themagazineoftheinstituteofconservation • … · inside january 2011 issue 32 2 news...

Problems with a menagerie

Also in this issue

The Conservation Awards

Catching children’s interest

Studying meerschaum

THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONSERVATION • JANUARY 2011 • ISSUE 32

insideJANUARY 2011Issue 32

2NEWSIcon’s winter events

8PROFESSIONAL UPDATEIcon’s new offices,Conservation Register update,intern news

14PEOPLE

16A TOY MENAGERIEProblems and issues withconserving a multi-media toyfor display

19LESSONS INCONSERVATIONA handy tool kit for schoolvisits to the National MaritimeMuseum

21GROUP NEWS& Graduate Voice The DeniseLyall prize-winner investigatesmeerschaum

24REVIEWSThe Plenderleith lecture, fakesand forgeries, basketry,furniture joints, decorativesurfaces

31IN PRACTICETreating a large, rolled-uppainting

35LISTINGS

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Institute of ConservationUnit 1.5, Lafone House,The Leathermarket,11/13 Weston Street Bermondsey,London SE1 3ER, UK

T +44(0)20 3142 6799

[email protected]@icon.org.ukwww.icon.org.uk

Chief ExecutiveAlison [email protected]

Conservation Registerinfo@conservationregister.comwww.conservationregister.com

ISSN 1749-8988

Icon NewsEditorLynette [email protected]

Listings editorMike [email protected]

Production designerMalcolm [email protected]

PrintersL&S Printing Company Limitedwww.ls-printing.com

DesignRufus [email protected]

AdvertisingSociety Media Sales LtdT 0117 923 2951F 0117 923 [email protected]

Cover photo: Zebra, Hyena and Lionfigures undergoing repair todamaged limbs, each measuringapproximately 30 mm to 50 mm inheight. The figures are from a 19thcentury multimedia toy menageriecurrently on display at TunbridgeWells Museum and Gallery.Photograph © Wiltshire Council.

Disclaimer:Whilst every effort is made to ensureaccuracy, the editors and Icon Boardof Trustees can accept noresponsibility for the contentexpressed in Icon News; it is solelythat of individual contributors

Deadlines:

For March 2011 issue

Editorial: 1 February

Event listings: 1 February

Adverts: 16 February

2010 was a memorable year in Icon’s (admittedly rathershort) life, bracketed as it was by the splendid CF10Conference in Cardiff in March and closing in Decemberwith a flurry of events: the traditional Plenderleith lecture,our 6th AGM and the return of the Conservation Awards,which lived up to their heading Valuing Excellence.

Of especial note is that such splendid events can be –indeed were – run on a modest budget for Icon, thanks tothe generosity of our sponsors and partners and in nosmall measure to the indefatigable efforts of Icon membersthemselves who volunteered their help. Perhaps more ofus might ponder what we can contribute as we head into2011, the European Year of Volunteering?

We follow up last issue’s article in which three schoolchildren explored the relevance of conservation to theircurriculum with an interesting project at the NationalMaritime Museum which takes a structured approach toproviding opportunities for children to learn aboutconservation. In our next issue we shall pursue the themewith a look at the Ashmolean’s secondary schools project.

Do please make a note of Icon’s new address and phonenumbers following the move just before Christmas. Fulldetails about the new premises can be found on page 12

Last but not least, a Happy New Year to you all!

Lynette Gill, Editor

ICON NEWS • JANUARY 2011 • 1

Icon is registered as a Charity inEngland and Wales (Number1108380) and in Scotland (NumberSC039336) and is a CompanyLimited by Guarantee, (Number5201058)

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developmental work on the Conservation Register and on theNational Strategy for Conservation Education and Skills. Shealso reported that membership numbers are holding up andexpressed gratitude for this support at a time of economichardship. Diane was thanked for her service, as was outgoingtrustee Russel Turner, whilst the incoming Chair Amber Xavier-Rowe was made welcome and trustees Kate Frame andLouise Lawson were re-appointed for a further term of office.

Participants then dispersed to admire the surroundings or talkamongst themselves – never difficult when two or moreconservators gather together – whilst the auditorium was setup for the Awards and the finalists, guests, speakers and prizepresenters arrived. The hum of anticipation rivalled that of theexperiments which take place in the RI’s labs!

The Plenderleith lecture

Icon’s Scotland Group was delighted to be host for theAnnual Plenderleith Lecture on 19 November last year and towelcome Professor May Cassar as the 13th speaker in theseries.

Held in Edinburgh’s elegant National Gallery complex in theheart of the city, the lecture attracted just over a hundredpeople from Scotland and beyond. Particularly welcome wereFrances Lennard and all seven of her first intake of studentsfrom the new Textile Conservation MPhil course in Glasgow.

May’s subject ‘Science and Heritage: Strategies for survivingturbulent times’ was an inspired and highly relevant choice,focussing on the opportunities arising from the currenteconomic situation and her ideas for how Icon and itsmembers could make strategic use of the Heritage ScienceStrategy to meet our own and the government’s agendas.

It was a concise and punchy lecture, delivering a volley ofpractical ideas and solid encouragement. No slides wereused, yet by the end there was a feeling of energy andenthusiasm in the audience, carried over into a livelyquestions session. Chair Linda Ramsay’s thanks were echoedby all and the debates and networking continued over awelcome glass of wine.

The AGMMore elegant surroundings, this time for the AGM followedby the Awards, which were held on 1 December at the RoyalInstitution of Great Britain, a most fitting venue with its Grade1 listed building, historic collections and aura of scientificdiscovery. It was a perishing cold evening and Icon membersbattled the elements to get to London from far and wide tohear about Icon’s activities and finances for the year and toquestion the Board on issues of interest to them.

Outgoing Chair Diane Gwilt noted the highlights of the year:the Cardiff Conference, successful fundraising to providemore internships; increased applications for accreditation and

around&about

Ranjit Mathrani, High Sheriff ofGreater London, gave theopening remarks. As the oldestcivil role in the country, his officecould be described as a primeexample of conservation: havingadapted, modified and survivedfor over a thousand years.

Keynote speaker Roy Clare,Chief Executive of Museums,Libraries and Archives Council.‘Conservation rocks!’ he said butwe need to invest in ourselves,we need to shout aboutourselves and we need to beflexible. Despite the currentgloom we are a lot strongerthan in the past and, taking thelong view, we need to be readyto seize the future.

In her last task for Icon,outgoing Chair Diane Gwilt tookon the role of MC

TheConservationawards


Anna Plowden Trust Awardfor research and innovation in conservationThe judges decided on joint winners, one representing thebest in research and the other in innovation. The Tate Axa ArtModern Paints Project (TAAMP) evaluated the effects ofsurface cleaning treatments on acrylic-emulsion-based worksof art. The research has been widely disseminated and hasbroad application to many art collections, along withimplications for conservation practice and training.Eura Conservation Ltd devised a novel but practical techniquefor the controlled removal of Edwardian ceramic tiled panelsfrom their substrate using a diamond wire saw. The methodvirtually eliminates breakages and was put into practice in theworking environment of a hospital.

Herbert Van De Sompel collects the award for the MEMENTOproject: Time Travel for the Web on behalf of Old DominionUniversity & Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA.

Robert Turner of Eura Conservation Ltd and Dr Bronwyn Ormsby ofTate collect their awards from Francis Plowden.

Digital Preservation AwardRichard Ovendon, Associate Director and Keeper of SpecialCollections at the Bodleian Library, presented the award onbehalf of the Digital Preservation Coalition of which he is Chair.He commended the impressive quality of the entries from aninternational field, which underlined a growing confidenceabout the future for digital preservation. The winning project,selected from a short list of five, allows the user to request aweb page from a specific time then retrieves the closestmatch from whatever archived source might hold it.

The Student Conservator of the Year AwardSimon Lambert’s project at Cardiff University, as part of hisMasters in Care of Collections, was judged to be aninnovative piece of work with wide benefits beyond theconservation community. His study The Carbon Footprint ofMuseum Loans provides a methodology that encouragesconservators, registrars and others to continue delivering thesocial benefits of loans without downsizing activities.

Laura Hinde and The Courtauld Institute of Art were alsocommended for her Investigation into the Nature and Causesof Surface Whitening in Twentieth Century Paintings atDudmaston Hall.

Jane Henderson, Professional Tutor, and Simon Lambert, MScCardiff University, receive the Award from Maev Kennedy, ArtsCorrespondent for The Guardian Newspaper.

Photographic conservator Sarah Allen with presenter of the awardDame Liz Forgan

The Award for Care of CollectionsThe Primrose Project was developed by the Royal AlbertMemorial Museum in Exeter, with funding from RenaissanceSouth-West, to help museums cope with their extensivephotographic collections. The judges was impressed with theproject’s strong message about training, sharing andenthusing keen volunteers, and its broad positive impactusing minimal public funding.

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The Pilgrim Trust Award for ConservationIn a four-phase project over ten years the Perry LithgowPartnership transformed the poor condition of the 18thcstaircase wall paintings at the National Trust’s Hanbury Halland added to the understanding of English Baroque wallpainting techniques in the process. The bold approach toaccess in the last phase, letting the public view the paintingup close via scaffolding, was particularly well-handled.

The judges also gave a special commendation to the BritishLibrary’s Codex Sinaiticus Project as a model of internationalcollaboration to re-unite the 1600-year-old manuscript indigital form and make it accessible to the world for the firsttime.The party

afterwards

Richard Lithgow of the Perry-Lithgow Partnership receives his Awardfrom Lady Jay of Ewelme, Chair of the Pilgrim Trust

Thanks go to all of the speakers andpresenters; the sponsors Sir Paul McCartneyand The Pilgrim Trust and Icon’s partnersThe Digital Preservation Coalition and TheAnna Plowden Trust.

A great deal of volunteer effort also wenton behind the scenes to make it alright onthe night, not least those who submittedtheir projects for consideration, themembers of the screening panels and thejudges. In addition, thanks are due toKatherine St Paul, Heather Ravenberg,Louise Lawson, Clare Finn, Chris Woods,Carole Milner and Susan Hughes, CharlotteCowin, Carol Jackson and Brian Holden.

All the Award photographs : Matt Wrefordwww.mattwreford.net


Threads of FeelingThis is the title of the most poignant exhibition of the pastyear, to be found at the Foundling Museum in London andcontinuing until 6 March. It shows a selection of fabricswatches which illustrate the moment of parting as mothersleft their babies at the original Foundling Hospital, whichcontinues today as the children’s charity Coram.

In the cases of more than 4,000 babies left between 1741 and1760, a small object or token, usually a piece of fabric, waskept as an identifying record because the process of givingover a baby to the hospital was anonymous. The mother’sname was not recorded and the child’s previous identity waseffaced. The fabric was either provided by the mother or cutfrom the child’s clothing by the hospital's nurses and could bethe means of identifying the child if the mother ever came toreclaim him or her.

Some of them beautiful and all of them touching, attached toregistration forms and bound up into ledgers, these pieces offabric form the largest collection of everyday textiles survivingin Britain from the 18th century and tell us abut the clothes ofworking women at the time. The exhibition has beenbeautifully mounted with the help of conservators from theLondon Metropolitan Archives, where the ledgers arenormally stored. Inevitably only a fraction of the material canbe displayed and one can’t help wishing that the total archivebe more accessible..…a good project, digitisation perhaps,for a generous sponsor?

Talking of generous sponsors..Bankers may not be top of any ‘most loved’ list these days butan exception must be made for Bank of America Merrill Lynchwhich launched an Art Conservation Programme lastNovember with the announcement of funding for therestoration of national treasures in Europe, the Middle East

and Africa. The programme also aims to raise awareness ofthe essential but invisible role of conservation in preservingworks of art for future generations.

Pieces selected for a grant include The Winged Victory ofSamothrace at the Louvre in Paris, photographs from the ArabImage Foundation’s collection in Beirut, Daniel Maclise’s 1854painting The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife at the NationalGallery of Ireland, Dublin, and a group of iziphephetu (beadedaprons) at Wits Art Museum in Johannesburg. Other institutionsreceiving funding are in Madrid (for a Picasso), Nice (a Bronzinopainting), St Petersburg (three portraits by Vigilius Eriksen),Budapest, Frankfurt, Milan and Florence.

The Courtauld Gallery in London receives help to restore itsimportant Rubens painting Cain Slaying Abel, whilstWestminster Abbey benefits from grants to conservecoronation materials, medieval objects, manuscripts, booksand documents, including its famous over-life-size portrait ofRichard II. Painted in a linseed oil medium, it probably datesfrom the 1390s and is the earliest known contemporarypainted portrait of a sovereign. First documented in 1611, itwas heavily restored in 1732 and 1866, when it was given itsdecorated frame by Sir Gilbert Scott.

This initiative is a great shot in the arm for conservation at adifficult time. You can see the full list of projects athttp://museums.bankofamerica.com/arts where informationabout the 2011 grant applications will also be announced.

