of the mosaic. At this stage on the test areas theremainder of the poultice had been removed with a naturalhair brush and water. This was time consuming and with thelarger areas being cleaned a revised method was tried whichinvolved a second application of the chemical poultice with amuch reduced dwell time. This gave an improved result whichreduced the final clean up time considerably.

The mosaic final clean was still accomplished with the use of aweak solution of neutral ph soap and warm water with anatural hair brush to get as much residue as possible out ofthe cement grout. The surface was given a final wash downwith plain water. Towards the end of the project the surfacesonly of the mosaic tiles were given a very light coating ofmicrocrystalline wax and then buffed to brighten the coloursand give some protection against dust and grime in the future.

The scaffolding in place on the gable wall, June 2013

First poultice in place with plastic covering at 3rd lift level

Above: easing off the poultice and below: a much improved resultfrom the second poultice application



Cleaning the residue from cement grouting and around the stainedglass windows on the 2nd lift

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CONSERVATION OR RESTORATION?During the course of implementing the project it becameclear that another reason for painting the wall was to cover updamage and losses. During World War 2 a stick of bombsdropped nearby had caused a number of cracks to appear inthe gable wall and hence the mosaic. Additional damage mayhave resulted from subsequent movement of the wall.

The extent of the damage is shown in the diagram. Imageno.5 shows the holes drilled in the mosaics to support acurtain rail. No.1 was the largest area of damage andappeared to be associated with the installation of a steelstrengthening tie which is visible in the photo.

The dilemma was whether to leave things as they were or trysome sort of restoration. As there had been no allowance forthis within the scope of the project, money and time were noton our side. The vicar, as the principal customer, was

Bomb damage to the East Wall ofthe Chancel.


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4. Tracing the mosaic design from the North corner (second lift)

1. The existing rendered surface has been checked for flatnessagainst the surface of the mosaic and high areas identified. Theseare marked and chain drilled

5. Tile design transferred from North corner and cut into plaster

6. Tile painting of the plaster in progress

2. The surplus mortar is removed with chisel and mortar

3. New mortar is added and the plaster flushed off square and trueto finish



consulted and it was clear that he favoured some interventionto correct the losses and bring the whole mosaic back to itsformer glory.

There was no chance of obtaining replica tiles: the Mintonfactory which had made the originals no longer exists andtime was short. As a result of a team discussion a solutioncame forward which entailed replicating the missing mosaictiles in plaster and then in-painting using colour matchingtechniques. Any gaps would first be filled with mortar forstrength. The team estimated that the time saved by therevised method of paint removal made this achievable. Themosaic replication process is described in the illustrationsaside and above (1–7). It relates to the area shown in imageno.1 of the diagram on page 15.

CLEANING OTHER AREASWith the additional time available, the team was also able toturn their attention to other areas of the gable wall either sideand around the altar. It was discovered that the wall had beenpainted again in more recent times and the peopleconcerned had been proud enough to leave their initials anddate. They had also been none too careful, judging by thepaint spillage which needless to say we cleaned up.

The mosaics either side of the altar had suffered over theyears from candle smoke and were conservation cleanedtogether with the other decorative stonework. A garish redtile paint had been used around the border of the mosaic,overpainting the original Butterfield yellow and grey paints.This red paint was removed and the border repainted bycolour matching with existing areas. Certain areas ofdecoration had originally been gilded to highlight detail but itwas discovered that there were many losses. There was notime or money to re-gild so the losses were painted with asynthetic gold pigment using gum arabic as a medium, thisbeing fully reversible. With the right tonality of colour it waspossible to get a very close match and a pleasing result.

Earlier painters leave their mark and careless spillage on the floorbeneath

7. The mosaic replication is complete. Castellation loss has beenmade good with new wood and the steel tie is colour matched tothe background

Only the right-hand panel of these mosaics beside the altar hasbeen cleaned

The final result of this area of work beside the altar


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Revealed! The mosaic-clad East Wall previously painted over

IN CONCLUSIONIt is a great satisfaction to restore and conserve a work of artfor future generations to enjoy. There is much more to do inAll Saints, including the uncovering of many more decorativefeatures that have been over-painted. This project was a startand, happily, since this article was written, a generous donor,who was inspired by the mosaic project, has funded a further

paint removal project in the chancel which we have recentlycompleted. Thus gradually the church is returning to itsoriginal state, after a remarkable act of vandalism andreligious bigotry that has concealed its glories for overseventy years.



around and about

with some old Velcro pads. The misshapen areas of skin werehumidified locally to bring the shape of the skin closer to itsoriginal. It was decided not to close the crack completely –this would put too much tension on the skin, which hadshrunk and embrittled (this is common with fish skins). Instead,missing stuffing was replaced using ‘pillows’ made of softcotton lawn stuffed with polyester stuffing. These could be

Making waves in the localcommunityWork recently carried out by Susannah Bartindale, aplacement student from Durham University at Exeter’s RoyalAlbert Memorial Museum (RAMM) has garnered a great dealof interest from local press and the radiography profession.

Susannah reports: a Sunfish (sp. Mola mola), originally caughtin 1877 and its skin preserved by one of the first curators ofthe museum, had a large amount of damage to the back ofthe skin through which the sawdust stuffing was falling out.This was caused mostly by the wire previously used forhanging the specimen. Before treatment, confirmation wasrequired that the wire was not attached to an internalstructure. As the specimen was too large to fit in RAMM’s X-ray machine, radiographers at the Royal Devon and ExeterHospital kindly agreed to X-ray the specimen for us.

The excellent images that resulted confirmed that the wirewas not integral to the support of the skin and could beremoved. They also confirmed that only the fin and tail boneswere used in the preservation, and that more of the skin hadbeen preserved than suspected – the one-sided nature of thepreservation and the thick, obscuring layer of paint had left usin doubt. Commonly, the skull would also be used in ataxidermy process as a structure to shape the mouth andhead and fix the eyes to, but this was not the case for thesunfish. Dense areas on the x-ray show the mouldings for themouth and the eye – probably clay or plaster.

Treatment consisted of removing the damaging wire, along

A composite image of the x-rays showing the damaging wire

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The back of the sunfish after treatment


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Degas used three different reds for Combing the Hair (‘La Coiffure’)c.1896. Oil on canvas.

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inserted, stuffed, sewn closed, and manoeuvred into positionwithout damaging the brittle edges of the skin. Holes wereclosed and tears in the fins supported using Japanese tissueand methyl cellulose adhesive, which was colour-matchedwhere it would be visible if displayed.

Although an ugly specimen, it is important within the museumcollections, both because it was rare in the area at the time ofcapture, and now isn’t – probably because of climate change –and as an example of amateur taxidermy that was commonand popular at the time. In addition, despite being common,surprisingly little is known about the species, and museumspecimens with detailed provenance, like RAMM’s sunfish, areoften useful for researchers.

Most of all, it has been an excellent example of howconservators can generate interest in museum objects fromother professions and the local population – this project hasalready been featured in local news, in talks given by theNatural History Curator, and in Synergy, the news magazine ofthe radiography profession.

At the end of the rainbowRunning now at the National Gallery in London is a fascinatingexhibition with a particular resonance for conservators. Co-curated by scientist Dr Ashok Roy, the gallery’s Director ofCollections, the exhibition traces the history of making colourin Western paintings over a seven hundred year period. Theshow is organised around the spectrum, with each roomdedicated to a particular colour, and one at the end to goldand silver. Paintings are at its core but Making colour alsodraws on textiles, ceramics and glass.

The subject is explored from several angles: the origins anddevelopments of the physical materials themselves, fromnatural and mineral products to man-made pigments; theirsupply, manufacture and application, as well as theirpermanence and colour effect. The exhibition brings togetherthe worlds of art and science in a way that manages to beeducational and down to earth – literally – about the physicalityof the painting process without losing the magic of the creationsthat result. And who can fail to respond to the romance ofwords like cobalt, viridian, ultramarine and vermilion?

Making colour is on until 7 September.

Most of the work took place on the back of the specimen: above,work on the crack in the skin and, below, stuffing a ‘pillow’.’

The sunfish at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital

Paul Cézanne’s Hillside in Provence, c.1890–2. Oil on canvasTh

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Boys from the Paisley Fountain withcrocodiles, patiently waiting for theirmoment of glory

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Colour theory at the start of the National Gallery exhibition. A bookby Moses Harris: The Natural System of Colours Wherein isdisplayed the regular and beautiful Order and Arrangement, Arisingfrom the Three Premitives [sic], Red, Blue and Yellow, The manner inwhich each colour is formed, and its Composition... 1769/1776.

