By Erinn Dunlea, first year student, MPhil Textile Conservation. Conservators must tailor each conservation treatment to the needs of the object in their care. This can be informed by the object’s nature, condition, and the context and objectives of the treatment. This past semester I undertook the conservation of a length of fabric which belongs… Continue reading
by Marina Herriges, 2nd year student, MPhil Textile Conservation During the second year of the programme, students are given more complex objects to be treated. In my case, I received an exciting surprise – an Ethiopian rug! This was a very pleasant challenge for me, as I am quite keen on flat textiles, especially tapestries,… Continue reading
Authors: Charlotte Cameron, Emma Smith, Eva Maria Catic – recent graduates, MPhil Textile Conservation An additional project for us in the second semester was the wet cleaning of a c.1930’s printed dress from our Karen Finch reference collection. The dress was to be used in a costume mounting practical undertaken by the first years, and volunteers from second year were asked… Continue reading
by Nicole Giacomantonio, first year student, MPhil Textile Conservation. Since beginning on the MPhil Textile Conservation course, I have been asked many questions about what I have learned, but none more than “How can I get wine stains out of my couch?” Truthfully, after six months on the course I thought I would have a… Continue reading
by Megan Creamer, 1st year student, MPhil Textile Conservation. While on break this spring, Staphany Cheng, Aisling Macken, and I had the opportunity to assist with wet cleaning a large 16th century tapestry at the Burrell Collections with textile conservator Helen Hughes. This French/Flemish tapestry, Verdure with the Arms of Miro, spent many years of… Continue reading
by Sarah Foskett, Lecturer, MPhil Textile Conservation. We were delighted to host the course ‘New Methods of Bathing and Stain Removal for Textiles’ with Richard Wolbers this week. Over the 3 days of the course the 16 participants were informed, enlightened and challenged by the new approaches being offered for consideration. The principle focus of… Continue reading
By Laura G. García Vedrenne, first year student, MPhil in Textile Conservation. Different types of soiling can be found altogether in historic textiles. When this happens, conservators find it useful to classify or characterize each type of soiling in order to match its removal with a specific cleaning process. To sum it up: the best way… Continue reading
by Nora Frankel, 2nd year student, MPhil Textile Conservation. Wet cleaning of historic textiles for conservation is a surprisingly complex process. As textiles in collections can often contain degraded fibres, multiple layers and mixed materials, the practical and ethical decisions of washing increase drastically. While wet cleaning may benefit some materials, it can potentially cause… Continue reading
by Aisling Macken, first year student, MPhil Textile Conservation. As first year students at the Centre for Textile Conservation, we learn a variety of methods to clean a textile, and this year the most important method is undoubtedly the process of wet cleaning. As part of the wet cleaning module that takes place during the… Continue reading