Example of a fabric swatch attached to a registration form: A heartcut from red woollen cloth, a ribbon of blue paduasoy silk, and apiece of linen diaper

Portrait of Richard II Enthroned in Coronation Robes, paint onwooden panels, ca. 1398 (Elaborate frame is from 1872) 2.3 x 1.2metres

©Coram

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FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVEIn terms of media profile, the last few months have provedthat conservation in all of its various aspects is a story that hasenduring public appeal. ‘The second fall of Pompeii’ – therecent collapse of Pompeii’s House of Gladiators – wasbranded a ‘world scandal’ (The Guardian 12 November) and isa case in point of what happens when adequate attention isnot given to preventive measures and maintenance – thingsfall apart. The phenomenon was echoed in another Guardianheadline ‘Heritage sites crumble in the face of slashedbudgets’. (4 December). An article in the Financial Times on13 November ‘The Bronzino code: What lies beneath anItalian painter’s elusive allegories? A new conservationprogramme reveals all’ highlights how conservation andtechnical art history reveal the meaning of works of art. ‘Britishart restorer uncovers a lost Giotto masterpiece: TheOgnissanti Crucifix was a neglected Italian treasure which ateam of experts have now repaired and identified’ appearedin The Guardian on 24 October. This story was unusual in thatit focussed the limelight not on the Crucifix itself, but on theconservator, Anna-Marie Hilling, a British woman who hadtrained in Florence, and had worked for seven years as part ofthe team that revealed the crucifix to be by Giotto himself.She described her feelings about her experience: ‘”It is a veryemotional time for me,” said Hilling this weekend. “At themoment the cross is still in the laboratory, but it is now uprightand seeing that gave me such satisfaction.”’ These storiesmake me think that there is huge scope for generating publicinterest in conservation through the press. Our challenge is tomake them appealing.

The annual Harold Plenderleith Lecture, organised by theScotland Group, is another excellent example of raising thepublic profile of conservation. This year’s lecture was deliveredby Professor May Cassar, Director of the AHRC/EPSRC Scienceand Heritage Programme. In her provocative paper ‘Scienceand Heritage: Strategies for surviving turbulent times’, shechallenged Icon to develop strategies for building the resilienceof heritage science and conservation, which included puttingtogether an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on heritagescience and conservation to lobby government; setting up askills bank for sharing expertise; setting up an ‘emeritus’programme to capture and pass on knowledge of retiring seniorconservators and conservation scientists; and celebratingoutstanding examples of volunteering in conservation.

Icon is one of the eighty seven organisational members of theHeritage Alliance and I attended the HA’s Heritage Day heldat the Banqueting House in Whitehall. This umbrella grouphas refocussed its mission to advocacy for cultural heritage inall of its many manifestations, from historic houses to railways,from places of worship to local archaeology. With memberbodies ranging in size from The National Trust to localpreservation societies it is a powerful voice for conservation,lobbying government and responding to governmentconsultations. In break-out groups we shared experience ofthe impact of cuts and generated ideas of how we couldsupport each other better. Jeremy Hunt, Minister of State for

Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, was there to remind usthat heritage had not done so badly out of thecomprehensive spending review if you took into considerationthe reallocation of the Lottery to its original good causes,making it only a 2.5% cut across the whole sector(!). In linewith Big Society policy, he warned against expecting muchfrom central government and recommended instead makingdirect contact with local authorities and groups.

On a happier note, the Conservation Awards were presentedto the winners at the Royal Institution on a night to remember.It was snowing and bitterly cold all over the country, withtransport grinding to a halt, but around two hundred peoplemanaged to get there, making it a really special evening. Iwould like to congratulate all the winners and runners up formaking it such an exciting and competitive field, and thankeveryone who contributed to the process.

By the time you read this, Icon will have moved to its newoffice at The Leathermarket, just seven minutes walk fromLondon Bridge. We will have lots more room and we lookforward to welcoming you there in the New Year!

CONSERVATION REGISTER UPDATES

The Register is changing!With the generous support of English Heritage, Icon has beenworking over the past year and half with a group of volunteersand consultants to develop the Conservation Register and iswell on the way to deliver the following major changes byApril 2011.

1. The Members Database has been restructured to be aninternet based platform that gives the member directcontrol over business and personal information enablingchanges to be available to the public in real time.

2. The Conservation Register Website has been redesignedin a new Icon format and will now include moresophisticated search facilities through four categories:

• Individuals with specific objects,

• Public institutions,

• Owners / Managers of Historic Houses and Places ofWorship; and

• Private Collections and Galleries.

3. The Website will, therefore, generate vital statistics foreach Member and the Conservation Register in total tomonitor usage for each category of user, thus enhancingthe possibility of target marketing initiatives.

4. The Website will continue to provide the existing complexmechanism for controlling display of each Member’sbusiness to provide the fairest possible showing.

5. The new Website will incorporate both new and updatedguidance materials on working with a conservator-restorer,best practices of a professional conservator-restorer,tendering guidance, accreditation information andmarketing of the Conservation Register.

professional update


If you have any questions about the changes to come in theConservation Register, please contact Dubravka Vukcevic:[email protected].

In addition to this valuable development work, Icon continuesto promote the register actively as evidenced by theattendance of staff and Icon members at the following events:• Who do you think you are? – Olympia, February 2010• The Listed Property Show – Olympia, February 2010• Museums and Heritage Show – Earls Court, May 2010• Family Weekend at Imperial War Museum – June 2010• Collect: the Collections Management Exhibition –

Kingsway Hall Hotel, June 2010• Festival of History - Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire,

English Heritage, July 2010• Antiques Roadshow – British Museum, September 2010• Museums Associations Conference – Manchester, October

2010• Antique Fair – Esher Hall, Sandown Park, October 2010• Family History Weekend – Imperial War Museum,

November 2010; and lastly ...On 16 November Icon exhibited at a small Stand at theHistoric Buildings Parks & Gardens Event held at the QueenElizabeth II Conference Hall in London. This is a prestigiousevent catering directly for Historic Home owners, Stakeholdersand private Stately Homes. It particularly offered us theopportunity to explain Icon as an organisation and publicise theConservation Register to those who are most likely to use it.

The event is popular and the day was well attended by manyHistoric Houses Association members and invited guests.Baroness Andrews OBE, Chair of English Heritage, was theGuest Speaker and mentioned the Conservation Register inher speach. After lunch the Marquess of Cholmondeley gavethe Historic Houses Association/Smiths Gore Lecture on theextensive and impressive programme of work he has carriedout at Houghton Hall, Norfolk.

With many of the Exhibitors displaying services in architecture,surveying, building and design, Insurance, carpets, textiles,metalwork and mosaics, it was important for the visitors to learnof the work of Icon and the importance of the ConservationRegister as the first point of reference when seeking a specialistConservator in any field of work. Our Stand was busy with agreat ‘take up’ of leaflets and such interest and support forour service that we’ll have to make a quick return to thePrinters and certainly consider a bigger Stand next year!

Many thanks go to Francis Downing, Paintings Group Chair,for running the Stand.

The Register is on YouTube! Jane Henderson, Icon trusteeand mastermind behind the Cardiff Conference, can be seenexpounding the purpose and benefits of the Register atwww.youtube.com/watch?v=YbA1KSWR9Hs. Jane would givethe panellists of Radio 4’s Just a Minute a run for their moneyas she holds forth fluently on the subject without hesitation,repetition or deviation for over five minutes!

HEALTH & SAFETY FOR CONSERVATORS

Icon training eventHere is an opportunity to update your H&S knowledge at oneof three venues – London, Dundee and Cardiff – this spring.Perhaps you are planning on getting a CSCS card and need arefresher. This event is suitable for all levels of experience.

The main features of the programme include an introductionto legal requirements and the process of risk assessment, plushazards and how to deal with them, which will be an interactivesession throughout the afternoon with the opportunity forsome specific H&S problems to be discussed.

The trainer, Martin Adlem, is a Health and Safety Consultantwith over twenty years’ experience and has worked for suchdiverse organisations as Poole Harbour Commissioners andthe Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He has worked incolleges, schools, laboratories, factories, warehouses, shops,ports and theatres and first presented courses forconservators in 2004.

Dates and venues are noted in Listings. More details can befound on the Icon website ‘Events’ page.

TRAINING NEWS

Welcome to 2010 Interns!Year five of the Icon internship scheme is now well and trulyunder way, with record numbers appointed. By June 2011there will be twenty seven Icon interns working in parallelacross the UK, forming a diverse and busy network of newconservators. Current Heritage Lottery Fund interns towelcome to our fifth intake are:Ellie Baumber (National Museums Liverpool – Objects andPublic Engagement)Aimee Dunn (Eura conservation – Metals)Rob Gambell (Canterbury Cathedral – Stone)Alison Gilchrist (Stained Glass conservation, in Keith Barley’sYork studio)Tonya Outtram (Leather Conservation Centre, Northampton)Carol Peacock (British Museum – Eastern Pictorial Art)Claire Solman (with Plowden & Smith – Decorative Surfaces)Anne Marie Taberdo (British Museum – Facsimiles)Andy Thackray (Furniture conservation at the V&A)Rachel Weatherall (Fitzwilliam Museum – Preventiveconservation with coins and medals)Kristi Westberg (Books and Archives, Derry and Raphoeproject, Derry)

Creating a legacy for the HLF scheme…Icon is also delighted to be working with other funders andemployer-partners in four new externally-funded internshipsfrom October 2010. The Clothworkers Foundation hasgenerously continued to support Historic Royal Palaces, theMuseum of London and Guildhall Art Gallery with Iconinternships, as has the Whitby Literary and Philosophical

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Society and the Pilgrim Trust. New interns for 2010 are:

Jennifer Halling (North Yorkshire Archives, working on theWhitby muster rolls project), Louise Joynson (Historic RoyalPalaces, Textiles), Maria Yanez-Lopez (Museum of London,Collections Care) and Yukiko Yoshii (Guildhall Art Gallery,Frames)

Future plans?A new intern – Monika Stokowiec – was appointed inDecember 2010 to be the first 18-month placement of a seriesof four working on the conservation of Books and BindingMaterials in Elizabeth Neville’s studio in Penzance. Part ofHLF’s Skills for the Future programme, the remaining threeopportunities will be advertised over the next three years.

Icon also hopes to offer more internships in the coming year,funded through Clothworkers Foundation and other partneremployers. Watch our website for news!

Interns BulletinLook out also for the first edition of Icon Interns News – a newe-bulletin coming into Icon Members’ in-boxes this month.The bulletin carries up-to-date stories and news of what ourinterns are getting up to across the UK; we hope you enjoyreading it and that you will help promote its circulationbeyond Icon.

ANNA PLOWDEN TRUST ALUMNI !The Anna Plowden Trust would very much like to hear fromanyone who has received one of our grants to learn aboutwhat they are doing now and how they have benefited fromtheir training. We have been in existence for more than tenyears and helped over 150 people – students and workingconservators – to obtain training in conservation skills.

We want to celebrate our achievements with you and learnlessons from you, which will inform our future activities. Wewould like to hear from as many of our alumni as possible. Ifyou have been a bursary or grant recipient, please contactPenelope Plowden on the Anna Plowden Trust website formore information. We will then get in touch with you. Thewebsite address is annaplowdentrust.org.uk

CPD HELP FOR 2011

The Clothworkers’ FoundationThe Conservation Bursary Scheme offered by theClothworkers’ Foundation helps qualified conservators attend

conferences, seminars and eventswhich will benefit their currentwork and future careers. Thescheme started in 2009 whenfourteen bursaries were awarded.2010 saw the total close to fortyat the last count and theFoundation is keen that 2011proves just as successful.

Applications are welcome for bursaries of up to £1,000towards travel, registration and fees, and reasonableaccommodation and subsistence costs. Applicants’employers, or applicants themselves (if self-employed), mustcontribute at least 50% of the cost. For further detailsincluding eligibility criteria and guidance on completing theapplication, and to download the application form, visit thewebsite at www.clothworkers.co.uk.

The Anna Plowden TrustThe Anna Plowden Trust isseeking applications fromestablished conservators forgrants towards the cost ofattending either a shortspecialist course or a majorconference during 2011. In both cases the Trust will considerfunding up to 50% of the cost.

The Trust has been awarding grants since 1999 and normallybetween ten and twelve are given each year. The courseshave covered a wide range of subjects, varying from pestmanagement and plant fibre identification to the use ofadhesives for textile conservation, the examination of paintlayers, new methods of cleaning painted surfaces andJapanese conservation techniques as well as collection careissues. The Trust also funds attendance at conferences, bothin the UK and abroad, often helping to finance participantswho are giving a paper.

The Trust particularly welcomes applications from thoseteaching conservation and from conservators working in theprivate sector. Preference will also be given to applicants whowork in a team, either public or private, where the skills theyacquire with the help of an Anna Plowden Trust grant can bepassed on to others.

Those applying should have more than five years’ experiencesince completing their training. The closing dates for 2011applications are March 14, June 13 and September 12.Application forms can be obtained from the Trust’s website,which is annaplowdentrust.org.uk or applicants can e-mailPenelope Plowden at [email protected].

The Zibby Garnet Travelling FellowshipZGTF is an educational charity set up to fund study trips forconservation students who are training in the United Kingdomand wish to widen their practical skills overseas. Since ZGTFwas set up in 2000 it has enabled over sixty students to visit

Claire Solman

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nearly thirty countries. Many students have gone on to securepositions in conservation both in Britain and around the world.