HumidityLight

Ultra-violetTemperatureDewpoint

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP Jane Thompson-Webb 3 - 6 November

PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION Linda Bullock and Helen Lloyd 10 - 13 November

CONSERVATION OF PAINTED INTERIORS Helen Hughes 17- 20 November ART AND OBJECT HANDLING John Bracken 24 - 27 November

For more information on all the courses in the programme please contact: Course Organiser, West Dean College,

Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0QZ [email protected] 01243 818219 www.westdean.org.uk

PROFESSIONAL CONSERVATORS IN PRACTICE COURSES 2014

10% DISCOUNT TO MEMBERS OF ICON

Fountain newsIf you are wonderingwhere the latestinstalment of the PaisleyFountain conservationepic has got to, restassured the story will becontinued hopefully in theSeptember issue. Itsauthor Jim Mitchell tellsus that installation hasbeen delayed due to siteproblems. He’ll tell usmore in due course. In themeantime here is areminder of what is instore for the good peopleof Paisley.


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reviewsspace, including the siting of relics withinboth defined geographical areas and withinthe structures of paintings and sculpturesthemselves. Tackled here also is the subjectof the medieval perception of church art,and questions of style and dating are raisedin an article examining the long duration ofthe Romanesque style of altar decorations.

The second part of the book, Artisticproduction in the thirteenth century,continues the rich vein of research into 13thcentury northern painting techniques alreadypublished, with detailed examination ofEnglish influence on Danish polychromesculpture and a study of a Sedes SapientiaeMadonna and Child in the Brussels RoyalMuseum collection. Especially noteworthy isthe proposed sequence of different colourschemes for the Sedes sculpture over time: aremarkable visual reminder of changingtastes and the reworking of objects atdifferent dates in the long Middle Ages.

Part III: Objects and the English church, putspaid to the myth that all English polychromywas burnt, buried, hacked and scratchedaway in the Reformation and Civil War. TheEnglish paintings covered in the sectionrange from an elite tomb canopy inWestminster Abbey to the earthier roodscreen paintings of Devon and East Anglia.

The fourth part of the book, Materialhistories for late medieval and early modernpainting – conservation and history of art, ismade up of fascinating case studies, twoconcerning works of art from Norway and athird examines two paintings by Bernard vanOrley. All show the benefit of the integrationof technical study with art historical research.

All in all, Paint and piety demonstrates thebenefits of interdisciplinary collaboration,although, as with all conferenceproceedings, there are no widely-applicableconclusions of the type made in a single-themed book. Nonetheless, this volumeallows access to English speaking audiencesfor material often tackled in German andFrench. It is also a welcome taster of thefruits of research set to come from theresearchers of the Painting and PolychromeSculpture in Norway, 1350–1550 project incoming years.

Lucy Wrapson ACRHamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge

ART OF MERIT: Studies in Buddhist Art andits ConservationProceedings of the Buddhist Art Forum2012David Park, Kuenga Wangmo and SharonCather, edsArchetype Publications 2013ISBN: 9781904982920 416pp

This comprehensive and exceptional volumecomprising twenty eight papers cannot fail, Ifeel, to appeal to all of an enquiring mind. Itarose from a unique four day Forum held at

the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, inJune 2012 which brought together arthistorians, conservators, curators and officials,a collector, a monk from Nepal and acontemporary artist. In this review I hope toconvey a few of the many reasons why I findthis such an interesting and rewarding volume.

David Park’s introduction mentions the‘extraordinarily varied manifestations’ ofBuddhist Art; and these are well representedin this volume. Papers by Tadeuz Skorupski(Buddha’s stūpa and image: in search of theultimate icon) and Robert Sharf (Art in thedark: the ritual context of Buddhist caves inwestern China) were instantly rewarding.Skorupski explains that iconic oranthropomorphic representations of theBuddha were not made until almost fourcenturies after his ‘human body andpersonality disappeared’; and that initiallydepictions of the Buddha were representedby ‘empty spaces’. Thus there is an emptydiamond seat (vajrāsana) under the bodhitree in the depiction of the attainment ofenlightenment. When depicted in sculpture,at around the beginning of the CommonEra, there were two sources of inspiration;one had Hellenistic perceptions and theother took its form from literary sources. Inboth the image is idealised or superhuman;and radiating tranquillity.

Within Sharf’s paper there is the fascinatingsuggestion that decorated mortuary shrineswere not intended to be seen oncecompleted and consecrated: what ‘betterexample of ‘art for art’s sake’ than art thatwas not intended to be seen at all’. It issomething which differentiates suchexamples from those with a liturgicalfunction; although he stresses theimportance of not drawing a distinctionbetween the shrine/mausoleum andtemple/monastery.

Moving to the conservation of Buddhist Art,four papers especially come to mind. SusanWhitfield’s argument focusses on ‘ourresponsibilities today’ for ‘clear,comprehensive and archived documentationas essential for preservation’. Her paper(Buddhist wall paintings in context: thefoundation for future scholarship) draws on

BOOKS

PAINT AND PIETY: Collected Essays onMedieval Painting and PolychromeSculptureNoëlle Streeton and Kaja Kollandsrud, eds.Archetype Publications 2014ISBN 978-1-909492-10-3 226pp

Norwegian medieval art of the 13th and 14thcenturies has been extensively studiedthrough the work of Unn Plahter, MartinBlindheim, Erla Hohler and Kaja Kollandsrud(among others), notably in thecomprehensive triple volume Painted AltarFrontals of Norway (Archetype 2004).Attention has since turned to Norway’s mid14th- to 16th-century painted woodenpolychromy with the project After the BlackDeath: Painting and Polychrome Sculpture inNorway, 1350–1550 focusing on Norway’slargely imported art of that date. The start of

that project in 2010 was marked by aconference in Oslo at the UniversityMuseum, where many key works of art areheld, and whose collection is described inthe opening essay of this volume. The otherpapers that comprise Paint and piety are thepostprints of the 2010 interdisciplinaryconference, which saw paintingsconservators, art historians, conservationscientists, historians and religious historiansbrought together to discuss medievalpainting and polychrome sculpture innorthern Europe.

The book, which is an attractive volume withcolour images throughout, covers a lot ofground, temporally, geographically andthematically. It is divided into four sections.Part I, Locating the Sacred deals withpolychrome sculpture and painting in its



examples from the Eastern Silk Road wherewall paintings are often in remote locations;in situations where it is difficult to protectsites from both theft and damage fromnature (earthquakes, flash floods).Understanding the past, both the long termand shorter term, aids with currentunderstanding and future planning.

Consecutive papers by Dorjee Tshering anda combined paper by Stephen Rickerby andLisa Shekede give an illuminating insight intothe situation in Bhutan. Dorjee Tshering(Director General, Department of Culture,Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs,Thimphu, Bhutan) explains that Bhutan isseeking to conserve its rich historical past,and that conservation guidelines based on‘international standards of conservations butincorporating local Buddhist beliefs andskills, need to be developed urgently’.Bhutan has just over two thousand templesand a similar number of chortens (stupas/reliquaries) across the country. The ‘living’quality of these sacred works is shown by thefact that a ceremony called Pochoe is carriedout before any conservation/restoration workis undertaken. If this is not carried out thebelief is that these ‘live’ objects are subjectto defilement and pollution.

Over a three year period some forty wallpaintings schemes were studied in depth byShekede and Rickerby; the main aim was tohelp with developing strategies forconserving Bhutan’s wall paintings throughunderstanding their physical nature and thedeterioration processes they are subject to.In one seventeenth century example thequality of craftsmanship (technical virtuosity)is described as ‘astounding’ incorporatinggilding and glazing over that gilding. Thenineteenth and twentieth centuries saw newmaterials introduced (mass produced goodsfrom British India) enabling wall painting tobe executed on cloth supports rather thanthe traditional earthen plaster. With thesechanges the quality of work diminished, andcontinues to do so.

In the fourth example Yoko Taniguchidescribes the important discovery of theearliest known example where a drying oilhas been used as binding medium forpainting. It is from the Bamiyan wallpaintings in Afghanistan and dates from theseventh century; the technique correspondsto medieval European practice a fewhundred years later.

Turning to the inner meaning of such sacredart, it was fitting to read Matthieu Ricard’sexplanation that ‘the ultimate art is the art ofenlightenment, and that the ultimate beautyis the inner beauty that emanates from theBuddha or great spiritual masters, who areembodiments of wisdom and compassion’.

In conclusion what makes this volume standout is the fact that it enables one to see therole of conservation within the wider contextof history, art, faith, artefact care andadministration at all levels. Possibly because

Buddhism is not the predominant faith in thewest, the Forum and this volumeencompassed matters in a much widercontext than might usually be the case. Isthis then a marker post in the on-goingdevelopment of conservation? I would like tothink so.

