On Tuesday 23 August interns funded through the Icon-HLF scheme travelled from far and wide to attend a visit to National Museums Liverpool’s (NML’s) conservation studios.  There are three current conservation interns at NML funded through the Icon-HLF scheme.  Gemma Thorns and Robin Gibson are undertaking Internships in Ships and Historic Models Conservation, and myself; Ellie Baumber, is undertaking an Internship in Objects Conservation and Public Engagement.  We arranged the visit to provide fellow interns with the opportunity to see some of the fantastic projects that we have been working on during our time at NML.

With so much to see, Tuesday’s visit centred around just four of the many conservation sections based in the Midland Railway Building.  Visits were made to the Historic Models, Ceramics, Metals and Organics conservation departments, providing the opportunity for interns to see and discuss some of the objects currently undergoing conservation treatment.  Many of these objects will be exhibited in the Museum of Liverpool later this year and include a seat from Liverpool’s Overhead Railway, as well as a headless dog skeleton!  In the afternoon we visited the National Conservation Centre’s former public exhibition ‘Reveal’, which closed due to government spending cuts in December 2010.  Here we were able to share our experiences regarding the public face of conservation and also the effects of recent government spending cuts upon the sector. 

The day concluded with a sunny walk down to the new Museum of Liverpool where we were able to have a look around and discuss conservation work carried out on some of the objects on display.  We even found time for a quick viewing of the Beatles show! 

The visit proved to be a fantastic opportunity to share some of our internship experiences.  Thank you to all those conservation staff involved in the visit and we hope that everyone attending enjoyed it as much as we did! 

 Chinese Export Hand-held Fan

National Museums Liverpool’s conservation studios have been a hive of activity over the past few months, as conservators have been busy preparing objects for the new Museum of Liverpool, which opens in just 12 days' time. 

Recently I have been lucky enough to conserve a number of handheld fans which will be exhibited in the new museum’s Global City gallery.  When I found out that I would be conserving fans, I expected to encounter paper and perhaps some plastic or wooden sticks, but I was in for a much bigger treat!  Lacquer, ivory, tortoiseshell, silk, feathers, gold pigment and mother of pearl were just some of the materials that I came across. 

One of my favourite fans is shown in the image above.  The fan dates from around 1840 -1880 and was exported from China for the European market.  The fan is known as an ‘applied faces’ fan, as the face of each figure depicted on the decorative leaf has been made from a thin piece of ivory.  These tiny ivory faces were then delicately painted and applied to the paper leaf with glue.  Even the figures’ clothes have been cut from decorative silk textiles and applied onto the surface.

The fan came into the organics conservation department for treatment as one of its black lacquered sticks had broken and many of the applied silk pieces had begun to fold and lift away.  Although the decoration of the fan is fascinating enough, it wasn’t until I looked even more closely that I found out its best kept secret! 

Whilst examining the fan I noticed that the lacquer sticks could be moved up and down slightly, creating a sliding motion.  Curiously the movement seemed to be purposeful, being part of the design rather than being caused by any faults or breaks.  I wondered... 'Could this make it an extendable fan?!' 

After carrying out some background research, my suspicions were confirmed and I discovered that the fan was indeed telescopic.  In the above image the fan is shown in its half-extended position.  However, the black lacquered sticks can be extended further by pulling them out from inside the paper leaf.  When opened this creates a large dramatic fan.  When the fan is no longer needed it can be folded up and the sticks cleverly pushed back inside the paper leaf to create a compact foldable fan.  In its compact position the fan is perfect for carrying around and would take up far less room in a handbag!

Unfortunately the action of extending and retracting the sticks today would place too much stress on the materials, which are now around 170 years old.  But nevertheless, what a fantastic design!  You can see the fan in the new Museum of Liverpool, which opens on Tuesday 19 July 2011.

Have you ever wondered what could be eating our museum collections?
 
Although this might seem like a strange question, all kinds of organic materials such as leather, paper, wood and even textiles provide a feast for a variety of troublesome insects!  At the National Conservation Centre we have a range of high-powered microscopes which allow us to look up close at many of these beastly bugs. 
 
Insects such as the clothes moth, seen in the image below, lay their eggs on natural fibres such as wool.  When the clothes moth’s eggs hatch into larvae, they feed upon the wool fibres and can cause tremendous damage.  Many other insects would also happily munch or bore their way through all kinds of museum objects if left to their own devices!
 
Why not come down to the Clore Natural History Centre in World Museum next Tuesday 15th March, 2.15pm-4.15pm to find out more.  Two of National Museums Liverpool’s conservators will be presenting a series of microscope images and specimens of the curious creepy crawlies that munch on museum objects. Will you be able to guess which bugs do the damage?