Grant applications are considered once every year with adeadline of 31 March. To learn more and get the applicationform go to ZGTF’s new website at www.zibbygarnett.org

NEWS FROM THE LIBRARYA Happy New Year to everyone from the Chantry Library! I’mjust starting to draft out my workplans for the next fewmonths, and thought I would look back on 2010, picking upon some of the more productive threads from last year, andpulling them into 2011 to develop further.

The tail end of 2010 saw a flurry of activity for the ChantryLibrary, including a trial workshop at West Dean College inearly November (Practical Information Skills for Conservators),compiling Iconnect, developing the Online BibliographiesProject, attending the AGM and Conservation Awards andorganising an ‘Explore Session’ at the library for a group ofOxford University Librarians.

The Information Skills Workshop and Online BibliographiesProject are two of the pieces of work I am keen to furtherexpand in 2011, and both are areas which will benefit fromonline exposure and a revitalization of the library webpages.Plenty to do then! If you would like to find out more abouteither of these two pieces of work, please email me [email protected] or call 01865 251303

A quick reminder that we supply photocopies of journalarticles, chapters from books, and conference papers, whichare held in the Chantry Library collection. Icon members areentitled to claim ten free articles each year, so please quoteyour membership number with your requests. Articles can beprovided either as scanned pages, or in hard copy.

For details of all new resouces and a full listing of all journalarticles received over the last two months, check out the libraryblog ‘Library News’ at http://chantrylibrary.wordpress.com.

You can also subscribe to our RSS feed, and track new booksand journals at the Library in real time! More details on howto do this at http://chantrylibrary.wordpress.co./feed/

Ros Buck (Librarian, Chantry Library)

ICON HAS MOVED!As you know, 1 London Bridge is being decanted andrefurbished in preparation for letting to a single corporatetenant. Icon has therefore had to find a new office and withthe assistance of Simon Green, life member of Icon andformer Chair of IPC, we have succeeded in finding what wethink is very suitable accommodation at a price we can afford.

We are now busy settling in at our new offices in TheLeathermarket. The Leathermarket is a group of listedbuildings in Bermondsey, about seven minutes walk fromLondon Bridge. As the name implies, it was once the main

London wholesale market for hides and wool. Our office is inLafone House which has full disabled access and a good café.We share the building with Creative and Cultural Skills (ourSector Skills Council) as well as many creative companies andcharities. There are meeting rooms available in Lafone Housethat can be booked through the Icon office. These are beingrefurbished in January and should be available from1 February. The cost of a meeting room for up to eightpeople is £15 per hour. Meeting rooms for up to 15 people is£25/hr and for up to 30 £40/hr. Icon has its own self-containedoffice with five desks (an extra one for member volunteers orvisiting Trustees). We are building a meeting room within theoffice that will accommodate a maximum of ten people. Thisshould be ready in early March and should meet therequirements of most Icon committees as well as staff. If youwould like to book a room from 1 February please email:[email protected] We look forward to welcoming you atIcon’s new HQ!

Unit 1.5 Lafone HouseThe Leathermarket11/13 Weston StreetBermondseyLondon SE1 3ER

Telephone numbers:Main number: 0203 142 6799Charlotte Cowin – Membership and Groups – 0203 142 6785Dubravka Vukcevic – Conservation Register – 0203 142 6786Rebecca Hendry – Finance – 0203 142 6788Alison Richmond – Chief Executive – 0203 142 6784

Alison Richmond22 December 2010


We’ve moved!Icon’s new address is:Unit 1.5, Lafone HouseThe Leathermarket,11/13 Weston StreetBermondsey,London SE1 3ER

Tel: +44 (0) 203 142 6799

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peopleIN APPRECIATION

Merryl Huxtable 1955–2010Merryl Judith Baker was born in Kampala, Uganda on27 October 1955. Following training in conservation at LincolnCollege and Gateshead Technical College, Merryl worked as afreelance paper conservator for public and private collectionsin Hampshire, Sussex and London. Merryl joined the Victoriaand Albert Museum in 1981 – making her our mostexperienced and long serving paper conservator.

Merryl was instrumental in the re-design of the Paper andBooks Conservation studios in 1996. Over the years herexperience and knowledge helped raise standards andawareness of conservation across the Museum but particularlywith our colleagues in the Word and Image Department andthe Theatre Collections. Merryl was equally generous inpassing on her knowledge to fellow conservators as well as tostudents.

Merryl had an avid interest in historic wallpapers, which grewfrom having worked in situ at houses such as Nostell Prioryand Penryn Castle. Established as a specialist in wallpaperconservation, she was a founding member of the WallpaperHistory Society in 1986. In 1989, along with her friend andcolleague Pauline Webber, she helped to set up the first everMA in historic wallpaper conservation for the fledglingRCA/VA Conservation programme in conjunction with theNational Trust.

Merryl was also internationally recognised as an expert in theconservation of vellum objects. Two of the V&A’s largest andmost problematic vellum objects – Ulm Cathedral and TheSackville Pedigree were both conserved by her. These arecurrently on display in the Medieval and Renaissance Galleriesand in the British Galleries respectively.

Merryl’s other great passion, apart from her job, was sailing. Afull member of the Ocean Cruising Club, Merryl’s sailingincluded her epic voyage of over 4,000 miles with John Gore-Grimes way inside the Arctic Circle. Here she spent a weeklocked in the ice with polar bears in close proximity. But it waswith her great friends Graham and Margaret Morfey, that shedid her most treasured sailing trips. Her ‘big adventure’ wasto be taking their boat Flight of Time around the globeduring her annual leave and a precious year’s sabbatical fromwork. Merryl sailed to 78 degrees North inside the ArcticCircle and 35 degrees South in New Zealand. Few could claimto have equalled this feat.

Finding great comfort in her work and sailing, they providedshelter from the storm on a few occasions throughout her lifeand never more so than when she was diagnosed with cancerin 2009. Testament to Merryl’s steely determination, sheboarded the Flight of Time in South Brittany for the final

stage of the voyage with Graham and Margaret in August thisyear. The three of them sailed into Plymouth on 25 August,fourteen years and 50,000 miles after leaving England in 1996.Merryl met her illness with the same determination she didmost challenges. Helped by her parents and brothers, herfriends and colleagues visited her at Trinity Hospice in theirdroves. Greeting them with the same aplomb as she would ifat a party, Merryl introduced people who had never metbefore, explaining where or why they featured in the fifty fouryears of her life.

Merryl’s encyclopaedic knowledge of her profession waswithout parallel and enlivened and enriched our lives. She wasa key member of the Paper Conservation studio and wasrecognised internationally for her expertise in the field. Shewill be greatly missed not only by the Museum but bycolleagues and friends from all over the world.

Staff of V&A Paper, Books and Paintings Conservation

INTRODUCTIONWiltshire Conservation Service recently conserved a numberof toys for display at Tunbridge Wells Museum and ArtGallery. The project included a nineteenth century toymenagerie. It proved to be quite a complex object. Thedeterioration of the varied materials of its construction andthe impact of previous rudimentary repairs raised a number ofissues. In addition the high proportion of paper basedmaterials present in the menagerie proved problematic.Limited experience working with such materials meant thatconsultation with paper conservation specialists was deemedessential to ensure that the most appropriate materials andtechniques were chosen.

The menagerie was constructed from a wooden frame withcardboard doors decorated with coloured paper and etchedpanels. The illusion of bars was created with taut threadsstrung vertically at regular intervals along the front face of thecase. The interior of the case was divided into numerous smallcompartments each housing a model animal. Two types ofanimal models were present: smaller figures that weremoulded from a composite material and painted; and anumber of larger pieces with a wooden armature andadditional layers of a gesso-like material, paint and flock (fine,shredded fibres which have been applied to the surface toimitate fur).

CONDITION AND ISSUESThe menagerie had suffered a moderate amount of damageduring its lifetime and endured a number of amateur repairs.

A 19th Century ToyMenagerie

16

Two images of the menagerie before conservation

The wooden frame of the case was in excellent condition;however, the paper covering and cardboard doors wereyellowing and desiccated. In many areas the paper was liftingfrom the frame of the menagerie, splitting and laminating.The damage to the interior paper lining of the menagerie wasconcentrated around the intersections between the dividingslats, the doors and the main body of the case. The rich bluepigmentation of the lining paper provided an additionalcomplication as it was only loosely adhered to the surface,resulting in transfer to other surfaces and the risk of bleedingduring repair. The hinges of both the front and rear doorswere badly deteriorated with significant tears, so that thedoors did not hang evenly. Previous attempts to reinforce thedeteriorated paper and areas of card which had detached hadbeen carried out with adhesive tape and self adhesive plasticfilm. An excess of the self adhesive plastic was present aroundmany edges and had lifted collecting deposits of dust anddebris. The majority of the self adhesive plastic and adhesivetape was firmly adhered to the surface.

Perhaps the most obvious conservation issue was that each ofthe animal figures was held in place with large amounts ofPlasticine. This is a modelling clay formed from calcium salts,petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. The plasticine hadhardened in areas adhering quite firmly both to the interior ofthe case and to the surface of the animal. This was causingadditional damage as oily deposits stained the paper lining insome areas once the plasticine had been removed. There wasalso a risk that the delicate painted and flock surface of theanimal models could be damaged during the removal of theplasticine.

Beth Werrett, a Project Conservator with Wiltshire Council, describes theconservation problems raised by a charming old toy


The animal figures had suffered a great deal of damage. Mostof the smaller models had chips or larger areas of surface lossresulting in the loss of detail and the exposure of the friableinterior. The larger animals had lost a number of limbs andears. The flocked and painted surface was delicate and alarge number of cracks were present over the surface, inparticular around the intersection between limbs and theanimal body. A number of models had old repairs, which weremisaligned and the adhesive, which was present in excess,had discoloured.

COLLABORATIONWiltshire Conservation Service is in part of a building housingthe Wiltshire and Swindon archives and has two paperconservators on the staff. So it was an easy matter to seekadvice about the most suitable adhesives for securing thepaper elements of the menagerie. Many useful discussionsalso took place regarding the problems of the sellotape andthe self adhesive plastic.

CONSERVATIONBefore any other treatments could be considered the animalmodels first had to be removed from the menagerie and theplasticine removed from both the surface of the animals and

the menagerie itself. Small tests revealed that in many casesthe plasticine was still flexible underneath its hard crust andwith gentle leverage could be eased away from the surface ofthe menagerie without disrupting the paper lining. Morepersistent dried on deposits and the oily stains were reducedby gentle mechanical cleaning and rolling a barely dampcotton swab of white spirit over the surface. This techniquewas successfully applied to the removal of plasticine fromboth the animal figures and the interior of the menagerie. Allcleaning was carried out under magnification to ensure thatdamage did not occur.

Spot tests revealed that the blue pigment of the interior liningpaper was soluble in most solvents. Following consultationwith paper conservator colleagues it was decided that wheatstarch paste was the most suitable adhesive for the repairs tothe paper elements of the menagerie. As this was mixed withwater it was necessary to reduce the risk of staining and ofmigration of the pigment. It was decided that an acceptablecompromise was to consolidate the pigment to reduce therisk of movement, as long as the consolidation did notdramatically alter its appearance. Tests revealed a 2% solutionof Klucel G (hydroxypropyl cellulose) in propanol successfullyfixed the pigment with virtually no darkening. This wasapplied to the blue surface with a sponge to preventdisruption of the pigment layer.

The dividing slats that had detached from the frame of thecase were secured with Lascaux PVA to provide additionalsupport and the lifted paper lining secured around them withwheat starch paste. The exterior paper coverings and theinterior decorative etched panels had deposits of dust anddirt, the surface of these areas was cleaned very gently withsmoke sponge to remove the heaviest deposits, repairs werethen carried out on these areas. The wheat starch pasterepairs proved to be extremely strong, so strong that afterinitial repairs the hinges were found to no longer requirereinforcement.

Paper damage and sticky back plastic

The conservator at work

After Conservation

After experimentation with various mechanical and solventbased techniques it became clear that the self adhesiveplastic film and sellotape could not easily be removed fromthe surface of the menagerie. It was felt that as the plastic wasso firmly adhered and the paper so vulnerable, the risk ofsurface loss was greater than the desire to improve theaesthetic appearance of the piece. Therefore it was decidedto leave the plastic films in place until the adhesive failed.Although this solution was far from ideal, as it presented therisk of staining developing as the adhesive deteriorated, itwas felt to be an adequate compromise compared to the riskof significant surface damage. The excess of film and areasthat had lifted were trimmed to provide a more cohesiveappearance.

It was decided that the damage to the animal figures shouldbe stabilised and the models returned to a state where theycould be safely displayed. Therefore only large areas of lossthat affected the structural stability of the model would bereplaced. Small areas of surface loss and the numerous crackswere consolidated with an 8% solution of Paraloid B72 (ethylmethacrylate copolymer) in 50:50 IMS (industrial methylatedspirits) and acetone, chosen as it provided the best adhesionwith the least glossy appearance. Loose limbs were securedwith a 10% solution of Paraloid B72 in 50:50 IMS and acetone.Replacement limbs were created for two of the animal figuresto allow them to stand independently. A mould was taken ofan existing limb. An armature was formed from fine wire andHolytex nylon gossamer, this was placed into the mould andplaster cast around it. The combination of the armature andplaster was felt to match the weight and texture of theoriginal limbs. The cast limb was adhered in place withParaloid B72, premixed by HMG, and carefully shaped withscalpels and micromesh abrasive paper to mirror theappearance of adjacent limbs. Acrylic paints were used to tintin the replacement limbs.