Peter Martindale ACR

CONSERVATION IN THE NINETEENTHCENTURYIsabelle Brajer, ed.Archetype Publications 2013 ISBN: 978-1-904982-91-3 231 pp

Congratulations to the publishers of thisbook. Conferences come, conferences go;occasionally there are pre-prints, but morefrequently there are post-prints that,increasingly, are published on-line. Herehowever is an unashamedly handsomepublication: hard-backed, generouslyillustrated and, would you know, typeset inSuffolk and printed and bound in Devon. Ahome-grown product if you’re a UK-basedreader. So what, you ask? Well, for thisreader, and reviewer, it matters. It mattersthat beautiful specialist books (on acid-freepaper) continue to be produced, andwithout any apparent corner-cutting.

The subject is conservation in the nineteenthcentury. Eighteen papers from ten countries(mostly European) cover nine or ten areas ofactivity, the product of a conference held inCopenhagen in May 2013. And Denmarkmust take equal credit for the quality of thispublication, as the National Museum ofDenmark and CATS (Centre for ArtTechnological Studies and Conservation) inCopenhagen, are associates of thepublishers.

Isabelle Brajer edited the volume and is theauthor of the eloquent Introduction and shechallenges us to reconsider certainshibboleths. For example, regarding thereversibility of treatments and the originalfunction of certain artefacts, Brajer remindsus ‘many nineteenth-century interventionsthat today might seem quite invasive wereperformed for technical reasons’ …‘restoration was not only guided byaesthetics, but also functionality’. And thisseems as good a moment as any to advisereaders to leave preconceptions behindwhen digesting these papers’ authoritativeinsights into the philosophical, ethical andpractical approaches of our predecessors.

Brajer’s Introduction also gives the readerlively signposts to the contents of theeighteen papers: ‘the insightful and talentedadministrator Richard Redgrave … theextraordinarily sensitive Milanese artist-restorer, Giuseppe Molteni … thespectacularly industrious Jacob Kornerup …the tour de force of ancient vaseconservation, Raffaele Gargiulo … thecurious and inventive Franz Fernbach … theprofessionally engaging Charles Chapuis …‘.

The papers allow us, as Brajer emphasises inher Introduction, to interpret and understandthe reasoning behind a number of practicestypical of the nineteenth century. As Risserand Saunders conclude in their account ofthe restoration and conservation of thebronze Apollo Saettante from Pompeii, theirapproach in studying, conserving anddisplaying the Apollo was conditioned anddetermined by discerning the materials andtechniques utilised by the nineteenth-century restorers and, more broadly, thepractical and/or theoretical reasoning fortheir implementation.

And it’s that emphasis on getting to gripswith nineteenth century reasoning thatmakes dipping into this volume sorewarding, as every paper contains nuggetafter nugget. Take these two very differentexamples; the first is the visionary conclusionto an 1869 report of an investigation into theheating, lighting and ventilation of London’sSouth Kensington Museum:

Pictures and works of art in a public museumhave the great advantage of constant careand attention, but a certain amount of wearand tear is inseparable from their exhibitionto millions of people. It is a question of howfar works of art are to be open to publicview. But assuming that they ought to beexhibited to the fullest extent, all that can bereasonably demanded is, that that wear andtear shall be reduced to a minimum.

And this concluding observation on the workof Jacob Kornerup (1825–1913), responsiblefor the restoration of medieval and post-Reformation wall paintings in more thanseventy Danish churches:

It is important to keep this in mind:Kornerup’s ‘job description’ was in manyways quite characteristic of the periodbefore the conservation professioncrystallised into an independent and ratherspecialised discipline, and was not farremoved from the days of amateurantiquarianism. It covered an extensiverange of professional tasks. In fact, measuredby today’s standards, Kornerup handled thework of at least three different disciplines:the conservator, the (art) historian and thearchaeologist. His work should be evaluatedwithin this framework …


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By most calculations, that crystallisedspecialised conservation – as practisedwidely today – is still a young profession, butone with many healthy indicators of maturity.For example, the breadth of recognisedtraining courses across the globe, the wealthof technical literature, the achievements andstatus of so many national and internationalprofessional bodies and organisations and,in the UK, a tested professional accreditationprocess. And, add to these, the recording ofour shared professional history. Whilst notthe first in the genre, these scholarly papersare revelatory reference material forconservators at all stages of our workinglives and contribute significantly to ourunderstanding of our professionalantecedents.

So let’s reflect upon these prophetic wordsof Alfred Bonnardot (1808–1884), a Parisianwriter, scholar and bibliophile, who sawwhere his own work might lead others andsaid of Essai, his 1858 manual on paperrestoration:

Eventually, a good chemist will refine mywork to such an extent that it will seem naïvein comparison, and thus I will beremembered solely for clearing the path withthis book.

And long may we continue, too, to clearpaths for our successors.

Clare Meredith, Consultant Conservator

CONFERENCES

PAST TO PRESENT: Art ConservationConferenceMuseum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar28 November 2013

I was invited to speak at this event which wasorganised by the Orientalist Museum tobring together conservation experts fromaround the world and showcase their workacross a range of art disciplines, with the aimof providing insight into the history of thesediverse objects and shedding light on thetechniques used to conserve them for thegeneral public. Many world-renowned publicinstitutions were represented, gathering awide range of experts on sculptures,paintings, textiles and historical architecture.

Frances Hartog, Senior Textile Conservatorat the Victoria and Albert Museum inLondon, discussed the very delicate processof conservation and preparation forexhibition of a vintage Dior Zemire dress.The piece is believed to be the onlysurviving example from his 1954 autumn/winter collection and was featured in theV&A’s autumn 2007 exhibition The GoldenAge of Couture. Michel van de Laar, SeniorPaintings Conservator at the Rijksmuseum inAmsterdam, discussed the restoration ofthree Rembrandt paintings and the thoroughresearch that preceded the practicaltreatments. The talk concentrated on the

peculiar techniques and practices used bythe master and the new contextual andtechnical insights revealed during the work.

Sonia Tortajada, Sculpture Conservator atthe Museo Del Prado in Madrid, showed theaudience the conservation of a majestic,1904 plaster sculpture, Nero and Seneca, bySpanish sculptor Eduardo Barron. The pieceneeded extensive conservation and thepresentation focused on the decision-making processes behind the treatment,including the challenging removal andreplacement of the many additions madeduring previous restoration work. BéatriceSarrazin, General Curator of CulturalHeritage at the Palace of Versailles,showcased the ongoing preservation workon the Palace ceilings, specifically withregard to the restoration of the ceiling of theDrawing Room of Plenty, a breathtakingdecoration realised in 1683 by René-AntoineHouasse. The conservation team faced thecomplex demands of balancing the aestheticneeds of the work of art against otherconsiderations such as the historical value ofpast restoration treatments and the technicaland structural issues presented by the ceilingitself.

Stuart Ager, Frame Conservation Managerat the National Portrait Gallery in London,explained how the conservation of frameshas evolved throughout the twenty-firstcentury and how a close examination of aframe’s features can be a vital addition tothe history of a painting. Jutta Hoeflinger,Senior Paintings Conservator at the ViennaMuseum of Fine Arts, talked about therestoration of an anonymous sixteenth-century Italian painting, The Portrait of aYoung Lady. The talk showed theconservator’s great attention to detail,knowledge of historical painting techniques,and manual dexterity while treating such aprecious and beautiful item. KristínGísladóttir, Paintings Conservator at theOrientalist Museum in Doha, discussed theconservation of an oil painting by Jean-Baptiste Vanmour entitled Sultan AhmedMosque. When the museum acquired thepainting, it was in poor condition andincorrectly attributed to another painter. Thepresentation focussed on the cleaning andrestoration process that not only helped savethe painting from further damage, but alsouncovered a series of surprises in the work,

including a group of trees masked by heavyrepainting during a previous restorationtreatment.

I had the honour of concluding the day,presenting on the conservation of threemanuscripts ranging from the fifteenth to thenineteenth centuries from the BritishLibrary’s collections. My intent was toshowcase the complex set of skills neededby book conservators to achieve the bestresults in the conservation of books anddiscuss the delicate art of preservinghistorical features. The audience was given abrief description of Islamic versus Westernbinding features, in order to contextualizethe talk for an Arabic audience and highlightthe difficulties conservators face in treatingitems belonging to different cultures thatcontain strange and often unknownelements.

The conference was a great success and thepacked auditorium included the studentsfrom the UCL Qatar Cultural Heritagecourse, accompanied by their tutor DrStavroula Golfomitsou, and many otherconservators working for the museums andcultural institutions of Doha. Proof that thetalks were well received lay in the veryinteresting questions and discussions thattook place. The event was aimed at a layaudience but none of the talks were in anyway superficial or uninteresting and thevariety of conservation topics presentedsatisfied a vast range of interests and tastes.For me this was an amazing opportunity toshare with other colleagues from differentconservation fields a very enriching day and Iam sure the same was felt by the rest of theaudience.