An image of a Clothes Moth taken with our Scanning Electron Microscope

Now that I have completed the first quarter of my ICON and Heritage Lottery Funded internship in Objects Conservation and Public Engagement at the National Conservation Centre, I thought I’d share with you one of my favourite bits so far! 

Last October I started conserving a nineteenth century ceramic Wall Sconce.  “Wall Sconce?”  I hear you cry?  . . . A wall sconce is usually a bracket, or in this case a decorative ceramic plate with candle holders, which would have once been fixed to a wall to provide indoor lighting.  They must have been a very useful item before the invention of the electric light-bulb.  I have to say that when I first saw the Sconce, covered with bright and colourful floral designs, it certainly wasn’t to my taste!  But nevertheless my duty of care and curiosity quickly dismissed my initial dislike of the sickly design, and with the help of the Ceramics and Glass Conservator at the National Conservation Centre I began proposing a conservation treatment plan.  The plan was to carefully clean away thick black surface dirt which covered the ceramic surface and also to create a removable plaster fill, to complete a large v-shaped chip which was missing from one of the Sconce’s candle holders. 

As well as undertaking the nerve-racking task of removing the grubby sooty substance from the Sconce’s incredibly delicate decorations and making wax moulds for the plaster fill, I also had time for a bit of analysis.  I could see just by looking at it, that the Sconce had many different parts that were being held together by nails and screws and so I made it my mission to find out more. 

X-ray of Wall Sconce showing internal structure

Using the digital x-ray machine at the National Conservation Centre I was able to investigate further, with fascinating results.  As seen in the image below I think you’ll agree that the gaudy wall sconce that I started treating last October, had a few rather more interesting secrets hidden on the inside.
You will be able to see the Wall Sconce on display in the new Museum of Liverpool which opens this Summer.

Last Friday was a sad day at the National Conservation Centre as the doors closed to visitors for the last time.  However, yesterday brought with it a silver lining, as we relocated our conservation themed event ‘Crystal Magic’ over to the Clore Natural History Centre at World Museum.

The event was buzzing and despite the icy conditions outside, over seventy people attended the afternoon event.  ‘Salty’ our magical crystal growing snowman stole the show, as he busied away growing snow-like crystals.  He even let us borrow a few to look at more closely.  With our video microscope having also made the transition from the National Conservation Centre over to World Museum, we were able to examine crystals up close and discovered all kinds of beautiful colours, shapes and patterns.

For those who have already had their fill of snow crystals over the past few days, we also looked at how crystals might grow in our collections!  It was revealed that although crystals may look very beautiful and harmless they can be a menace for conservators.  You may ask why?  Well, crystals can in fact grow from soluble salts inside some objects such as ceramics and sculpture.  When these salts crystallize inside the object they expand causing serious stress and damage. 

So, ‘Crystal Magic’ marked the start of a new era, as the National Conservation Centre spread its wings for the first time, to begin conservation-themed events at other venues.  Although the big blue doors at the National Conservation Centre may now be closed to visitors, the dedicated work of the Centre’s conservators continues inside.  Keep your eyes open for new conservation themed events in the New Year on our Events pages.  You can also keep up-to-date with what’s going on behind-the-scenes via the blog, with more in-depth features and information on our Opinions Service available on our website. 

Some crystals from ‘Salty’ our magical crystal-growing snowman, when examined using cross-polarised light microscopy.

My name is Ellie and I am a new addition at the National Conservation Centre in Liverpool.  I am here on a year long internship in Objects Conservation and Public Engagement, funded by ICON (Institute of Conservation) and the Heritage Lottery Fund. 

While I am here I will post regular updates on the blog to provide a glimpse of what is happening behind-the-scenes at the National Conservation Centre, as conservators look after and investigate fascinating objects from the collection.

Last Saturday’s event ‘Looking After Liverpool’s History’ provided a sneak preview of some of the objects that will be showcased in the new Museum of Liverpool next year.  One hundred year old chocolate, modern day beer bottles and bomb damaged ceramics went under the spotlight, as conservators explained how they look after the enormous variety of objects in the museum’s collection.

If you missed out, then why not join us this Saturday 20th November between 1-3pm for ‘Object Detectives', when we will be revealing the hidden stories of objects using investigative techniques.  Drop in and see our x-ray and high powered microscopes in action, find out more about objects and discover what is eating our collections!

Image of a clothes moth larva taken with a scanning electron microscope.