In the case of old repairs, if the joints were well aligned theywere left in place and the excess adhesive removed, wherepossible, with gentle mechanical cleaning. Old repairs whichwere misaligned were taken down. Spot tests identified theadhesive present as an animal glue which could be softenedwith hot water and removed with careful mechanical cleaning.

The fragments were re-adhered with Paraloid B72, premixedby HMG. Voids were filled with 10% mix of Paraloid B72 in50:50 IMS and acetone with glass micro-balloons to provideadditional strength, and tinted with acrylic paints.

CONCLUSIONAlthough it was disappointing that a more satisfactoryconclusion could not be reached with regard to the removalof the sticky back plastic, the overall result was successful. Themenagerie was conserved to a standard suitable for display.Whilst the individual components are structurally stable andthe general appearance of the piece improved, the additionsand losses that are part of the object have been maintainedpreserving the history of the life of the menagerie. The projectprovided an opportunity to collaborate with archivecolleagues, allowing new skills to be learnt, and knowledgeand information to be shared. It is hoped that the objects andarchive conservation teams will be able to collaborate onfuture projects.

The Zebra at various stages of its conservation

18

All photographs © Wiltshire Council


INTRODUCTIONThe Preservation Box is an innovative project at the NationalMaritime Museum (NMM), Greenwich; it was stimulated bythe 2008 Demos report* and conceived as a way of extendingawareness of the field of conservation to school groups.Findings from a pilot study were presented at the RoyalCollege of Art/Victoria and Albert Student Symposium in May2009.

Children from diverse backgrounds visit the Museum foractivities organized by the Learning and Interpretationdepartment, so incorporating some conservation content intothe existing programme should be an effective way ofeducating a broad audience. Crucially, the new conservationcontent would be delivered by members of the Learning andInterpretation team. The aim was to develop a sustainablegroup of resources which would introduce the factors (e.g.light, temperature, humidity, handling and chemicalcomposition) that influence the life expectancy of materials,for use alongside current education activities. The NMMLearning and Interpretation department already uses a seriesof ‘Journey Boxes’ containing various museum objects andpaper items, and a Preservation Box introducing someconservation content was thought likely to sit well alongsidethe existing set of education resources.

INCEPTIONGood cross-departmental working practices already exist atthe Museum. Both the Conservation and Learning andInterpretation departments were enthusiastic about theproject and soon established shared objectives:

1. To raise public awareness of conservation and preservationin line with the Museum’s Corporate Strategic Plan2009–14.

2. To achieve specific learning outcomes initially for KS2 (KeyStage 2) students, including the identification of differentmaterials and appreciation of how different agents ofdeterioration can change them.

3. To strengthen existing links between the two NMM teams.

The preservation of paper was chosen as the first topic to trial.Children are already familiar with examples of damagedpaper (e.g. comics spoiled by handling) and paper-baseditems such as letters, prints and books are shown to them inmost of the existing school sessions. There may also be manymore opportunities to utilize a paper-based initiative with the2011 opening of the Museum’s Sammy Ofer Wing, whichincludes a new reading room supported by purpose-builtstores for the majority of the Museum’s large holdings ofmanuscripts and reference books.

The first trial of the Preservation Box occurred as part of a KeyStage 2 education session called ‘There be Pirates’ but wasdesigned in such a way that it could be used alongside anypaper archive activity.

Other requirements were that:

- the new materials were stored in a smart container inkeeping with those used for archival storage

- new content would add no more than ten minutes tosession time

- education staff were given adequate training andsupporting notes about paper preservation

- handling demonstrations utilized only new materials, nomuseum items

- the emphasis was placed on preservation, not conservationpractice

- there were no adverse health and safety implications.

RESOURCESA further necessity was that the Preservation Box involvedlittle in the way of resources to make, deliver and maintain.The content devised comprised three demonstrations, eachhighlighting a different agent of damage. One, two or all ofthese can be included in the session depending on timeavailable:

1. Blue litmus indicator paper (acid damage)A small piece of blue litmus paper is handed out to eachchild and the colour change after a few minutesdemonstrates that hands are slightly acidic. Discussionfollows about acids causing damage.

2. Two paperbacks (handling damage)

The Preservation BoxMetals conservation student Sia Marshall, inspired by the Demos Reportand encouraged by Birthe Christensen, the Head of Conservation andPreservation at the National Maritime Museum, has developed aconservation awareness tool for visiting school children

Handling blue litmus indicator paper

20

Two identical pirate-story paperbacks were bought in2009. One is being kept pristine while the other is handedaround the group and the children are encouraged to lookthrough it. Even after a handful of sessions there was aclear contrast in the condition of the two books. Thedifferences are discussed and ways to avoid carelesshandling are brainstormed.

3. Sailor print (light and handling damage)A recently purchased (non-accessioned) second-hand printof a sailor is shown to the group. The paper has alreadystarted to turn yellow and the group discover that this isbecause of light exposure. The children suggest how toprevent any further damage to this print, having alreadyseen some items protected by Melinex in the session.

Once the content had been decided, supporting documentswere produced in collaboration with specialist paperconservators. These sheets describe and explain the threedemonstrations, along with teaching suggestions andbackground information regarding science and conservation.Regular meetings were organized for the Learning andInterpretation staff delivering the content, so that they feltprepared and confident about the subject matter.

Extracts from the supporting documents are shown here.

CONCLUSIONThe Preservation Box has been successfully incorporated intothe ‘There be Pirates’ education activity and has receivedfavourable feedback both from the education staff deliveringit and from several of the visitors attending the sessions. Aswell as being wholly satisfied with the material provided, thefacilitators reported that ‘by introducing the idea ofconservation into manuscript sessions we are actuallyachieving several learning outcomes. Pupils understandclearly the reasons why they are not allowed to handle thedocuments and this adds emphasis to both the importanceand age of the documents’. The objectives agreed by thetwo NMM departments involved have been achieved, andthe resource also has the potential to be used throughout theKey Stages 2 to 5.

The NMM wishes to develop this scheme further and bothteams would like to expand the project to cover othermaterials such as metal, textiles, painted surfaces and so on.Most importantly this project has proved itself to be a low-cost, sustainable and wide-reaching initiative.

* Samuel Jones and John Holden, ‘It’s a Material World – Caring for the Publicrealm’ Demos 2008

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Ruth Boley and Carrie Roder, members of theNMM Learning and Interpretation team, and Elisabeth Carr and Virginia Lladó-Buisán for their specialist guidance regarding paper conservation.

Supplementary Information (above) and Teaching Notes (below)

Explaining the use of melinex

‘Preservation Box’ for ‘There Be Pirates’ Education Activity – S

Question Key facts

What is Litmus paper and why

does it change colour?

• Litmus paper is available in two versions: blue and red,

and is an indicator for acids which turn it from blue to red

(or alkalis which turn it from red to blue).

• All acids contain Hydrogen Ions which cause this colour

change.

• Water must be present, e.g. from the sweat on hands, for

the acid to be able to cause the colour change.

Why is acid damaging to paper?

• Paper is made up of cellulose fibres and acid causes the

breakdown of these fibres. This causes the paper to change

colour from white to yellow and to become more brittle.

Why is light damaging to paper?

• Light also hastens the breakdown of cellulose fibres

causing paper to turn yellow and become more brittle.

• Light can also fade the writing, drawing or painting on

paper.

Give examples of careless

handling.

• Paper is very delicate and is easily damaged.

• It can become worn, tear, crease, discolour or be stained.

• Paper can have various ‘media’ (eg pencil, ink or paint) on

it and these too can be damaged by careless handling.

Preservation Box’ for ‘There Be Pirates’ Education Activity – T

bject Description/Age Teaching Suggestions

Blue Litmus Indicator Paper Supplied by Whatman

chemicals

! Hand out a small piece to each child.

Suggest they fold it in half and handle

piece between fingers or palms for several

minutes whilst the session continues.

! Not all pieces will show a dramatic colour

change but a change from blue (inside the

folded portion) to purple/some pink

(where skin in contact) will be seen.

! This introduces a bit of a ‘fun competitive

element’ into the activity –Who has the

most acidic hands? (paper which turns

most pink)

! Need to tell students where to dispose of

paper at end.

Two ‘Pirates’ paperbacks:

untouched & handled

New March 2009 (from

NMM shop)

! Involve the children in the ‘Handling

Test’.

! Every group who visits will pass the book

around and each child to have a ‘good

flick through’ it.

! Show the untouched book.

! Ask question: How many groups do you

think the handled copy has been passed

around? (Keep a pencil mark tally

somewhere discrete at back of the handled

book)

Sailor print From ‘Pollocks Toy

Museum’. Yet to find

out actual age but

probably c.1980.

! Ask children how best to protect the print

for the future – they should suggest ways

of minimizing handling.

! If time, introduce other agents of

deterioration e.g. light, exposure to water,

pests, fire

Anyone who would like a copy of these documents shouldapply to Birthe Christensen, Head of Conservation, NationalMaritime Museum, London SE10 9NF [email protected]


ETHNOGRAPHY GROUPWelcome to 2011! We are busy planning another exciting yearfull of events. But first, a quick recap of what we saw in 2010.

We began with the very first Icon-wide general conference,CF10 in Cardiff. Within this we ran a very successful jointsession together with the Textile Group entitled – From top totail: Accessories from around the world. Following this, wehad another intriguing Ethno Crawl which entailed a visit toDennis Severs House and 19 Princelet Street in the Brick Lanearea of London. The year was rounded out with the highlysuccessful basketry conservation workshop, run by SherryDoyal and Barbara Wills, and a very informative and wellattended one-day conference on basketry conservation. Bothevents were held at Kew Gardens. (See review on page 29.)

Finally, as a conclusion to year 2010, we welcome three newmembers to our committee. It now includes:Chair: Arianna BernucciTreasurer: Emma SchmueckerSecretary: Kate JacksonEvents Organizers Emilia Ralston, Pieta GreavesWebsite coordinator: Pieta GreavesOrdinary Member: Monika Harterand our new members:Icon News &publicity officer: Charlotte Ridley (Horniman Museum)Student liaison: Ian Langston (University of Lincoln)Student liaison: Gemma Aboe (Cardiff University)

We have many events in the pipeline for 2011 including a jointNew Year’s party with the Archaeology Group. We’re alsoplanning an ethno crawl in Edinburgh (when the weather getswarmer) as well as special tours of the Kew Gardens EconomicBotany Collections during the summer months. In themeantime, keep your eyes peeled for our next call for papersas we are actively working on the next conference!

SCOTLAND GROUPThe Icon Scotland Group Committee would like to thank MayCassar for delivering a fascinating and thought-provokingPlenderleith Lecture in November last year. We hope you’lltake the opportunity to read the review in this edition writtenby one of the students on the new textile conservation coursein Glasgow.

We are now looking to future events including a pest day inGlasgow and an iron gall ink day in Dundee, both scheduledfor early 2011. Details will be posted once finalised.

We also have a glass plate negative day arranged for 11February 2011 – an excellent CPD opportunity that combinestheory and practice – hosted by the Royal Commission on theAncient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Please see theListing section and the website for details.

We’re delighted that the Icon training event, Health andSafety for Conservators, will be coming to Scotland (Dundee

University Library, 7 April 2011). Please see the Icon websitefor details and booking: <http://ctt-news.org/6S6-AV0P-NALOU-4B9O8-1/c.aspx>

STONE AND WALL PAINTINGS GROUPThe first day of our Going beneaththe Surface conference series washeld on 5 November. This was wellattended and received. You can reada review of this on page 27. Thesecond conference will take placeon Friday, 25 March at Stratford OldTown Hall, London E14 4BQ (seeListings on page 35). As with Day 1the presentations will focus on thepractical application of a variety ofmethods for identifying andremoving unwanted deposits on decorative surfaces. If youwould like to present a paper at this conference, pleasecontact Peter Martindale on [email protected] aim to publish the conference proceedings in due course.

The Stone & Wall painting group is delighted to announcethe long-awaited publication of the proceedings of our two-day Polychrome Wood conference, which took place atHampton Court in October 2007 and February 2008. Thissignificant collection of papers bridges the specialist fields ofpanel painting, architectural wood and wall paintingconservation. The contributors discuss a diverse range ofimportant historic painted wooden surfaces, the materialsinvolved, their composition and techniques of execution, theagents of deterioration, preventive measures, methods oftreatment, and aspects of presentation and display.Contributors include Jim Coulson, Ian Tyers, Spike Bucklow,Eddie Sinclair, Lucy Wrapson & Marie Louise Sauerberg,Pauline Plummer, Lee Prosser, Christine Sitwell,Tobit Curteis,Hugh Harrison, Al Brewer, Madeleine Katkov, Ailsa Murray,Chantal-Helen Thuer and Ruth McNeilage.Bibliographic details: ISBN: 978-0-9553364-5-4 • 228 pp • Fullcolour. You can order the book from the Icon website.

