Conservation of Hats Through an Intern’s Eyes by Emma Hartikka Conclusions and Impressions It is over – my internship period with Zenzie Tinker Conservation! Hard to get to grips with how fast the time flew. It is time to look back and reflect on the time gone by. Firstly, I …
Charles Frederick Worth was the Lincolnshire designer who dominated the Paris fashion scene in the latter part of the nineteenth century, otherwise known as the ‘father of haute couture’. [1] It is a rare treat to have such sartorial history pass through your hands and so I was delighted to have …
Continue reading “Dressed For Best: conserving couture, restoring its Worth”
Conservation of Hats Through an Intern’s Eyes by Emma Hartikka Tricky Treatments Unfolding The half way mark of my internship is now passed. I have already learned a lot about textile conservation and different treatments used. Through frustrations, problem solving, little successes and massive help from my colleagues, the secrets …
Conservation of Hats Through an Intern’s Eyes by Emma Hartikka Whodunnit – Labels as Clues to the Past When working with historical objects, you quickly become interested in the aspects hiding behind the purely tangible features such as materials, structure, technique, colors, style and damages. This is the case even …
The Westminster Abbey Funeral Effigies Layers! One of the most fascinating but problematic things about redressing the effigies were the multiple layers of clothing (some wearing as many as 18 items!). The under layers were often fine and beautiful and never seen – there because that is how they were …
Conservation of Hats Through an Intern’s Eyes Challenges of Intern Life and Old Hats The first month with the hats has been full of learning and important revelations for me. Getting to know the hats and their sometimes peculiar needs has taken time and energy as well as familiarising myself …
Conservation of Hats Through an Intern’s Eyes The Beginning Twenty-one old, gorgeous hats, all at once within your reach. Not to wear, though, but to preserve. Torment or a treat? Let’s find out! I am Emma, a second-year textile conservation student from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, situated in Helsinki, …
The main themes of this last busy year seem to have been dust and BIG, complex, dirty textiles. Oh and scaffolding. We bought our own scaffold tower this year and then had to buy extensions to make it even taller. The new equipment is great but what makes these big …
For its winter exhibition ‘Inside the Collection’ Scotney Castle celebrates ten years of public access by delving into its own stores for inspiration. This card-adorned fancy dress costume was recently uncovered in the castle’s costume collection, worn and accumulated by the Hussey family from the late eighteenth century until the …
“The word of the day is lambrequin”, was one of the comments on our Facebook page in response to a posting about the conservation of the Leeds Castle Drawing Room lambrequin. A lambrequin is a short piece of decorative drapery, in this case hung below the elaborate cornice of the …