Flavio Marzo ACRConservation Studio ManagerBritish Library/Qatar Foundation partnership

BRIGHT IDEAS: Light management forcultural collectionsIcon Science and Care of Collections GroupsMuseum of Liverpool 25 March 2014

It is always stimulating to attend conferencesto learn more about research withinconservation but this one in particular wasespecially suited to my interests. Myinternship at the Bodleian introduced me tothe subject of colour fading on objects:

Museum of Islamic Art



whether it could be accurately measured andwhat such values could mean withinconservation and institutions. Understandingthe implications of measuring colour changerequires an understanding of how light isperceived by humans and how the colour ofan object is dependent upon the lightsource. Research uses such principles toexamine why fading occurs as well as todetermine which materials might be moresusceptible to prolonged exposure to light.

The conference introduced these topicsthrough several case studies, each lecturebuilding upon the previous to introducemore complex terms. English Heritage andNational Trust were among those whooffered case studies of certain rooms orgalleries where a strategy for lighting provedchallenging. Others, such as the NationalMuseum of Australia, The National Galleryand National Galleries of Scotland discussedlight exposure and conducted tests withmicrofading to ascertain whether specificobjects should be displayed less or perhapseven more. A panel provided interactionbetween the audience and the lecturers,focussing on developing appropriate andsustainable guidelines. The lecturers did awonderful job of providing access toongoing scientific research whilehighlighting problems many museums face.

Workshops were held after lunch. I firstattended ‘LED lamps and demonstration ofportable spectrometer’. One of the keypoints that carried across the conferenceand into this workshop was how the spectralpower distribution (SPD) of a light source willchange how an observer sees the colour ofan object. Furthermore, the SPD of certainlights can be more harmful than others. Wewere given a demonstration where severalLEDs of varying quality illuminated a piece ofcloth. Each LED made the cloth colourappear different – warmer, colder or abalance between the two. Afterwards wetested the spectrometer to identify the SPDof each LED.

My second workshop concerned colourmeasurement with a spectrophotometer. Abrief introduction about the human eye andits perception of colour emphasised that theeye is more sensitive to some colours thanothers. The spectrophotometer is able tomeasure all colours accurately by using thecolour space (CIELAB) set up by theInternational Commission on Illumination.CIELAB gives numerical values to colour anda value of 1.00 represents a colour changethat can be noticed by a trained eye.However, the downside is that it works bestwith flat objects and must be placed on theobject to obtain a measurement. At the endof the session test measurements were runto demonstrate the software template. It wasinteresting to hear how museums have startedusing such technology to measure objectsbefore and after display to establish whetherthe exhibition environment is suitable.

The workshops and lectures were

enlightening, although some of the technicalterms and quick explanations might bedifficult to understand in such a short periodof time for those new to the subject.Additionally, Q&A sessions after both thelectures and workshops would have allowedthe audience to ask questions and let thelecturers elaborate more on certainconcepts. The number of participants wascomfortable and encouraged networking.The conference did a wonderful job ofexamining lighting from a conservationperspective while discussing current research.

Tania Desloge MSc student, Conservationfor Archaeology and Museums, UCL

.....................................Preventive conservation plays an increasinglyimportant role in the preservation andconservation of cultural heritage. Faced witha growing concern about light, a primarythreat to collections, this seminar andworkshop brought together approximatelysixty researchers in the field of conservationscience and conservation from across theUK. Presentations were carried out on latesttheories, techniques and practices on thelight-ageing of cultural collections.

The morning seminar discussed the twoaspects of light-ageing, namely objects andenvironment. First, to develop more effectivestrategies for the display of individualhistorical objects, significance assessmentwas introduced to decision makingprocesses. This assessment is carried out byvalue, time period for display and colourstability. For colour stability, the innovativetechnique of microfading was developed byBruce Ford from the Art and Archival Pty,Canberra, to detect the fading rate ofvarious materials. By testing a micro spot,the technique is able to reveal the degree oflight-stability of the material within a shortperiod of time. This fast and intuitivetechnique has already shown its broadapplication prospects. Significanceassessment which includes light-stability inthe National Museum of Australia andNational Galleries of Scotland has proved tobe very effective in reducing changeovercost, protecting vulnerable objects,maximizing the public’s visual experience aswell as promoting collaboration.

Secondly, light control is another crucialaspect and different strategies for lightmanagement in historic houses, museums

and galleries were presented. On the onehand, Paul Lankester from English Heritageand Nigel Blades from the National Trustillustrated how they manage daylight inhistoric houses. By the measurement andsimulation of light exposure, they are able tonot only detect the light exposure of variouslocations but also recognise someinfluencing factors, including the change ofseason, the proportion of diffuse sky andsunlight and internal reflection, inspiring newinsights into light control.

By contrast, controlling light in museums andgalleries involves much consideration inselecting suitable light sources. On thisaspect, Joseph Padfield from The NationalGallery, London, introduced severalimportant expressions for evaluating lightsources from different aspects: lux valueindicates the amount of light exposure whilstSpectral Power Distribution (SPD) curveshighlight the wavelength distribution of lightsource. Correlated Colour Temperature(CCT) and Colour Rendering Index (CRI)reflect the colour characteristics of light andare concerned with visitors’ aesthetic needs.Practical suggestions were provided on howto choose light sources.

With better knowledge of objects and lightconditions, balanced against visitors’ visualrequirements, more effective strategies forthe light management of cultural collectionscan be developed. Discussion took placearound an initiative to establish a set oflighting guidelines and animated discussionon light management continued throughoutthe day.

In the afternoon, workshops on differentlight management techniques includedmicrofading, colour measurement, lightmonitoring and light source measurement,with demonstrations and instruction onprinciples and devices. The tour of theMuseum of Liverpool provided a preciousopportunity for the field study of lightmanagement and the practical issues formuseums. Protective practices such as theuse of blinds, light monitors, light-checkstripes and how to take advantage ofshowcase design and building structures formanaging light were shown.

My own doctoral research on historical dyesinvolves the study of ageing of these dyesand how to preserve them. This seminar andworkshop was of great help in providing mewith insights on the light-ageing of differentmaterials, the environment where historicaldyes degrade and guidelines and measuresfor preservation. In short, the event shedlight on more effective light management ofcultural collections. Cutting-edgetechniques, diverse theories and practicesand heated discussions have enabled theparticipants to increase their knowledge anddeepen their understanding of the subject.

Jing Han PhD student, Centre for TextileConservation and Technical Art History,University of Glasgow


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The conference included a discussion aboutrecommended light levels in museums to tryto determine if the current guidelines/standards are still appropriate. The conclusionsI captured were:

• There was general agreement thatguidelines would be helpful.

• We need access to information on lampsincluding LEDs to understand the colourtemperature etc.

• Accelerated ageing is useful but thereneeds to be an understanding of themaths behind it. It is a blunt instrumentbut perhaps one of the best we have.

• Do we need to think about the context ofthe object more? We perhaps need tobetter understand the perceptions of thevisitor – sometimes faded is good.

• Historic houses have conglomerations ofthings, often on permanent display – dowe need a graded set of guidelines toaccount for this?

• We need to better understand existingfades and how this will affect future fading.

• We need to push for a common logic nota common standard.

Jane Thompson Webb ACRConservator, Birmingham Museums Trust

TAPE AND SPILLAGE - InterventiveTreatments in a Preventive ClimateIcon Ceramics and Glass Group 16–17 May 2014 York

Never having attended a conference before,I was unsure of what to expect. But, as astudent specialising in ceramic conservation,I thought it would be a great opportunity tosee what is going on in the field, to keep upto date with new research and a chance tonetwork and meet other conservators. Notonly was it my first conference, it was also myfirst visit to York and, upon arrival, it wasclear to see why it was chosen to host theevent, the sun was shining on this beautifulcity with its wealth of history.

On the first day, delegates were given theopportunity to visit two of three tours: theYork Glaziers Trust Conservation Studio andtheir work in the Minster, the characteristicallyGeorgian town house Fairfax House or YorkCity Art Gallery stores, to see ceramicsmoved offsite during the redevelopment ofthe gallery. My favourite visit was the YorkGlaziers Trust Conservation Studio: it was agreat insight into the practice, the workbeing carried out in the Minster and somemore contemporary projects. We wereparticularly impressed by the new UVprotective glazing being used in the Minster(discussed by speaker Sarah Brown on daytwo) and the effective use of age-oldtraditional techniques, coupled with newtechnology.