We would encourage Group members to submit interestingcase studies, reviews of courses attended and anything elsethat may be of interest to colleagues for inclusion in futureeditions of Icon News. Please contact our News Web Editor:[email protected]

The Stone and Wall Paintings Group CommitteeCo-Chair: David OdgersCo-Chair: Richard LithgowTreasurer: Peter MartindaleSecretary: Jez FryNews Web Editor: Clara WillettEvents Web Editor: Berenice HumphreysOrdinary members: Caroline Babington, Lynne Humphries

Vicki Roulinson, Simon Swann

news fromthegroups

22

Graduate VoiceThe 2010 winner of the Denise Lyall PrizeJasmina Vuckovic writes about her MAresearch project whilst studying at WestDean College‘An initial investigation into appropriate water based adhesivesfor bonding meerschaum tobacco pipes’

After practising as a ceramic artist in Belgrade for ten years, Ifelt compelled to widen my horizons, make a deepercommitment to my craft and its historic precedents.Consequently in 2008, I enrolled in a programme ofConservation of Ceramics and Related Materials at WestDean College where I have spent the last two years.

Winning the Denise Lyall Prize in my final, postgraduate yearwas the pinnacle of a very stimulating and challenging year.During this time I successfully completed seventeen projectsat the college and spent six weeks on a work placement atthe Victoria and Albert Museum. Although most of my workwas on ceramics objects, I happily grasped opportunities totreat other materials including stone, glass and ivory. Of allthe projects I worked on over the last twelve months, themost exciting included reconstructing a Roman flagon brokeninto hundreds of sherds, matching a lustre pattern on aHispano/Moresque lustre vase, and consolidating a softorganic coating on an earthenware japanned vase. However,the most fascinating and challenging object I came across wasa meerschaum cigarette holder, which led me to my MAresearch project.

Meerschaum is a soft, whitish mineral, also identified assepiolite, which, in powdered form, is known in conservationpractice as a poulticing material. The highest qualitymeerschaum is only found in Turkey’s Eskisehir Province fromwhere, in the 18th and 19th centuries it was exported to WestEurope and America for carving tobacco pipes and cigarette

Testing the strength of adhesives on a Tensometer for the MAproject

TEXTILE GROUPThe conference ‘Fashion, Ritual, Furniture and Textiles: thePhenomenon of the State Bed’ was held at Hopetoun House,South Queensferry, by the Hopetoun House Preservation Truston 14 & 15 October 2010. It was the first conference in what ishoped will be a series, exploring different aspects of thehouse, collections, family and estate to be held in fulfillmentof the Trust’s objective to facilitate and encourage access tothe study and appreciation of the house and its contents. Theconference was held in the recently refurbished ballroom ofthe house, which is hung with Flemish tapestries. There wereabout a hundred delegates, made to feel very welcome byexcellent hospitality that included a drinks reception in thestate apartments on the first evening. There were manyinteresting papers on a mixture of history and conservationsubjects, five given by textile conservators. Tuula Pardoe ACR(The Scottish Conservation Studio) spoke about the HopetounState Bed. She is currently assessing the condition andconsidering the possible treatments for the bed’s textileswhich will contribute to the development of a conservationprogramme. Maria Jordon ACR (Historic Royal Places) gave atalk on the conservation work on Queen Anne’s and QueenCharlotte’s beds, two of the state beds at Hampton Court

Palace. Ksynia Marko ACR (National Trust, Blickling HallEstate, Norfolk) began her talk on the conservation of KingJames II bed at Knole with a vivid description of herimpression of the upholstered furniture on her first visit to thehouse in 1981. Katerina Cichrová (Central Commission forConservation of Moveable Heritage, Prague) gave anoverview of the range of textiles, including furnishing textilesthat come to her studio. Sheila Landi FIIC (The LandiCompany, Burghley House, Lincolnshire) spoke about some ofthe excitement and frustration of working in private practice inrelation to a bed she has been consulted about. There wasalso an opportunity for delegates to view and discuss theHopetoun State Bed with Tuula Pardoe.

Harriet Woolmore, Preventive Conservator, GlasgowMuseums.

The annual Textile Group Forum ‘Incompatible Partners?Challenges of composite objects’ will be held on Monday 4April 2011. The forum will explore the conservation of mixedmaterial objects, the challenges faced in storing and displayingthem as well as ethical issues, such as prioritising the differentmaterials, collaborative research, working with other specialistsand the sequencing of the treatment of the different materials.Please see the Icon website for further details.


holders. On seeing a meerschaum cigarette holder for thefirst time, I was convinced that it was made from ivory in viewof its highly polished (wax-coated) surface which is regardedas a distinctive feature particularly if it is further coloured bysmoke absorption.

The object I worked on was in a bad state of repair. One ofthe bonds had failed and others were misaligned with excessyellow adhesive. Attempts to dismantle these bonds were notsuccessful – the adhesive swelled slightly in Nitromors/Dichloromethane but this solvent was too aggressive for thesurface wax coating which had to be preserved. Moreover, itappeared that the solvent would penetrate into themeerschaum substrate at a rapid rate, without allowingenough time to break down the adhesive. Removing theprevious restoration was therefore practically impossiblewithout extensive damage to the object. Through thisexperience, which served as a case study for my MA project,several problems were identified: the meerschaum body wasextremely soft, porous and brittle and the way the objectswere made (mixed media, sensitive wax coating) made anyattempt at treatment even more complicated.

Meerschaum as a material and subject within conservation isunder-reported. A significant part of my project was thereforeconcentrated on identifying the material itself and itsproperties. Despite my intensive research, I found preciouslittle: obscure literature, no records of previous conservationtreatments, no thoughts from other professionals in the field,limited access to these objects on public display, and greatdifficulties in obtaining the raw material for testing as theTurkish government had banned the export of meerschaumsince the 1970s, apparently in order to protect and stimulatethe local carving industry. However, I was not discouraged andafter numerous letters the mineral was obtained from a chemicalengineer in Turkey doing a project about meerschaum and itspossible uses. This enabled me to create valid samples and tocarry out tests on the primary source material.

While the main focus for my MA project was to find anadhesive which would be reversible without extensivedamage to the substrate, the process of research forced meto step back and assess issues of compatibility with thesubstrate, tack and strength. Therefore, instead of delvingdeeply into one aspect of the conservation treatment, myresearch covered a much broader area in order to determinewhich adhesive(s) would be strong enough to enable safehandling of the object (while not exceeding the strength ofmeerschaum itself) and ideally be reversible as well.

As water is the most popular solvent and the least harmful to

wax coating my tests were limited to water-based adhesives.Potential water damage to the substrate was not an issue asthese pipes are traditionally soaked in water for ease ofcarving during the manufacturing process. Most water-basedadhesives are typically used in books and textile conservationand I was concerned that they might not be sufficiently strongto bond a solid object. However, meerschaum is very light(specific gravity <1) and fortunately, this proved not to be anissue. Many adhesives were discarded along the way until Iwas left with those which appeared compatible with, and gavea good tack when applied on meerschaum. These final fiveadhesives were: wheat starch, isinglass, gelatine, Aquazol®

500 and Evacon-R™.

Strength tests were carried out in two stages: a subjective-handling method and an objective method carried out on aTensometer type “W” by recording the force needed to breakthese bonds and comparing it with the force needed to breakthe meerschaum. Being very soft, it was not possible to insertthe meerschaum samples into standard grips provided withthe Tensometer without causing damage to the substrate,thus a new testing rig had to be designed and adapted forthis purpose. All of the tested adhesives proved weaker thanthe cohesive strength of meerschaum itself. Apart from starch,which proved too weak to resist handling and was thereforediscarded, the four other adhesives were used further indismantling tests.

Aquazol® 500 performed well in all tests and appeared to bethe most suitable adhesive for bonding meerschaum bothfrom a strength and reversibility point of view while Isinglassproved the most difficult to reverse and had the leastconsistent results. However, further research is still necessaryprior to any definitive conclusions being reached. These testsshould be repeated and ideally carried out on agedadhesives.

In conclusion, conducting this research provided an invaluableexperience for me during which I have learned a great deal.The practical component allowed me to use analyticalinstruments such as the XRF and the FT-IR for identification ofmaterials for testing, and I was forced to meet the challengeof designing the new testing rig for the Tensometer. From aprofessional viewpoint, my research also involved a valuableexpansion of my network to include many more curators,mineralogists, chemists and other professionals worldwide.Finally, I hope that my initial investigation of meerschaum andpossible adhesives for its bonding, will generate and refreshinterest in this unusual material and be of practical use in theconservation of such objects in the future.

The cigarette holder. A small section on the back of the holder where the cigarette would be inserted is missing.

24

BOOKS

WILLEM DE KOONING: THE ARTIST’SMATERIALSSusan F. LakeGetty Publications 2010ISBN: 978 1 60606 021 6 112 pages £29.99

Dr Susan Lake is Director of CollectionManagement/Chief Conservator, Hirshhorn

Museum and SculptureGarden. A glance ather repertoire showsher to be synonymouslylinked to technicalstudies on American‘gestural’ AbstractExpressionist painterWillem De Kooning.Lake’s well establishedand widely recognised

commitment to exposing De Kooning’sidiosyncratic working practices is nowembodied in this publication.

Willem De Kooning. The Artist’s Materials isa scholarly and comprehensive appraisal ofthe technique of an artist who punishinglypushed to the limits the qualities of commer-cial and non-commercial artists’ materials.He knew how to paint, exploiting both aclassic art school education and his experienceas a commercial painter to make some of themost intriguing paintings of his generation.The book works chronologically througheach decade showing how De Kooning’stechnique alters in response to what hewants to paint and how he wants to paint it.Each chapter is rich in new information. Thetechnical information in this book is extensiveand at times repetitive; Lake feels a need tore-emphasis points made in previous chaptersto link innovations. The objectivity of heranalytical observations challenges us to re-interpret the subjective art history. Lake usesher findings to suggest alternative interpre-tations of the artist’s working practices. Onoccasion she disproves memoirs from reliablesources such as De Kooning’s wife Elaineand his studio assistant John McMahon.However, this exemplifies a balanced studywhere science and myth are equally valued.

Lake fuses art history, anecdote and rigorousscientific analysis to track the evolution of DeKooning’s practice, a task facilitated by hercustodial responsibility for the Hirshhorn’sseventy strong collection of works by theartist. Her study begins with work producedin the late 1940s when De Kooning was animpoverished New York-based painter usingthe more affordable oleoresin-based commer-cial house paints and charcoal to createabstracted images of his surrounding urbanlandscape. These house paints were thenmodified with material such as plaster of Paris,glass and wax giving them the desiredcorporeality. Lake suggests that what may

drive the evolution of De Kooning’stechnique is his interrogation of the rheologyof paint. He modifies it with both orthodoxand unorthodox additives in order to createtextured and reflective surfaces.

Lake is at her descriptive best (all the moreappreciated due to the somewhat spare useof images in the introductory chapter) whendiscussing the most famous of De Kooning’sworks, the ‘women’ paintings of the late1940s and 1950s. She writes of Woman 1953‘Her wide staring eyes and mouth arecomically duplicated below as a second setof large cross-eyed nipples and a toothy red-lipped pubis’. Her compositional andaesthetic inferences balance the largenumber of scientific ones.

Later in her book Lake examines workproduced in the 1960s. At this time DeKooning relocated to Long Island; the movefrom city to sea heralding a bolder and moresimplified abstraction. Through gesture andmaterial he sought to sublimate the waterand light surrounding him and so there arefewer references to the recognisable, the actof painting taking precedent. This sectionincludes vivid descriptions and technicalobservations illuminating an artist manipu-lating his materials to create sophisticatedsurface variation and atmosphere. Havingreduced compositional references, DeKooning takes material experimentation toanother stage, painting on doors, addingwhipped up water and oil to his paint inorder to create specific features. The pitsand wrinkles that characterise his surfaces ofthis period then lead him to repudiate hissignature smooth glossy surfaces and workwith a thicker more impasted surface.

Lake’s research undoubtedly enables us tocontextualise De Kooning’s workingpractices within the regenerative era of postwar America. Whilst the ‘gestural’ AbstractExpressionists are obviously shared paintingprocesses, any common approach to theirchoice and modification of materials is lessobvious. Lake correctly maintains that theefficacy of her research is dependent on awider exploration of their techniques, yet tobe carried out.

This book provides a comprehensivetechnical art historical study. Lake’s resourcesare extensive and she has made the best useof them. With so many works by De Kooningin the Hirshhorn’s collection to study (andaccess to many more in private and otherpublic institutions) we are left in little doubtthat her findings represent the techniquesand materials used across De Kooning’slengthy career. By containing the details ofher analytical methods to an extendedappendix towards the end of the book shewill not deter readership within the wider artand museum communities as well as studentsand scholars looking for very detailed technicalinformation on this important artist.

Rachel Barker Painting Conservator Tate

CONSERVING HISTORIC VESSELS:Understanding Historic Vessels Vol.3.National Historic Ships 2010.ISBN 978 0 9566554 0 0 200 pages £30

This is the third publication in the series ofpractical guidelines Understanding HistoricVessels produced by National Historic Ships.It is intended to provide practical guidelinesfor those involved in preserving our historicships and boats.

