Part 1: The Door by the Dodo: My placement at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

Hello conservation blog fans! I (Tanya) will begin our glorious return to the blogosphere by telling all of you about my educational and inspirational 4 weeks at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and St. Fagan’s National History Museum.

Bristol is an amazing city with a diverse set of museums and historic houses. In the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, past the dodo display, is a door that hides several stairs to the conservation lab. My daily exercise to the museum and up all the steps to the lab was often countered with the delicious biscuits and cakes that were always present in the tearoom. Although I learned a lot about conservation and worked with materials I had never worked with before, perhaps the most important lesson I learned while at Bristol was that taking a tea break is crucial! By taking a break you can come back to your work with a fresh set of eyes and you also get to know the rest of the friendly conservation team: Amélie and Jenny (objects conservators), Pavlos, Harry, Alicia (paper conservators), Helen (paintings conservator), and any other special guests that may be visiting that day from other parts of the many Bristol galleries.

Izzy (another Cardiff Conservation Student) and I having tea with a lot of biscuits.

Bristol Museum was preparing for a commemorative exhibit for the anniversary of World War I, so I began my placement by removing the tarnish from a WWI pin and medal. I used the solvent IMS (Industrial Methylated Spirit) on a cotton swab to take off the black tarnish on the pin and medal that was obstructing details on both. The thread that held the ribbon to the clasp on the medal was very degraded and came undone on one side while I was observing it. Amélie noted that we do not have a textile specialist and did not want me to attempt to sew the ribbon back on, so I used Japanese tissue paper which I coated in Lascaux adhesive to create a secure yet easily reversible double-sided sticky tape to connect the ribbon back to the clasp.

I also worked on a ceramic plate, which I thought would be similar to working on the ceramic modern art I had done for my course. The angles of the plate and the sheer weight of it made it a completely different experience. Paraloid B-72 served well again to re-adhere this earthenware ceramic back together and I fashioned a secure way to hold it in place while it dried with a clamp and bowl of sand. I then filled the gaps with the comically named Flügger Snickerispackel, an acrylate filler which had to be sanded down and polished repeatedly until it was just right and level. I also got to try in-painting for the first time with a polymer varnish that would hold together pigments. Once I was able to colour match the paint, it was incredibly satisfying to see the fracture lines and filled gaps disappear— making the plate look good as new.

From left to right: My clamp and sand bowl contraption, filling in the cracks, and in-painting.

Bristol University had enlisted the help of the museum conservators to prepare their enormous amount of old teaching materials from the natural science department to go on display in their brand new building. This was perhaps the most exciting part of the entire placement for me as I have a very strange love that borders on obsession for all things bone related. We had to clean and consolidate (if necessary) any skulls, skeletons, taxidermy, and sea life that would be going on display. For the bone, we used about 2% of Triton-X  mixed in water and cotton swabs followed by IMS with a swab to remove the residue of the dirt that the Triton-X was able to gently break down without harming or staining the bone. The amount and assortment of objects was so incredible and entertaining—Izzy and I even spent nearly two weeks cleaning an entire bear skeleton!

Triton-X: This wetting agent was used as alternative to spit cleaning. It gently broke down the dirt and residue on the bone without harming it and without giving us dry mouths from using our own spit!

Our lovely bear friend.

Working with glass was new for me so I was given a small glass candle wax catcher to attempt to fix.  With Amélie’s extensive knowledge in glass conservation I learned how to carefully tape the fractured pieces of glass together and how to run the precise mix of Fynebond epoxy resin and hardener adhesive down the crack so that it was absorbed through capillary reaction. It was remarkable how the epoxy was absorbed into the fractured imperfections until the lines almost disappeared completely.

The glass: before and after.

Another object I got to work on was an ostrich feather fan. This may sound glamorous, but this poor fan had a tragic encounter with pests. The fan was frozen prior to my receiving it to ensure that no little buggers survived, so I was left with a yellowish handle that barely held some lovely white feathers which were covered in tiny black bug eggs. This put me off of starting treatment on the fan at first, but I dove in hoovering the bug eggs with a HEPA filter that is certified to pick up and filter extremely small particles. I then untangled the feathers and picked off any excess eggs with tweezers like I was combing through hair for lice. I did not want to use solvent on the handle to remove the old adhesive just in case it was made of cellulose nitrate or cellulose acetate because it could dissolve that as well. Instead I spit cleaned it by running a swab on the inside of my cheek and removing the old crusty adhesive off the handles and wiping that residue off with water. Sounds gross, but it was super effective! I re-adhered the fan in place with cellulose nitrate and it looked good enough to use again (but don’t worry, I didn't)!

Yellowish Handle: Cellulose acetate and cellulose nitrate are polymers that can be used as adhesives or have added fillers to be used to mimic ivory, tortoise shell, and other objects that were once fashioned into glasses, combs, and even fan handles.

From left to right: My mangled fan, the wonders of spit cleaning, and the careful handling of feathers.

I am extremely grateful that Bristol Museum gave me the opportunity to work with them this summer. Not only did I get to work with a range of materials that I had never worked with before, but I also got to work with a diverse group of people that were as fun as they were talented. From bones to bug eggs to loads of biscuits, Bristol Museum was a well-rounded placement!