That evening all conference delegates wereinvited to attend the Nigel Williams Prize

Giving Dinner. This wonderful evening was achance to acknowledge those who hadentered the Nigel Williams Prize and tocelebrate the winners. [See page 8 for adetailed report.] The evening was also agreat opportunity to network and shareexperience with experts in the field andother students in a relaxed environment.

Day Two was held at Kings Manor, abeautiful medieval building in the centre ofYork. It offered ten speakers and the topicsranged from stained glass conservation, 3Dprinting, the Nigel Williams Prize winningproject and an onsite project at OsborneHouse, amongst others. One of thehighlights for me was Eleni Kotoula, a PhDstudent from the University of Southampton,talking about the use of 3D modelling andreproduction techniques in the replacementof lost ceramic material. She spokeinformatively about the processes involved,the benefits and the disadvantages of theprocess, and it was extremely interesting tolook at modern advances in technology andthe effect that it has on today’s conservator.

Another highlight was the presentation givenby West Dean students about theexperience that they have had in practisingthe use of Paraloid films for glass fills, atechnique created by Stephen P. Koob. Theybought in samples of their tests for us to seethe physical results and, although they didnot get the end result they had hoped for, itwas good to see their research, and to getan insight into conservation courses and theresearch they are undertaking. I look forwardto seeing the results of further testing.

During the day there was an exhibition ofstudent posters, displayed by myself andthree other students from the University ofLincoln, UCL Institute of Archaeology andthe Swiss National Museum Collection Care.It was a great chance for students to presenttheir work, and for other delegates to askquestions and offer their advice andexperience. The day was full of activequestioning of speakers and the topicspresented, and was an opportunity foreveryone to reflect on old conservationtechniques and to learn about and embracenew practices.

Despite being a newcomer to conferences,my experience with the Ceramic and GlassGroup was extremely positive. It was not asformal as I was expecting it to be, I enjoyedthe relaxed atmosphere in which I couldmeet others in the field and I found the toursvery enjoyable. The speakers on the secondday were informative and interesting, andthere were plenty of chances to askquestions, gain new knowledge andchallenge my existing practice. I would liketo repeat the experience and attend againnext year.

Bethan TectorUniversity of Lincoln Student MA Conservation of Historic Objects

COURSES

UNDERSTANDING ASIAN PAPERS andtheir Applications in Paper Conservation21–23 May 2014 British Library

This three day workshop was incrediblyvaluable as a theoretical look into Asianpapermaking and identification as well assome well-run practical sessions in usingAsian papers in conservation. The organiserswere Yunsun Choi, Conservation Manager atTate and Dr Cordelia Rogerson, Head ofConservation at the British Library. The tutorMinah Song is a paper conservator at theConservation Center for Art and HistoricArtifacts (CCAHA) in Philadelphia, USA. Sheholds an M.A. in East Asian Art History fromthe Academy of Korean Studies in Korea andan M.A. in Conservation from CamberwellCollege of Arts in London, UK.

We started with a lecture session on howdifferent Asian papers are made. Thisincluded video footage and focused mainlyon Japan, China, Korea and touching onThai paper production. Minah had manysamples to show us, to try and learn todistinguish papers from different countriesand also from different plant fibres. Themain objective was to make a more self-informed choice when ordering papers inthe future for conservation purposes: first, to

CGG at York: Ceramics & Glass Group members in York



be more aware of making sure of the qualityof these papers (some of the Thai paperslooked much like the expensive Japanesepapers but were bleached and strong alkalisused in fermentation) and, secondly, toensure that you are using the right type ofpaper for the right job. For instance forlining traditionally you would need a strong,medium-weight paper with good wetstrength, whereas for repairing transparentpaper you need a strong but light-weighttissue, not necessarily good wet strength.

Practical sessions included ‘paper felting’ atraditional Korean craft, to understand howthe Asian paper fibres really knit togetherthrough manipulation. Following this, wetried friction-drying, whereby Japanesepaper is used instead of Bondina to reallygrip the paper surface so that an object willdry really flat, rather than shrink back into itshistoric cockling and wrinkling. Thistechnique was especially good fortransparent papers.

We also learnt how to make a Karibari boardout of readily available materials rather thanthe traditional. Once our Karibari was madewe were able to line a newspaper usingJapanese paper and tested out the newsurface of the board. We also experimentedwith making a two-sided lining, without aboard, which was made of simple materialsand allowed to air-dry. We then moved topaper repair, making our own paper pulp,re-moistenable tissue and dyeing papers fortoned repairs. These repair papers were thentested out on parchment and historic papersamples so that we had a good chance toexperiment with the results.

As well as a full schedule and very organisedsessions, Minah was a fount of knowledgeon the use of Asian papers generally, with somany practical tips on how to carry outtreatments not covered by the workshop,and was extremely up to date onconservation treatments outside of thesubject matter as well. She was verygenerous in the materials provided and withsharing her work practices. All thedemonstrations were very clear and wellthought out, so that we came away with asimple format to complete complex liningsusing sustainable materials.

I would highly recommend the course as weuse Asian papers so much in our work but Ipersonally did not understand some of thetraditional usage of papers I work with,therefore not using them for their bestpurpose. Hopefully Minah will run theworkshop again soon, and is due to give apaper at the forthcoming Asian PapersConference in London in Spring 2015.

Many thanks to the Penelope Plowden Trustand Clothworker’s Foundation for fundingmy place on the workshop.

Sophie SarkodieFreelance Paper Conservator

PRODUCING WIREWORK ANDCOMPOSITION ORNAMENTATIONIcon Gilding & Decorative Surfaces Group11–12 March 2014 Lincoln

This course took place in studio spaceowned by Crick Smith, a company thatspecialises in the conservation of thedecorative interior and operates as acommercial arm of the University of Lincoln.It was organised and lead by Dr CampbellNorman-Smith, experienced tutor andprivate conservation professional with yearsof experience as a course leader for the MAFurniture Conservation, Restoration andDecorative Arts at Buckinghamshire NewUniversity and joint Chair of Icon’s Gilding &Decorative Surfaces Group.

The course tackled the task of dealing withdecorative composition on wire and, throughthe experience gained, enabled a betterunderstanding of the problems withcomposition ornamentation and its repairand replacement. To learn the skills andmethods of applying composition to wirework,we went through the stages of creating awirework candle sconce. These skills canthen be applied to conservation work.

First we learned about soft soldering, whichwas practised at varying levels of difficultly

and was quite tricky but helped to understandthe process and practise the technique.Next, a piece of wire was provided to shapewith various formers into any shape we liked;this was then sanded on one end to create apoint for the candle to be placed on. Forextra security and time saving it was MIGwelded to a prepared back metal plate. Thesurface of the metal was then covered with ablack cotton cloth that had first beencovered in a prepared hide glue. The gluetook twelve hours to dry overnight.

Next morning, we steamed pre-preparedcomposition to make it pliable again. It wasthen pressed into wooden moulds that wehad chosen earlier to suit the shape of thewire and our proposed decoration. Aftercooling and firming, the composition wasremoved from the moulds and trimmed ofany excess. Later this was applied to thesconce, if necessary steaming it again untilsoft enough to be bent into the correctshape, using full strength hide glue andbacked up with a composition slurry asneeded. The cup for the candle was madeusing a flower mould, then heated over asmall cup to bend into the right shape. Thiswas quite difficult as the thickness of thecomposition needed to be right or thepetals would fall off.

The sconces made by the participants on the wirework course

The group on the wirework course


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For someone interested in the conservationof gilded and decorative surfaces, the coursewas an ideal opportunity to try somethingnew and extend existing knowledge. Ittaught us new skills and valuable informationabout the production of composition; Dr.Campbell Norman-Smith’s recipe andsecrets for making high quality compositionwas, we agreed, the best we had workedwith and did not crack in use. For this alone,the course was well worth it.

Aside from connecting the course toconservation skills, the idea of creatingsomething beautiful, skilled and little moreambitious was exciting. The coursetransforms this ambition into a real project,where students with little or no experience,can create something of their own. Dr.Campbell Norman-Smith’s experience,enthusiasm and very organized approachmade the learning process easy tounderstand and enjoyable. Apart from thereal hands-on experience, the students alsobenefit from support and advice during eachstep of the learning process. The tutor wouldbring examples of his past work where heused applied composition of wire, beautifullycarved wooden moulds and mostimportantly each demonstration would beaccompanied by personal advice andencouragement to further develop skills.

The social aspects of the workshop were alsoa highlight. The atmosphere was open andrelaxed with plenty of opportunity forstudents to exchange their experiences andideas. It was a great course which helped usdevelop new skills and also increased ourconfidence in handling composition, and wedefinitely feel that we have grown asconservators as a result of it.