Ship and boat conservation is a field which isfraught with problems – not only in thepractical work but in the approach and ethics.It is an expensive process so it is importantthat people carrying out this work have a clearidea of what they are achieving, and it is anarea which is awash with ‘experts’ – somemore informed than others. ConservingHistoric Vessels is an important step forward ininforming the debates around the conserva-tion/restoration of historic boats and shipswithout being too didactic. The authors aretrying to present a practical working tool forthe important decision making necessary invessel conservation.

The book begins with chapters outlining thehistory of conservation; conservationprinciples and sources of funding. Indeed,one of the practical aspects of this book isadvice on where to get relevant informationand the importance of clarity and objectivethought for any proposed maritime conserva-tion project based on good backgroundknowledge. The chapters lead the readerthrough the process of the evaluation of thevessel asking the basic question of whetherthe vessel should be acquired in the firstplace, ensuring that reasons for acquisitionare sound and valid. Whatever route is takenin the long run there will be financial andresource consequences, even later disposalmay not be cheap.

Once acquired there are issues ofstabilisation whilst the plans and process forconservation, preservation or restoration aredeveloped including an understanding ofthe vessel and assessing the significance(although this should be part of the decisionmaking before acquisition). In subsequentsections the authors discuss the issuesaround the different approaches topreservation of an historic vessel such asstraight forward conservation, restoration,adaptation if it is to be sailed with or withoutpublic access, and the construction of areplica. Again the text is not didactic butinforms the decision making process andsuggests approaches.

The last section considers the important andoften forgotten subject of maintenancewhich can have considerable financialconsequences. A vessel on the water willobviously need to undergo regularmaintenance inspection; but a maintenanceregime is also important for vessels stored,housed or displayed out of the water.

reviews


suspicious documents have been submittedto chemical analysis, using techniques ofever-increasing sophistication. But allscientific analysis can do, whether of thepaper or of the ink, is to determine whetheror not the materials used in a document areconsistent with its alleged provenance;comparisons have to be made against adetailed knowledge of the way paper, ink,paint or binding technology had developedby the alleged date. If the materials areconsistent, the document may be genuine; ifthey are not, then the document is a fake ora forgery. But even modern chemistry cannotdetect fraudulent intent.

Documents which challenged the originsand belief of the Mormon Church were‘discovered’ by Mark Hofmann in the 1980s.Chemical analyses of ink and paper showedthey were Hofmann’s own forgeries. Medicalstudent Hofmann ‘found’ and sold to theMormon Church scores of documentsincluding The Anthon Transcript and TheSalamander Letter. The text of the lattercontradicted the founder of the Church,Joseph Smith. The Oath of a Freeman wasallegedly a 1638/9 imprint by Stephen Daye;such an oath was known to have been usedbut this was the only copy ever ‘found’,which Hofmann tried to sell to the Library ofCongress. Much of Hofmann’s trial in 1987was taken up with forensic evidence, someof which showed that Hofmann had beenartificially ageing his paper and iron-gall ink.

Results from a variety of modern techniquesused, over a period of forty years, inattempts unequivocally to determine theauthenticity of the Vinland Map, have beeninterpreted in different ways; the balance ofopinion is that it is a forgery. Palaeographicstudies were inconclusive and cartographerswere suspicious since early maps showed

Greenland attached to Europe while theVinland Map depicted it – and rather tooaccurately – as an island. The scientificargument was mostly about the presence ofanatase, a form of titanium dioxide(manufactured since 1921) which, althoughknown to occur naturally, was present inquantity in the yellow ink underlying theblack carbon ink. The balance of thisevidence suggests a forgery. Carbon datingmerely confirms that parchment of a suitableage was used for the map – it does notprove the map is genuine.

The sale of ‘Hitler’s Diaries’ in the 1980s wassuspended pending the forensic (mainlychemical) analyses which showed them to beforgeries. Their bindings containedpolyamide 6 fibres and mixed polyester andviscose fibres which were not in use in the1940s. The paper contained the opticalbrightener Blankophor R, known in 1945 butnot used until the mid-1950s. The ink wasproved by thin-layer chromatography to be amixture of Pelikan Blue and Pelikan Black.

Forgeries have been produced for a varietyof reasons, to try to alter a belief or a view ofhistory, to provide provenance for ownershipor for the authenticity of works of art, or simplyfor financial gain. The danger of theft ofvaluable manuscripts, books or maps fromarchives and libraries necessitates that collec-tions and readers are subjected to securitymeasures. Nowadays, such security measureshave to guard against the possibility of falsematerial being introduced as well as genuineand valuable works being removed.

Later I asked Dr. Davies what he would dofirst if faced with a suspicious document. Hesaid that the important rule is to check thematerials first before doing any handwritingcomparisons, palaeography etc. ThoseLondoners lucky enough to see this summer’sexhibition Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakesand Discoveries at the National Gallery wouldhave read in the accompanying booklet ACloser Look: Deceptions and Discoveries that‘scientific examination does not replacetraditional connoisseurship and art historicalresearch, but it is an extraordinarily powerfultool when used in concert with them’. Paperconservators have a wealth of knowledge andare well equipped to be part of the debate.

Joanna Payne ACR Independentconservator of works of art on paper

HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH WORKS OF ART:An insight into photography, painting andtwo-dimensional artworkIcon Paintings Group5 October 2010 London

Continuing Icon’s occasional series of talks,Andrew Smart of Mayfair Photographic firmAC Cooper shared with us his professionalknowledge and practical tips to facilitate thephotography of paintings and two-dimensional artwork. The aim of his talk was

The book includes a flow chart to help guidethe decision making for those embarking onthe preservation of historic vessels, casestudies (although at times these seemed alittle perfunctory -I found myself wantingmore details), an extensive bibliography andcopious photographs, though with these Ifelt the captioning could have been betterarranged (and some do not appear to havecaptions at all).

However, these little niggles aside ConservingHistoric Vessels is a useful contribution to themore reasoned development of boat and shipconservation. Inevitably it will not be the lastword on this subject but it brings togetherthe essential elements of the debate, it isclearly written and well structured and agood practical guide to inform the essentialdecision-making.

George Monger ACR

TALKS

FAKES AND FORGERIES IN ARCHIVES &LIBRARIESIcon Book & Paper Group28 September 2010 London

Dr. Brian Davies is a deservedly popularspeaker and the Icon office was packed atthis our last lecture in the current premises.Brian is a retired senior lecturer inbiochemistry from Aberystwyth University,where he was responsible for teaching topostgraduate archive administrationstudents scientific background to archivalmaterials and their conservation.

The lecture dealt with the various methodsthat have been used over centuries both tocreate forgeries and to detect them. Untilthe mid-19thC, forgeries were often revealedby critical comment forcing an eventual anddetailed confession. Nowadays, increasinglysophisticated scientific analysis, coupled withan understanding of how the technology ofwriting and printing has changed, is able todetect inconsistencies with allegedprovenance.

Before the advent of printing in the late15thC, the only way of duplicating adocument was to copy it by hand. Thevarious manuscript copies that still exist ofimportant works such as Chaucer’sCanterbury Tales are just copies; they areneither fakes nor forgeries. But fakedocuments were made in medieval times –charters and papal bulls – to supporthistorical belief with written authority or toprovide false evidence of ownership orprivilege. Such fakes can be regarded asforgeries because they were prepared withthe intention to deceive or defraud.

It is that intention to defraud whichdistinguishes the forgery from the fake. Inmore modern times, from the late 19thC,

When iron-gall ink is freshly made, it is verypale, but darkens and thickens as it oxidises.Although quill pens worked well with theblack oxidised ink, the new steel pens of the1820s required the freshly made and free-flowing ink, too pale to be seen easily as itwas being used. In 1832 Henry Stephensadded indigo to such ink, making it blue andvisible. It quickly darkened to black as itoxidised on the paper, and was known as‘Stephens’ Blue Black Writing Fluid’

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to help theamateurconservator-photographer by

resolving some common studio problems.Whilst he acknowledged the merits of filmphotography, Smart chose to focus on digitalcapture, given the direction in which he feelsphotography is progressing: convenienceand flexibility, coupled with the rising priceof film as supply diminishes, favour thedigital method.

Smart opened with a short history of ACCooper. The firm was set up in 1918 tophotograph the works of art of independentcollectors, galleries and museums, and hasbeen awarded three Royal warrants since itsinception. Seven years ago Smart boughtthe family company and has aimed touphold the standards and values its foundersheld dear. The firm houses a substantialarchive of 45,000 negatives which is in theprocess of being digitized and catalogued.

In order to highlight the problems he hasobserved, and that have beencommunicated to him by conservators,Smart provided for discussion a series ofphotographs taken of the same femaleportrait. Each demonstrated a commonphotographic error. These included theunnecessary use of flash, incorrectly setwhite balance, wrongly positioned lights andmisalignment of picture and camera. Eachproblem was addressed and tips were givento improve image quality in each case.

Smart emphasized that to achieve a standardof image capable of producing archivalquality print reproductions, one does notneed to buy very expensive equipment. Asuitable 6 megapixel camera with a zoomlens should be available for around twohundred pounds, and associated equipmentis widely available second hand. For the bestresults, he advised buying a DSLR camera of10mp or more, with interchangeable lensesof between 50 to 105mm. Fixed focus lenseswill always produce images of better qualitythan zoom lenses, achieving heightenedsharpness and avoiding distortion. Smartalso stressed the benefits of investing in agood quality tripod, to enable longerexposures and ensure a well-aligned image.

Lighting, contrast and exposure were alldiscussed, with clear instructions andpractical advice given on how employ eachbest in various situations for optimal results.Taking questions from the group, Smartexplored the difficulties inherent in and bestapproaches to the photography of warpedpanels and glazed paintings, and the use oftungsten, incandescent light and polarizingfilters.

In conclusion, Smart emphasized thatpreparation is the key to good results. Timespent in setting up the space correctly isinvaluable, as is giving proper consideration

to the particular nature of a picture: its size,shape, topography etc. Whilst he wasconfident that one would notice an instantdifference if the steps he outlined werefollowed, he also stressed the importance oftaking professional advice should asignificant problem arise.

Angelina Barros D’SaPaintings Group

SCIENCE AND HERITAGE: Strategies forsurviving turbulent timesThe 13th Annual Harold PlenderleithMemorial LectureEdinburgh 19 November 2010

The latest Plenderleith lecture was deliveredby May Cassar, Professor of SustainableHeritage at University College London andDirector of the AHRC/EPSRC Science andHeritage Programme. The setting for theevent was in the heart of Edinburgh, at theNational Galleries of Scotland Weston Link.

At the core of the lecture was the verycurrent theme of the economy and how thisis affecting, and will continue to affect, thescience and heritage sector. This sombretopic was approached constructively andwith foresight, looking at long-term choicesand action that can be taken now tominimise future risks. May Cassar began bycelebrating both the international reputationof the UK’s achievements in science andheritage and the vast resource availablewithin the UK in the form of museums,historic houses, archives, libraries andarchaeology and historic settlements. Sheadvised that this reputation and resource befully exploited in order to promote the UK’srole internationally as a key hub for theexchange of knowledge. The UK should useits expertise to lead in the field of scienceand heritage, whilst working with othercountries for a collective influence. She alsodetailed the vast tourism revenue broughtinto the UK through its heritage; thisacknowledged gain should be exploited forthe benefit of the sector.

Speaking of the changing structure of theworkplace and the risk this poses toemployees, Professor Cassar specificallywarned of the loss of skilled researchers whoare retiring early, suggesting thatpreparations for the future be made toensure the preservation of expertise, via ‘re-engagement’. She also promoted thecollaboration of cultural and academicinstitutions, which should work together as‘two halves of the same picture’.Improvements, she said, are necessary inexisting areas of the heritage sector in orderto gain benefits. We need to make clearwhat resource ambitions we have and usethe UK’s ‘cultural assets as instruments ofprosperity’.

Technology was identified as an important

factor in sharing information and increasingconnections within the science and heritagesector, which should be used to extend ourvalues and build global links. An examplewas given of the EU heritage portal the Net-Heritage Observatory, created by the UK aspart of a European Commission project andcited as a current case of how technologycan enable countries to share knowledge.May Cassar also noted that the UK’s growingdigital databases should be protected inorder to contribute to the ‘world knowledgeeconomy’. The EU’s concept of Jointprogramming was highlighted as anopportunity to gather resources amongEuropean Ministries of Culture and ofResearch that would enable commonresearch agendas to be developed in thefuture.

The second half of the lecture began withthe idea of establishing a ‘survival kit’ – astrategy to help inform policy-making andencourage funders. May Cassar went on tosay that influence should be exerted toensure that the science and heritage field isappropriately recognised and suggestedthat one way of achieving this aim would beto nominate an Icon Government RelationsOfficer. She also suggested that the scienceand heritage sector should utilise theCoalition Government’s ‘Big Society’ focuson ‘localism’ through communityengagement projects, such as those thathave been carried out by the conservationprofession. In her position as the Director ofthe Science and Heritage Programme, she islooking to identify interested partners withwhom to commission research on the futureof science and heritage in the UK.

