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King’s College Chapel Cambridge: South Porch Sundial
Posted: June 8, 2020Conservation of sundial dated 1578; archive research in College Library; condition assessment of surface and substrate; analysis of pigments, gilding and stratigraphy and alterations by polarised light microscopy (PLM), FTIR, GCMS. Porosity testing of weathered and stable surfaces for comparison. Nano-lime consolidation and grouting to blisters/delamination to ground layers, stone and polychrome. Gilding and distressing; re-touching. -
‘Jeunesse’ by Herman Richir (1866-1942)
Posted: June 1, 2020Preparation of 'Jeunesse' by Herman Richir (1866-1942), from the collection of the McManus Galleries, Dundee, for international loan -
‘The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine with St. Apollonia, St. Joseph & St. John the Evangelist’ att. to Francesco Brini (active 1540-1586)
Posted: June 1, 2020On-site treatment of the panel painting ‘The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine with St. Apollonia, St. Joseph & St. John the Evangelist’ att. to Francesco Brini (active 1540-1586) at National Trust for Scotland property Falkland Palace. -
Conservation of Contemporary Sculptural Collection
Posted: June 1, 2020Conservation, restoration and preventive conservation of more than 25 contemporary sculptures and features including works in bronze, wood and polychrome finishes. -
Dyers banner: conservation and mounting for display in a refurbished museum
Posted: May 29, 2020A perilously split painted silk banner had been repaired with lengths and lengths of self-adhesive tape on both sides. The repairs had failed and stained the banner. The adhesive residue was removed, and the banner was stabilised. It was mounted for display and safe handling in a newly refurbished museum. -
Full treatment of Cecilia Vicuña, Biombo, 1971
Posted: May 27, 2020Full treatment of a 6 panel, double-sided canvas standing screen by the Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña, in consultation with the artist, her gallerist and Tate curators for display at Tate Modern, London. The artist had been in exile from Chile for many years and the screen hidden away. It was suffering from being in poor storage conditions and was dirty with several large tears. Cecilia Vicuña Biombo Casita Para Pensar Qué Situación Real Me Conviene 1971 Oil on canvas on wooden stretchers, in 12 parts 12 panels, 155 x 55 cm (each), 155 x 659.99 cm (overall) -
Stow Minster, Lincolnshire: Restoring the West window
Posted: May 24, 2020The early twentieth-century West window of Stow Minster, Lincolnshire, was almost destroyed when it was blown out in a storm in January 2014. Barley Studio conserved the surviving pieces and restored the window back to its former appearance, reinstalling it with a new and much improved support structure. -
U505 German U-Boat Instruments, historic floors, periscope tubes and decks
Posted: May 23, 2020The conservation of elements of the U505 WWII German submarine, a key exhibit in the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, IL USA. Special areas had been selected to be opened up for small groups to visit in addition to existing areas of public access. The brief was to plan to conserve all instruments, historic floors, cabinet work in the quarters, replicate a lost floor and provide ideas for how the treatment might improve or boost interpretation and enable exposure -
Westminster Cathedral Treasures Collection. Westminster Cathedral Archive.
Posted: May 19, 2020A remarkable collection of books. The project began in 2014 with the conservation and post-exhibition re-binding of an illuminated manuscript made for and used by Queen Mary during her reign (1553-8) 'The Manual of Blessing of Cramp Rings and Touching for Evil'. The new binding was required to be adhesive free and yet secure and flexible enough to support the parchment without any strain during use and exhibition. Very stable I/4 sawn oak-boards and alum-tawed spine covering, bespoke sewing pattern with integral sewn endbands and kettle-stitch supports achieved this. Removed from an unsuitable, very tight, modern binding, an early parchment manuscript transcript of Julian of Norwich (1343-1416) writings required delicate parchment repairs where the leaves had split due to the tightness of the previous binding. Once the parchment was repaired, a traditional limp vellum binding was created as a gentle and reversible structure to allow use of the book for research without strain to the vulnerable parchment, a sturdy box backed this up to protect the volume when shelved. Possibly the most wonderful of all, St. John Southworth's prayer book, used by him during his work with plague victims of the Westminster Parish before he was martyred in 1654, and itself a holy relic. The book was incredibly fragile and in deteriorating condition. It required a complicated set of treatments to be designed in order to preserve every fragment of the original binding, as required by its status, which at the same time allowed the book to be safe to handle, display and store in the long term. A box was also created which was capable of both storage and easy exhibition, with notes on the book and St John Southworth's life made integral to the box. There were several other incunabula and a quite stunning 16th Century Book of Hours to complete the project, each with its own story to be preserved and made available once more. The project finished in May 2019 with a small exhibition and a talk given to some of the Friends of the Cathedral about their collection and its conservation. -
Conservation of a pencil drawing of a sleeping child
Posted: May 19, 2020A badly damaged graphite drawing was treated: the mould and discolouration were all successfully removed.