Narissa Sykes & Kristina SopkovaStudents, University of Lincoln

VISITS

LET’S TALK ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHYIcon Photographic Materials GroupLiverpool 8 May 2014

The Group met for a behind the scenes tourof the National Museums LiverpoolConservation Centre and the LiverpoolArchives. Starting at the paper conservationlaboratory in the Conservation Centre wewere welcomed by Ann Stewart, Head ofPaintings, Paper and Frame Conservation atNational Museums Liverpool. Annintroduced the Stewart Bale collection andexplained the success of a volunteer projectthat had cleaned and re-housed thecollection to ensure its safe keeping for thefuture. Following this informative descriptionof the challenges associated with carryingout such a large scale cleaning and re-housing project, the group walked over tothe separate storage facility and Ann wasjoined by her colleague Anne Gleave,

Curator of Photographic Archives atMerseyside Maritime Museum.

Anne provided additional historical detail onthe collection as we were given a chance tolook around the storage space. Stewart BaleLtd was a family run photographic companythat specialised in commercial, architecturaland industrial photography based inLiverpool from 1911 until the early 1980s.Photographs include many important imagessuch as those that document bomb damagein Liverpool during the war. The collectionconsists of 195,445 negatives, approximatelyone third of which are large glass platenegatives. The collection held by NationalMuseums Liverpool dates between 1924 and1981: unfortunately any images before 1924have been lost due to damage before theywere given to the National Museums, whichshows how essential the project is to savethose that remain. Some have already beendigitised but the hope is that it will bepossible to view the whole collection indigital format in the future, safeguarding theoriginal collection.

The second part of the backstage tour wasat the Liverpool Archives, which is housedinside the impressive newly furbished librarybuilding. This part of the visit was hosted bySharon Oldale who showed us round the

Ann Stewart explaining the Stewart Baleproject at the National Museums LiverpoolConservation Centre

Sharon Oldale showing the group around the Liverpool Archives new conservation lab

Admiring the new Liverpool Archive storage facilities at the Liverpool Central Library.



new conservation lab and archive stores,including the cold store. This photographicarchive holds a collection of nationalimportance and includes the ChambréHardman collection, co-owned by theNational Trust, and detailing the work ofrenowned Liverpool photographer EdwardChambré Hardman. In awe of the equipmentand the colour coded storage shelves, wehad a fascinating glimpse into the running ofthe Liverpool Archive and it was hearteningto see how the new building is fit forpurpose; to protect its collections.

Other optional visits took place during theday. I attended the one to Hardman House,a National Trust property which provides aremarkable insight into a preservedphotographic studio from the early 20thcentury. The tour took place in the house onRodney Street where Edward ChambréHardman and his wife both lived and rantheir business. The staff described the storyof the Hardmans and listening to soundbites throughout the visit from original staffmembers and customers of the studio gavea lovely sense of how a traditionalphotographic portrait studio was run andalso how the owners lived.

During lunch the Photographic MaterialsGroup held its AGM (see page 6).The dayevent was sponsored by Conservation byDesign and thanks go to Chris French whoattended and was on hand to talk about anyof their products.

Emma Bonson Lincoln UniversityMA Conservation of Historic Objects

THE ISLE OF BUTEIcon Scotland Emerging Professionals 16 May 2014

The newly formed Emerging Professionalssector of Icon Scotland saw its inaugural tripin May to the Isle of Bute to visit ButeFabrics and Mount Stuart. Despite an early

ferry, we experienced a full complement ofconservators sign up for the trip.

Catherine Murray, a designer at ButeFabrics gave us an introduction to thecompany and its history. Bute Fabrics wasfounded in 1947 by the 5th Marquess ofBute in order to provide jobs to a post-warcommunity struck with unemployment andthe difficulties of living on an island. This millcontinues to employ many islanders today.For those with an interest in textiles, andthose unfamiliar with them, it was afascinating insight into the production andcontinuing manufacture of high-qualityfabrics and the process from design toproduction (and some seriously difficultstorage issues: how do you keep over onethousand meters of fabric safely?). We werethen given the chance to tour the whole mill,meet some weavers and see the incrediblescale of a mill ‘in action’.

In the afternoon we progressed to MountStuart, seat of the Stuarts of Bute. Theamazing size and opulence of this buildingand grounds overwhelmed us and stunnedmost people into silence. However, we stillmanaged to find our voices to engage in alively discussion after the tour of what itmeans to be an emerging professional inconservation and some current issues in

conservation including the use of solventgels on a range of objects.

Overall it was an extremely interesting andengaging day and I personally was reallypleased to see such an interest in this newsub-group. Long may it last into the future!

For more pictures and information pleasevisit the Icon Scotland Group facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/ICON-Scotland-Group/269883156518914

Philippa Duffus, Emerging ProfessionalsSupport, Icon Scotland Group.

WILTON HOUSEIcon Furniture & Wood GroupSalisbury 31 March 2014

Furniture professionals and studentsgathered together for an exciting day oflearning at Wilton House, the Earl ofPembroke’s ancestral home for 460 years.Architects involved in the design of thishome include Inigo Jones and John Webbwho rebuilt the house in the Palladian styleafter the 1647 fire whilst James Wyatt madefurther alterations after 1801.

The day started with brief introductory talksas well as an introduction to the history ofWilton House skilfully given by the assistantto the House Manager Sarah King. Duringthe tour of the house Sarah would introducethe group to each of the rooms pointing outits important components, then Dr.Campbell Norman-Smith of The GranaryConservation Studios in Lincolnshirediscussed conservation efforts that he andhis Bucks New University students hadundertaken over the past four years. Ofparticular interest were the discussions of thesafety aspects and the limitations of workingon site in a lived in home. The temperaturealone would limit the use of certaintechniques, for example, the coldtemperature would slow evaporation anddrying times of some of the materials to suchan extent that they were not useable. A widevariety of projects were discussed frompicture frames to large Chippendalebookcases. The latter was particularlyinteresting as a problem was identified ofdisfigured floorboards that were notsupporting the piece correctly. To correct

Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute

Scotland’s emerging professionals on their inaugural trip

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this situation the entire bookcase had to bemoved and the floor repaired.

After lunch the group split into two. Onegroup listened intently to Yvette Fletcher,Head of Conservation at the LeatherConservation Centre, discussing theconservation of a pair of leather sofas,including her analysis of prior efforts to restorethem. The second group was in the nextroom taking a close look at a library tableattributed to Thomas Chippendale. Theoverall structure was discussed as well asobservations about the individual features,with these talks guided by Dr Ernest Riall ofLyon’s Restoration in Bucks.

The day ended where it began in the WiltonHouse Restaurant where Adrian Smith ofthe Royal Households gave the closingremarks.

The day was considered by all concerned tobe a success confirming the belief that thereis a need for this type of event forconservators interested in furniture andwood. At this time, the committee is busygetting ready for several upcoming events.We hope to have a training course to offerfurniture and wood conservators, a skillimprovement course this summer and asecond major event in the autumn. As alwayssuggestions by the members are welcome.Please contact any of the committeemembers if you have any suggestions or ifyou have any questions. And finally, thanksto all of you who attended this event.

Ernest Riall Furniture Conservator, Lyon’sRestoration Ltd

HELLO, MY NAME IS PAUL SMITHIcon Textile GroupDesign Museum, London 19 May 2014

The Paul Smith exhibition was more aboutInspirational objects than strictly ‘Fashion’. Itfollows the life story of Paul Smith and themyriad of objects that have inspired hiscreativity. It is a ‘shop-front’ of hisimagination. It also pays homage to hismuse, wife and life partner, Pauline Denyer.The concept for the exhibition developedduring a meeting between Paul Smith andDonna Loveday, the Head of Curatorial atthe Design Museum. Speaking to Paul,Donna very quickly realised that a Paul Smithexhibition could not be just about theclothes. As the title so aptly describes, theexhibition is about the man behind theclothes and the creative process.

Donna took us around the exhibitionexplaining her inspiration for each roomstarting with a reconstruction of his very

eclectic office, full of ‘stuff’ including plasticrobots, a small train set in a case, rabbits anda myriad of objects collected from flea-markets. Paul Smith collects all sorts ofthings and these become part of his creativeprocess. The theme followed on with areconstruction of the design workroom,again with an eclectic feel with patternshanging from the ceiling and vintagewallpaper pattern books sitting alongsidecomputers.

As textile conservators it was rather a shockto see the last room where items from PaulSmith Collections were displayed on bustforms. There was no attempt to make someof the pieces fit the forms and with no armsor sleeve padding the printed silk pieceswere left looking very sad. Being the finale ofthe exhibition this was a great pity, as severalpieces really were not seen to their bestadvantage. However, taken in context of theexhibition they could also be seen as thecollective expression of the eclectic geniusof Paul Smith.