Professor Cassar concluded her lecture byreiterating the importance for the scienceand heritage sector of developing new waysof thinking: improving current practice,making it more efficient and ready for theunprecedented future it faces. She askedthat the problems holding the sector backshould be ‘divested’ and turned intoopportunities, ‘recognising we have nooption but to collaborate internationally’.She closed by advising attendees to remainadaptable and not to accept a pared downfuture, but instead to optimise the scienceand heritage industries, to ensure changehappens that benefits and assures the futureprogression of the whole sector.

Following the lecture was a reception ofwine and nibbles and a chance to meet withprofessionals in the field. Speakingpersonally, and on behalf of my fellowstudents, the evening provided an excellentopportunity to engage with the IconScotland Group, and also a good chance tovisit Edinburgh!

Charlotte GamperMPhil TextileConservation student, University of Glasgow


on a journey through the surface of apainting – quite an experience.

The second half of the day had a morepractical feel; Ann Ballantyne (conservator inprivate practice) described her removal ofunwanted deposits from three artefacts; theBrougham Reredos (V&A Museum), and thewall paintings in All Saints Church, SuttonBingham and in Bradwell Abbey. In the1970s overpaint was removed from theBrougham Reredos using ‘Nitromors’. AtSutton Bingham oil overpaint was removedwith steam, whilst at Bradwell Abbey apoultice of acetone and cellosolve was usedto remove Paraloid B72 (which had been illadvisably applied).

Conservation of a wide range of exhibitswithin the re-opened Medieval andRenaissance galleries at the Victoria andAlbert Museum was described in a joint paperby Dr Lisa Wagner and Sofia Marques. Theyexplained how each artefact was firstevaluated for treatment, and then describedthe results of the treatments employed.Sometimes the intervention was very minor –dusting; whilst in other cases a laser wasused, sometimes in combination withpoulticing. The programme of conservationhad to tie in with the overall scheduling forthe re-opening of the galleries.

Meredith Pesti, a conservator with NicholasBoyes Stone Conservation (Edinburgh),focussed on the use of the laser in stoneconservation. She explained howdevelopments in laser technology havemade it easier to use this tool over time –although it has its limitations. Of the casesdescribed, one was from Rosslyn Chapelwhere uneven soiling on the internal walls ofthe chapel is being treated.

The use of Laponite RD water gel wasdescribed by Frank Toohey (Plowden andSmith) for the cleaning of the façade of theGarrick Club in London and the cleaning of afire damaged Atlante marble surround. Inthe case of the Garrick Club, Laponite RDwater gel was used on an unusually largescale; which involved scaling up methods ofmixing, application and removal. The gelpoultice was applied and removed threetimes. A steam lance was used to pre-treatsurfaces and aid clearance.

As this conference was so well received, theStone and Wall Paintings Group aim topublish these papers and those from theforthcoming conference in March 2011.Further details are on the Icon website.

Peter Martindale ACR

RESTORING JOINTS, CONSERVINGSTRUCTURES10th International Symposium on Wood andFurniture ConservationAmsterdam, Netherlands 8 & 9 October 2010

There are few opportunities for wood andfurniture conservators to meet and discuss

new developments, techniques andmaterials and current best practice in theprofession. This Symposium, organized byStichting Ebienist, was one not to be missed.It was held in De Rode Hoed, a culturalcentre occupying three splendid 17thC canalhouses; the three-storey main auditorium,the Great Hall, is the largest and oldestremaining hidden church in the Netherlands.The symposium covered a number ofaspects of joint restoration and structuralconservation: historical investigation intotechniques, style and construction and theuse of visual investigative conservationtechniques and practical conservation werethe main themes.

The opening presentation by Clive Edwards(Loughborough University, UK) provided anin-depth stroll through the history and use ofthe dovetail joint. This was claimed to be akey defining moment in the evolution fromthe joiners’ trade in making furniture tocabinetmaking in the early 17thC but had ofcourse, existed in wooden objects in AncientEgypt some three thousand years earlier.The chronology of its use through historyand its variants were discussed giving aninsight into what has always been considereda complex, attractive and strong joint.

Jurgen Huber (Wallace Collection, LondonUK) continued in this vein discussing the useof foxtail wedging used by the Berlin basedcabinetmaker Fielder to enhance thestrength of dovetails and revealed duringconservation of an 18thC commode. Huberwent on to discuss his further investigationinto the use of this sophisticated adaption tothe dovetail elsewhere in Germany.

Marijke Kuper (Art Historian, Netherlands)with her presentation ‘No Progress withoutExperiment (Gerrit Rietveld 1950) Joints inthe work of Rietveld’ transported us into the20thC where Rietvelt, one of the mostimportant furniture designers and architectin the Bauhaus school, used simple dowelledbutt and basic lap joints in the making of theiconic Armchair Red Blue. These rudimentaryjoints were chosen in order not to ‘break theplane of the wood’ as was the effect withother more commonly used wood joints inthe making of furniture e.g. mortise andtenon. The selection of the joint was purelyaesthetic, but offered a new perspective forthe furniture makers who followed.

Bodil Stauning (Copenhagen, Denmark)introduced many of us to the wonderful,eccentric and very talented character of the20thC cabinetmaker Peder Moss and the

CONFERENCES

GOING BENEATH THE SURFACEIcon Stone and Wall Paintings Group5 November, London

Issues associated with removing unwanteddeposits from decorative surfaces was thefocus for this well attended and very wellreceived day conference. With a range ofpapers which took on a Europeanperspective; it was the first of two dayconferences covering this topic: the secondwill be held on 25 March 2011 in London.

‘The Cultural Background to CleaningTechniques’ was discussed by Spike Bucklow(Hamilton Kerr Institute). This paper, welldelivered and spiced with humour,considered cleaning from the angle of craft,or nuance, as opposed to a ‘determinist’scientific view. He suggested that if such aview were adopted by conservators thecontributions made by conservation sciencemight be more effectively employed. Spikefeels that the science of conservation isbetter compared to ecology rather thanchemistry, a view shared by others.

Prof. Adrian Heritage and Dr Alison Sawdy(both from the Cologne Institute ofConservation, Cologne Institute of AppliedSciences) delivered separate but linkedpapers which considered poulticing toremove soluble salts from porous materials(like plaster and stone). Prof. Heritage’spaper described the findings of an EUproject which gathered information bothonline and through interviews on currentpoulticing methods and materials employed.Information was predominately from Franceand Germany – with some from Italy, the UKand the US – with results showing that viewsand approaches varied considerably. DrSawdy explained two ways in which solublesalts might be extracted with aqueouspoultices – diffusion and advection. In theformer the poultice is kept wet, it isreplaced, and contact time is considerable.In the latter, advection, the poultice isallowed to dry and the process repeated –usually once or twice more. A keycomponent of advection is the relationshipin pore size between the object and thepoultice, which may explain why sometimesthings ‘work’ and at other times ‘don’t work’.

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is atool which enables one to see below thesurface – both of paintings and stone. Thisnon invasive technique, originally designedto look at the human eye, was described byDr Haida Liang (School of Science andTechnology, Nottingham Trent University).With OCT it is possible to see throughvarnish to the paint layers below and someunder drawing. By assembling a number ofimages which were taken next to each otherinto an animation, we were effectively taken

From Hubert Baija’s talk: 3D digital image ofthe exploded view of a joint

©Hub

ertBaija

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fine furniture he designed and made.Hubert Baija (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)discussed the recent results of research anddigital cataloguing of paintings and framesat the Rijksmuseum. His use of 3D computersimulation to record joint and layerconstruction of frames was the envy of manyof the presenters and the audience.

Claire Daly (Belgrave Conservation andBirmingham Museum and Art Gallery, UK)began the second session of the day withher presentation entitled ‘Restoring theJoints of Picture Frames; MaintainingFunction at the Expense of Aesthetics’ whichtackled the unenviable subject of thecomplexity of frame conservation and thedifficulties and compromises that aredemanded when structural integrity isbalanced with the fragility of the decorativelayers and how this influences treatmentchoices. Daniela Coelho (PortugueseScience and Technology Foundation,Portuguese Catholic University, ResearchCentre for Science and Technology in Art,Portugal) delivered a talk on her recent studyof four pieces of furniture carried out to aidthe conservation treatment. Andrea Coerdt(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) spoke on theapplication and potential of 3D stereoradiography to reveal information on theconstruction methods of furniture to helpconservation treatment decisions. Thepresentation sparked lively discussion of thesuccess to date and further use andpotential of this method of analysis. Toeveryone’s amusement the talk also providedan opportunity to observe the audiencewearing 3D spectacles.

Alistair Fox (Canadian ConservationInstitute, Ottawa, Canada) talked about thecomplexity of restoring a collection ofhistorically important chairs of the Judges ofthe Supreme Court of Canada, designed byErnest Cormier in the Art Deco style in 1946.Fox was faced with the challenge ofreversing a later modification, when thechairs were converted into swivel chairs, andincorporating new structural elements toprovide integrity to them. The chairs had aninherent design flaw that contributed to theirfailure in use but there was a requirement tomake them functional, working objects. Hispresentation outlined the complexity of thetask and included a description of thescientific experimentation into the strengthand suitability of materials and therestoration techniques employed.

Isander Breebaart (Rijksmuseum,Amsterdam) opened the second day’sproceedings with a presentation about twolate 17thC cabinets-on-stand, whichprovided us with a detailed study of theirconstruction and the subsequent methods ofconserving their doors. Adrian Smith andNigel Goldsmith (Royal HouseholdDepartment, London) gave an insight intothe on-going conservation of functional

replacement, consolidation and support ofdamaged wood joints. That said, I am still afan of this symposium which brings togethermany who are interested in the conservationof wood and furniture.

Philip Kevin British Museum

METAL 2010:ICOM-CC metal working group triennialconference11-15 October 2010 Charleston USA

The ICOM-CC Metal conferences are heldevery three years and are an excellent forumfor presenting the latest research by leadersin the field. On this occasion, the conferencesessions were grouped into broad themesincluding archaeological and marine metals,analytical work, coatings and corrosionstudies, object case studies, outdoorheritage, preventive conservation andengineering and 3D technology. Over 150delegates attended.

This was the first time this conference hasbeen held in the United States; it was hostedby the team at the Clemson ConservationCenter, where the HL Hunley submarine isbeing treated and displayed. The Hunley,one of the world’s earliest submarines, sankin 1864 during the American Civil War andwas recovered in 2000. The first eveningreception was held at the Center, where wecould see the excellent facilities andequipment being used to analyse andconserve the iron submarine and associatedobjects. The team is experimenting with sub-critical fluids for treating marine iron andshowed very promising results. Thick ironballast blocks free of chlorides within tendays of treatment filled many of us withenvy!

Of the nearly sixty papers and posterspresented, a number stood out and somecommon themes developed. One of thesewas the importance of working to agreedstandards when carrying out testing. Manypapers described experimental research oncoatings and corrosion inhibitors but it isproving difficult to compare results. Therewas a call for identifying industrial standardsthat would be applicable to conservationresearch. Along this line, one paperpresented by the Getty Museum showed aremarkable collaboration between sixteenparticipating museums to evaluate XRFresults of the same group of objects bydifferent institutions. There was adiscrepancy in results, attributed to thequality of calibration, so again an adherenceto closer application of standards wasemphasised.

Case studies ranged from the conservationof miniature cameras for carrier pigeons(designed in the 1930s for the Swiss Army) tothe challenges of dealing with huge objectssuch as Saturn rockets and battleships. Therewere several papers on the potential of new

chairs in the Household, no mean task at1200 chairs. The physical demands placedon these pieces of furniture should not beunderestimated. The conservators have, overtime and through experience, developedmethods of repair that impart a new lease oflife to structurally compromised furniturethrough the innovative use of modernmaterials and techniques.

Carla Enrica Spantigati (CentroConservazione e Restauro, Turin) presented acollaborative project by an art historian, aconservator and scientists on the work of an18thC cabinetmaker, Pietro Pefetti. Thismulti-faceted approach into the investigationof these important pieces of furniturerevealed a wealth of knowledge through thehistorical, technical and scientific analysis.The final paper delivered by F Carey Howlett(Private Conservator, Callao, USA) was on thedimensional changes experienced byarchitectural objects in uncontrolledenvironments. His case study was theconservation of large, panelled externaldoors, subject to very different conditions onthe inner and outer faces. The extremelycomplex treatment of correcting warpedpanels and reversing ‘plastic deformation’(considered by many to be irreversible) wasvery well presented.

Every year the organizers of the symposiumprovide an excellent choice of excursions,this year was no exception with threeoptions on offer:

• the conservation studios of theRijksmuseum Amsterdam accompanied byconservation staff.

• the Bratavia shipyard, Leltstad, providing aunique opportunity to view the ongoingreconstruction of 17thC Dutch ships.

• the Horrix and Mutters exhibition; twoleading Dutch furniture manufacturers ofthe 19thC and early 20thC.

There was enthusiastic uptake for all the trips(with many injured in the rush) and inevitablysome were disappointed when places ontheir choice of excursion wereoversubscribed.