This exhibition is all about the personality,the humour and the genius of a man truly inhis element. It was a fascinating, upliftingvisit that showcased an innovativeinterpretation of a designer’s creativity andalso exhibition design.

Janet Wood, Textile Consultant,specialising in the conservation and displayof historic dress

PROPORTION LONDON, MannequinMakersIcon Textile Group1 April 2014

Proportion London is the UK’s leadingsupplier of display mannequins and bustforms, manufacturing for high street anddesigner brands, as well as bespokemannequins and bust forms for the heritagesector and museums. They manufacture twotypes, papier-mâché and fibreglass, andeach mannequin and bust form are made byhand, employing many specialist and skilledpeople.

Participants gather under the Bard to listento Dr. C Norman-Smith discuss theconservation of a large picture frame

Paul Smith with framed memorabilia from his personal collection



The visit was split into two halves, themorning session started at the Proportionfactory, where we met Ashley Backhouse,Accounts Manager, and Antonia D’Marco,Sales Director. Antonia gave us a briefintroduction to the company and the factorybefore we set off on our tour. The factory isa fascinating treasure trove of differentmannequins and bust forms all in rows andboxes of body parts in multiple materials,which we could have spent all day exploring.We first visited the department thatmanufactures the moulds. These are takenfrom form sculptures made in clay byfreelance sculptors, which was explained inmore detail later when we visitedProportion’s design studio.

We then visited the department that makesthe papier-mâché mannequins and bustforms. Here, torn strips of recycled card arewetted in a water based glue and layeredinto the mould, between two to six layers ata time. The moulds are then joined andsoaked in plaster and entered into thedrying room. Once out of the moulds anddry, the forms are smoothed by hand, andheads, arms and legs are added. The formsthen head to the covering room.

Standard papier-mâché forms can generallytake four weeks to make and deliver, withbespoke forms taking up to twelve weeks,depending on alterations and changes beingmade. Interestingly the papier-mâché formshave been Oddy tested by the Museum ofLondon and can be used for up to five yearsoutwith display cases. The fibreglassmannequins are not conservation grade,however Antonia mentioned the possibilityof using two-pack acrylic which has beenOddy tested.

In the covering room each form is coveredindividually in standard calico. The first stageis cutting the calico to the correct pattern,with large volumes of fabric cut at the sametime using a tool similar to a hand held

electric jigsaw. Once cut, the fabric is passedto a second employee who sews the patterntogether. A third employee is adding cottonwadding to the forms and the fourth iscovering the form with the calico. It is initiallystapled to the form, whip stitched to securein place, and then the staples are removed.

The tour then moved on to where thefibreglass forms are manufactured. This is aparticularly noisy, pungent and messy area ofthe factory. Making a fibreglass form issimilar to the papier-mâché process, wheretwo halves of a mould are joined togetherand the moulds are layered and filled byhand. In this case resins, adhesives andfibreglass are heated and cooled to makethe form. Once dry the forms are sanded offand given a coat of white paint that showsup any imperfections. A standard cellulosepaint is used on the fibreglass forms,however bespoke colours, textures andpatterns can be added.

We took a quick visit to Proportion’s sistercompany Gems Studios, located in thefactory. This is where wigs and makeup areapplied to wax forms to make them appearrealistic and have been used in a range ofprojects from the retail and fashion to themuseum and heritage sectors. This is acomplex and time consuming process whereindividual hairs are applied to head andbody, correct skin colour and tone areachieved and makeup is applied whererequired.

The second half of the visit was at theProportion London design studio andshowroom, where their current products areshowcased for fashion and retail purchase.We were shown some of the design boardsthat illustrate the starting point of anymannequin. A model is used to takemeasurements from and for the sculptor tosculpt a clay version that is then modifiedand adjusted to create the correctmannequin size. Deborah Phipps (TextileGroup Chair) was involved in the creation ofProportions museum bust form collection.This female bust form is ideal for costumefrom the 17th century to the present and

Deborah, present on the visit, kindlyexplained about the fascinatingcollaboration and design process for themuseum form Petite. This second half of theday had less depth than the morning visit: Iwould have loved to have seen thedesigners and sculptors at work and lookedat measurement and design sketches anddrawings in detail.

Throughout the day it was clear thatProportion will try to meet any demandsfrom a client, be it size, material, fabrics andfinishes; they advocate collaboration withclients, conservators, curators and sculptorsand are keen to try anything a clientrequests. The visit was fascinating andinformative and I would highly recommendit. Seeing each process of manufacture was areal eye opener and highlighted that thepossibilities are endless for bespokemannequins and bust forms.

Danielle Connolly, Assistant TextileConservatorNational Museums Scotland

Fibreglass forms after sanding

Museum bust form Petite co-created byDeborah Phipps

Proportion London factory visit An example of a wax head (George W Bush)created by Gems Studio


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VISITOR INVOLVEMENT IN THE SEARCHFOR TRANSPARENT PAPERS AT THENATIONAL ARCHIVESDr Helen Wilson, The National Archives, Kew

The Transparent Paper ProjectThe National Archives’ (UK) Collection Care Department hascompleted a one year research project on transparent papers.The Transparent Paper project was established in response toa need for better evidence to underpin the complex decisionsnecessary to preserve these materials. The aims were todevelop practical guidance for conservators to use whendeciding both when and how to treat and/or rehousetransparent papers. Involving The National Archives’ dailyvisitors was identified as one way of gathering evidence tosupport this work and for the first time, these visitors helpedto survey the collection.

in practice

Figure 1. A transparent paper overlaying a companion map fromThe National Archives(HO193/56/22SE)

Figure 2. A discoloured, torn, and fragmented transparent paperrepresentation of a copyrighted ornamental design, c. 19th century.From The National Archives (BT43/57/105864)

Transparent papers, for this project, were defined as papersfor which translucency was critical for copying, tracing, oroverlaying of information. This definition includes papers suchas tracing paper, vegetable parchment, and vellum madetranslucent using one of several methods, includingoverbeating pulp, sulphurisation, or impregnating with oils,resins, and/or waxes. Translucent or transparent materialssuch as film and thin copy papers were excluded from thisproject.

The translucency and smooth surface offered by transparentpapers has been used since the Middle Ages to producemaps, architectural drawings, and artistic designs (Figure 1).These ephemeral papers are often in poor condition as aresult of their method of manufacture, use, and storage whichfrequently result in tears, losses, discolouration, andbrittleness (Figure 2). The fragile condition can limit access tothese records.

Preservation of these chemically and often physically unstablerecords presents different challenges in comparison to non-transparent papers given their fragility, sensitivity to solvents,including water, and frequently, their very large size (Figure 3).The problem is exacerbated by the wide dispersal of thepapers throughout the collection, which makes planning andtreatment tricky. Consequently, more information on thecondition, location and quantity of transparent papers withinthe collection was needed to formulate a preservation strategy.

The Readers’ SurveyIn 2011–12 visitors to our reading rooms ordered 574,351original documents, far more than can be seen by theCollection Care Department in the same time. Visitorstherefore offer a valuable means of gathering much neededinformation about transparent papers that would rarely beseen by our conservators.

The survey was designed and instigated in collaboration withcolleagues from other departments. The questionnaire wasdesigned to be simple and brief requiring no technicalknowledge other than visual recognition of a transparentpaper (Figure 4). It gathers information including thedocument reference, date of viewing, format on arrival,condition, and type of record. Additionally it asks the visitorwhether a surrogate of the transparent paper documentwould have met their research needs since this is one methodof limiting the handling of these fragile papers. Furtherinformation on the project, the papers, and the importance ofthe survey was provided on the reverse of each questionnaire.

In an effort to raise and sustain awareness of the survey,notices were distributed throughout the building (Figure 5),presentations about the project were given to regular users ofthe staff reading room and two blog posts were published onThe National Archives website. Additionally, reading roomstaff were asked to encourage visitors to complete thequestionnaire if transparent papers were identified amongsttheir records. Questionnaires were reviewed and replenishedevery two weeks and at the end of the twelve month surveyperiod, the collected data was assessed.



Figure 3. Conservator Ilaria Coccia unfolds a large, paintedtransparent paper representation of an 1855 carpet design at TheNational Archives (BT43/117/99990)

Figure 5. A questionnaire collection point in one of the readingrooms at The National Archives

Results A total of ninety questionnaires were completed; seventyseven of these related to papers that fitted with the definitionof transparent papers used in this project. These seventyseven completed questionnaires reported some 3165examples of transparent papers that were spread across sixtyone different series and seventy one specific items. Betweenone and sixty transparent papers were found per item,comprised predominantly of maps and technical drawings.Examples were found to date from 1805 through to 1948 andvaried in size, including one of A0 size and another roughly sixfeet long.

Whilst damaged transparent papers predominated (notably,one described as ‘…in pieces and too fragile to remove fromthe envelope.’), papers with no damage including onedescribed as ‘virtually pristine’ were observed. The mostcommon types of damage noted were: creases; tears; splitsand discolouration. Less common damage included losses;staining; degraded and sticky Sellotape; and potentialshrinkage of transparent paper so when laid over itscompanion map, details no longer align. The vast majority ofvisitors surveyed felt that surrogates would be suitable fortheir research needs; only a small number identified this asunsuitable.

These results have underlined how broadly transparentpapers are dispersed throughout our collections. They alsosupport the extensive variation in condition observed andreported by Collection Care staff. The survey data is now thefoundation for a database of known transparent papers, whichis another strand of work developed for this project. Datafrom other sources is being added to this database so that itbuilds a valuable overview of the transparent papers within

Figure 4. The transparent paper survey questionnaire used at TheNational Archives


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the collection and their condition. This information isinvaluable knowledge for researchers and conservators whocan now easily find examples of transparent papers of varyingcondition and type for demonstration and research purposes.Additionally, sorting of data can help prioritisation of recordsfor conservation treatments or rehousing, thereby being avaluable tool for preservation planning.

ConclusionsInvolving visitors has proved an effective method of gatheringevidence for preservation decision-making when in-depthsurveys by staff are not a viable option. Our visitors arecontinuously using the collection for their own research, sothey are ideally placed to be able to help us with ours. It isnot possible to control which documents they see, howfrequently or how often, but this is mitigated by the sheervolume of material that would be accessed over the course ofa year – far more than could reasonably be accessed by staff.

The success of this approach was dependent on staff supportacross multiple departments and the willingness of theparticipants; effective promotion was therefore essential.However, once the project was established, furtherinvolvement from Collection Care staff was minimal.Importantly we now have a solid framework for gathering datathat improves our understanding of the collection and betterinforms our preservation strategies.

AcknowledgementsThanks to all the staff involved in this survey, particularly AmySampson and the many others in the Collection Care Departmentwho shared their knowledge and experiences of transparent papers.

Further information about The Transparent Paper Project can be found at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/transparent-papers.htm

http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/transparent-papers-need-you/

http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/transparent-papers-thank-keep-good-work/

in training

THE CONSERVATION TECHNICIANQUALIFICATION: A STUDENT’S VIEWCaleb Howgego and Hilary Tricker are HeritageDocumentation Trainees, working at Colchester andIpswich Museums Service as part of the Heritage LotteryFunded Skills for the Future programme

We began our traineeships, which are primarily focusedaround museum documentation and collectionsmanagement, in September 2013. The aim of the year is togive us a broad skill set for museum work, so we were alsogiven the option of undertaking Icon’s ConservationTechnician Qualification (CTQ).

What is the CTQ?The CTQ is a workplace-based learning qualification. It coversa broad range of collections care, as well as more specificconservation practice, making it an ideal way to structure andformalise our learning during the traineeship, and to gain arecognised qualification to validate the skills we aredeveloping.

The course comprises of six compulsory modules whichestablish good collections care skills, accurate recordskeeping and health and safety, as well as a commitment tocontinued professional development. Candidates then selecttwo or more optional units that complement the work theycarry out in their respective roles, e.g. units in preventativemeasures, treatments, exhibitions and displays, and evenfacsimile making. We are keeping a portfolio of all our workand activities as evidence to show that we have completedthe various modules and units. This will be viewed by aninternal and external assessor before any qualification isawarded.

Cleaning a seal In Ipswich Museum



Learning New SkillsDuring our traineeship, we have received guidance andtraining from our colleagues, including our museum’sConservation Officer, Robert Entwistle. The highly diversenature of the collections in Colchester and Ipswich MuseumService – and the buildings themselves, including IpswichMuseum, Christchurch Mansion and Colchester Castle –support our learning for the qualification; we have beenworking on a wide variety of objects and projects which areboth interesting and challenging. The objects we haveworked on range from across continents, time periods, andsizes; from the very large (a polar sledge made for CaptainOates), to the very small (fragments of Anglo-Saxonmetalwork).

The Anglo-Saxon metalwork was a particularly interestingproject to be involved in. The museum had acquired around1,500 pieces of metalwork from an important archaeologicalsite in Suffolk, all of which needed cleaning and conserving.Some of the items were earmarked for an exhibition at SuttonHoo and needed to be ready to go out on loan within just afew weeks. This meant we had the opportunity to be involvedthroughout the whole process of cleaning, stabilisation,conservation and condition reporting. We then assisted withcouriering the objects to the exhibition venue at Sutton Hoo,condition checking them and then assisting with their display– overall, a very interesting, rewarding, and valuableexperience.

With guidance from colleagues, we reviewed the IntegratedPest Management system for the museum and mansion,updating blunder trap locations and then taking responsibilityfor monitoring them. The importance of a good IPM system

was highlighted when an infestation of moths was discoveredin some birds in our Natural History Gallery; we saw first handthe problems pest damage causes and it gave us anopportunity to learn how to deal with such a situation,including how to clean and treat taxidermy.

Elsewhere, our work towards the CTQ has seen us deliveringa presentation on the development of Ipswich Museum to aroom full of museum professionals, helping with theinstallation of exhibitions in the Ipswich Art School andColchester Castle, learning to catalogue objects on acomputer database and conducting day-to-day remedialconservation on objects in the laboratory.

CourieringWe have had the opportunity to accompany the Service’sconservation staff while couriering objects to and from otherinstitutions, gaining experience with condition checking andthe paperwork involved. This has included trips to theNational Horse Racing Museum at Newmarket to collectpaintings, the Red House in Aldeburgh to deliver costumebelonging to Benjamin Britten, and to the Sainsbury’s Centrein Norwich to collect two paintings and three Mendleshamchairs.

A particularly special courier trip for us was accompanying aValkyrie Pendant to the British Museum for the Vikings: Lifeand Legend exhibition; after a sneak peek at the exhibitionprior to opening, we were able, through the personal contactsof our Conservation Officer, to visit many conservationdepartments at the British Museum.

Courier duty. Condition checking a painting on loan to SCVA(Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts)

Courier Duty. Condition checking and packing Mendlesham Chairson loan to SCVA (Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts)

‘I have particularly enjoyed preparing objectsto go out on loan and then accompanyingthem on couriering trips; getting to seebehind the scenes in other museums is alwaysinteresting.’ – Hilary Tricker


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We were shown Iron Age cauldrons in the Metal Conservationlab; Cuneiform tablets and Roman glass dishes in Ceramics &Glass; Sand mummies from Sudan, the focus of a researchproject on medieval Nubians; preparations for upcomingexhibitions in Western Pictorial Art on Paper; the HirayamaScroll Studio and their painstaking care to work in conditionsfaithful to those in which the scrolls were originally produced;and finally, the Facsimile Studio, where we met the manbehind Ipswich Museum’s Woolly Mammoth.

This was a really fascinating day, providing an interestinginsight into the scale and specialisms of conservation withinan institution such as the British Museum.

Professional DevelopmentThe nature of our posts as trainees, and undertaking the CTQ,has meant that we have been encouraged to seek out trainingopportunities on offer. As such, we have attended training ona range of relevant subjects, including the handling andpacking of museum objects, labelling and marking, theconservation of photographic material, and caring forpaintings.

Our Feelings about the QualificationOverall, our experience of the CTQ qualification so far hasbeen very positive. The wide range of topics covered by thecompulsory units gives a good grounding in conservationtechniques and practices, and the ability to pick from theoptional units means that it can be tailored to fit our specificroles.

The emphasis on practical learning and the chance to applythis directly in our roles at the museum means that we feelmore connected to our collections. We have been able to putthings we have learnt for the CTQ into practice in a usefulway, making us feel we are making a positive difference.

The CTQ will be relevant to any future museum job we applyfor, as a demonstration of our collection care skills. Theportfolio will be especially useful for this purpose, as a tool toshowcase our work and experience to future employers.

Helping to conserve a mosaic in Colchester Castle

‘The opportunity to work with so manyinteresting and varied objects in thelaboratory has been excellent! I’ve gainedvaluable collections care skills to take forwardwith me in my career.’ – Caleb Howgego


ICON NEWS • NOVEMBER 2005 • 3


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Tru Vue® Conservation Conference Scholarship

Introducing

www.conservation-us.org/grants [email protected]

www.tru-vue.com/museums

Tru Vue has partnered with FAIC and Icon to provide funding for conservators from across the globe to attend professional development events such as conferences and training courses. Our goals for the scholarship program include encouraging international exchange and dissemination of training and conference information.

Administered by:

The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC)& The Institute of Conservation (Icon).

For more information about this program and application formswww.tru-vue.com/Museums/scholarships


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