The theme of the symposium was a goodchoice and the conference was wellorganized and well attended in wonderfulsurroundings. The conservation of woodenstructures employing wooden joints that areinherently weak or which have failedcompletely over time is a recurring problem.The solutions require an understanding ofthe structure and the function it is expectedto perform, the historical significance of theobject and the context in which it is used ordisplayed. It is a topic that will be returnedto as materials and new techniques develop.The papers delivered were of a high qualitybut I would have liked to have heard morepapers addressing practical matters; theproblem solving and ethical considerations;materials and techniques for repairs,


techniques such as dry ice blasting used inindustry for removal of graffiti and organiccoatings. Papers on outdoor sculpture(noted as ‘extreme conservation’) includedgilding a statue 100 metres off the groundand maintaining unstable painted zincsculpture, commonly used in the 19thcentury to imitate bronze.

Several papers showed the application ofcomputer scanning and x-ray computedtomography (XCT). Historic Scotlandpresented two papers on laser scanning toaid documentation and treatment of largemetal structures. XCT was used byconservators in southwest Germany to revealmaterial within excavated soil blocksshowing the power of this technology toprovide high resolution images of complexarchaeological assemblages. A highlight ofthe conference was a paper describing workon a badly damaged Rodin sculpture by ateam led by Tonny Beentjes in Amsterdam.The conservators used laser scanning of amaquette of the statue to create the infillsneeded for the large and disfiguring gaps. Itwas an excellent example of thecombination of computer technology andthe skill of the conservator.

The full programme is listed on the ICOM-CC metal group website. The conferenceorganisers deserve praise for the variety andquality of the papers and for giving a newgeneration of conservators the opportunityto present their work; a number of paperswere recent Masters and PhD researchprojects. Posters were on display throughoutthe conference and the breaks andreceptions gave plenty of time fornetworking. The panel discussions after eachsession were recorded to include in thepublication which will be available in early2011 (see the website). For anyone involvedin metals conservation, I would highlyrecommend attending the next conferenceto be held in Edinburgh or Arles in 2013.

I am grateful to the Anna Plowden Trust, theMuseum of London and the conferenceorganisers who found donors to support theconference by providing travel assistance forpresenters.

Helen GaniarisMuseum of London

WORKSHOP

BASKETRY CONSERVATIONIcon Ethnography GroupRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London15-17 September 2010

There have been few recent workshops onthe Conservation of Basketry, perhapsbecause specialists felt that the subject hadbeen fully covered in the comprehensive GCIcourse The Conservation of Artifacts Madefrom Plant Materials (1984). Participants inthe Ethnography Group workshop held atKew Gardens therefore felt fortunate to begiven the chance to focus on the subject fora full three days, updating their knowledgeand practice under the excellent tutelage ofconservators Sherry Doyal and BarbaraWills of the British Museum. Sherry’s trainingand experience as a basket maker, andBarbara’s passion for ancient basketry andsustainable conservation practice, made fora stimulating, lively programme. Participantsalso had the benefit of teaching assistancefrom ethnobotanist Mark Nesbitt andbasket-maker and volunteer Ruth Stungo,both from the Economic Botany Collection,Kew. All four specialists worked very much asa team, with Sherry and Barbara giving brieflectures alternating with practical sessions,while Mark and Ruth conducted tours of theEconomic Botany Collection, and of relevantplants growing in the adjacent gardens.

The opening session of the workshopfocused on the classification of plantmaterials, with participants being given agrab-bag of specimens and instructions tosort them into their respective families. Thisexercise proved more difficult thanexpected, and Sherry cautioned againsthasty identification based on familiarity,warning that processing and dyeing of plantfibres can confuse the evidence, as can theweaving technique used, where poor qualitymaterials may be masked by more valuableweft-faced elements.

Participants were encouraged to create theirown permanent reference sections usingknown specimens, particularly those verified

by basket makers. Sherry demonstrated theuse of the Trekker microscope – one of themany cheap and cheerful tools she has usedwhen working in the field. It comes in arange of magnifications and is equippedwith a magnetic specimen holder, makingidentification of cross-sections relatively fastand easy.

Barbara demonstrated the humidificationand reshaping of baskets, using a distortedMelanesian sack bag. A large tear wasstrengthened prior to humidification bythreading through strips of Japanese tissue,with the tip of the temporary stripsreinforced with adhesive (Sellotape, aMelinex needle attached using a ParaloidB72 dot, or unreinforced Tyvek strips couldalso be used). Barbara then used partiallysplit Plastazote strips as temporary springs toslowly and gently extend the dimensions ofthe basket – ‘to enhance the pressure’, asparticipant Bruno Pouliot dryly put it.

Several cleaning techniques weredemonstrated, including the use ofGroomstick and Lascaux 360 swabs. Thelatter was a new technique for manyparticipants, who were keen to experimentwith different sized tips made from differingquantities of adhesive – the swabs remainedsticky after drying and were used to gentlylift the dirt from the plant fibre surface.Other new materials for many conservatorswere the latex-free polyurethane spongesrecommended as a cheaper alternative tosmoke sponges. These are more commonlyfound in the toolkit of professional make-upartists, and can be purchased fromQosmedix in the US, and from laboratorysuppliers and chemists in the UK.

One of the most useful sections of theworkshop was the lively discussionconcerning the selection of adhesives forbasketry repair. Participants shared accountsof the different ways adhesives could beprepared to suit the texture, strength, andshape of damage to a basket – what workedand what didn’t. Paraloid B72 andmicroballoons were used as a fill material forindustrial basketry, for example, while a moreflexible PVA and paper pulp mixture wasused for twined baskets, with fills sculpted tomatch the surrounding weave. Wherelengths of adhesive were required for longsplits, conservators were keen to tryGabrielle Tieu’s method of creating ParaloidB72 ‘strings’, formed by pulling out resinbeads with tweezers over a spirit flame.These strings can be more easilymanipulated into position across a split ortear, and reactivated using solvent.

Practical sessions were crammed with moreuseful tips, some of which seemed obviousonce described, but resulted from cleverlateral thinking about tools that are used inother professions or trades. A technique forthreading through an unravelling section offragile cordage, for example, using atemporary wrapping of split paper straw, was

Delegates viewing displays at the Clemson Conservation Center including a life size digitalscan of the Hunley submarine

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one that was blindingly simple yet effective,and uses cheap and readily accessiblematerials.

The combination of conservation expertise,basket making skills and ethnobotanicalknowledge resulted in a hugely varied andinstructive workshop. Participants left with aclear understanding of the complexinterrelationship of plant fibre anatomy,cultivation and processing; weavingtechniques; and the form, function andcondition of the finished basket.

Several participants commented that theywould have liked more time to practise someof the treatment techniques on theirdelegated basket, but this was unrealisticgiven the time available. While a five-daycourse would be preferable, the additionalpreparation and leave required for teachersand participants, seem likely to make thisimpracticable.

Thanks to the enthusiastic presenters, Sherryand Barbara, and to the Icon EthnographyCommittee for organising such a stimulatingworkshop. It is hoped that the event will berepeated, so that more conservators on thelengthy waiting list can benefit from such aconcentrated pool of basketry expertise.SymposiumThe three day workshop was followed by aone day symposium on 18 September 2010and many participants took the opportunityto present case studies of basketryconservation projects. The first of these wasa presentation by Marion Kaminitz andDeborah McConnell, representing a largerteam from the National Museum of theAmerican Indian, Washington. The speakersdescribed the ongoing collaborationbetween the Museum and basket weavers inthe Northern Californian region, withDeborah representing the Hupa people. Theproject involves a two-way exchange, withstaff and interns from the NMAI visiting theHoopa tribal landscape, to discover moreabout traditional cultivation and harvestingmethods. They are introduced to the ways inwhich these methods are incorporated intopartnerships between local tribes and theregional government bodies responsible forresource management, with simple exerciseslike clearing undergrowth to reduce firedamage being part of the annualmaintenance cycle. The second part of theexchange involves weavers visiting the NMAIto examine baskets and to compareindigenous and professional conservationapproaches to the care and repair of wovenitems.

Simple, accurate identification of baskets canbe a side benefit of such exchange – when

viewing Hupa baskets in the collection of theHorniman Museum, Deborah identified agroup of basketry ‘bowls’ as actually being‘caps’, a confusion which had more seriousconnotations for interpretation than simpleorientation. As Deborah explained further,the pattern in the central section representsGod, and descending patterns towards therim represent increasingly lower positions inthe hierarchy – it is therefore critical that theartefact be viewed the correct way up. It wasencouraging to see such a vital example ofthe way in which collaborations betweenconservators and members of communitieswho make, use and care for objects canactually work. While many institutions nowacknowledge the need for closer, moreactive partnerships like these, progress isoften stymied by lack of focus or availableresources. This programme is obviouslysuccessful in increasing specialist knowledgeon both sides, and establishes an ongoingrelationship which has long-term benefits inareas other than conservation.

A cluster of papers featured the treatment ofbasketry items, covering groups such asfancy baskets, leather covered Bavarianbaskets and bark clothing. What was mostinteresting was the preliminary acquisition,socio-cultural and analytical research carriedout to determine provenance, and toformulate an appropriate treatment. Thepresence of basketry specialists in theaudience was valuable, as they suggestedalternative origins for the fancy basketsanalysed and treated by Bruno Pouliot,Samantha Springer, Jennifer Mass andcolleagues at Winterthur Museum.

Peter McElhinney and Verena Kotonskidescribed treatments carried out on aheavily folded cedar bark Nuu-chah-nulthgarment and a group of leather-coveredBavarian baskets. These formed a strongcontrast, with Peter deciding to humidify andrelax the garment, to regain its intendedshape, and Verena deciding not to relax theleather lid as its distortion gave valuableevidence of use.

The most in-depth account of basketrytechnology was given by Marianne Davy-Ballwho gave a comprehensive summary of herPhD fieldwork (Durham University) amongstthe Orang Ulu of Sarawak, MalaysianBorneo. In the absence of publishedethnographies, research like Marianne’s isinvaluable in providing up-to-dateinformation on changes to technology as aresult of development. This contrastedstrongly with Mark Nesbitt and RuthStungo’s paper on basketry in the Economic

Botany Collection at Kew, which describedthe enormous breadth of cultural contextsrepresented in the collection, and thechallenges of identifying and describingsometimes unfamiliar materials andtechniques. Barbara Wills took a similarlygeneral overview of colour in baskets, with afascinating account of defining missing areasof black dyed design on a Beni Hasanbasket, through collaboration with aspecialist curator.

The final presentation of the day was themost thought-provoking, and encouragedconservators to think far more critically aboutthe effects of their treatments on structuralinformation held within basketry fibres.Sherry Doyal and Julie Eklund detailed theresearch they have carried out on theinfluence of historic basketry conservationtreatments on future DNA extraction andidentification. Sherry’s role was to compileinformation from basket makers andconservators on the historic andcontemporary treatments carried out onbasketry items. Examples given included theuse of coconut oil for processing rattan,paraffin oil for surface coating baskets andmats, and pesticides.

One brave audience member asked whatthe point of DNA analysis was but wasquickly given a list of benefits, starting withthe use of results to gain new information onglobal issues such as plant disease andclimate change. Pinpointing connectionsbetween plants would also increaseknowledge on plant distribution and culturaltrade.

The long list of treatments and a grading ofthe extent of damage they cause plant DNAwill be an extremely useful reference forconservators, allowing them to select theleast inhibiting, contaminating and DNAdamaging treatments, where possible (a pleaechoed by Mark Nesbitt of the EconomicBotany Collection, Kew). They were alsourged to make past treatments available toresearchers and encourage sampling of lesstreated specimens where appropriate.

The full day’s programme was packed withinspiring examples of collaboration betweenconservators and other specialists, and gavethose in the audience an invaluable list ofresources to consult when investigating andtreating basketry items from a wide range ofcultures.

Members of The Basketmakers’ Associationattended the conference and manned abookstall publicising their work. It wouldhave been interesting to have heardpresentations from makers, particularly thosekeen to talk about the general decline intraditional basket making in the UK, and therecent rise to prominence of the EasternEuropean market.

Julia Gresson Deputy Head CollectionsConservation & Care, Horniman Museum

Ruth Stungo and Heike Winkelbauer discussconstruction of a basketry water bottlecarrier Flexible Plastazote rings are used to

gradually expand a Solomon Islands bagduring humidification


in practiceTHE CONSERVATION OF ‘MONS GRAUPIUS’BY GILLIAN AYRESby Gillian Walker ACR, Wilma Day ACR and Helen Davis(private conservators, Sheffield)

‘Mons Graupius’ is a large abstract oil painting by GillianAyres, owned by Touchstones, Rochdale Art Gallery. The paintlayers contained areas of soft, tacky impasto which had notdried since completion in 1980. Due to its size (H 257.0 cm xW 273.8 cm), the painting had been taken off its stretcher,covered in a layer of polythene, and rolled around acardboard tube for storage. When the painting was unrolled,the polythene cover had stuck to the impasto causing achange in texture. The paint layers also contained severalvertical splits and areas of flaking. The support haddeteriorated along the front edges, and part of the originalstretcher had been lost. The following article discusses thetreatment of the painting in the studio and on site and someof the problems encountered with its transportation.

Condition ProblemsThe painting was transported to the studio covered in thepolythene layer and rolled around a cardboard tube. It wasunrolled face-up on a large table (Figure 1). A full examinationtook place, and the main condition problems are summarisedas follows:

1. The areas of red, ochre and purple impasto were soft andtacky. The polythene sheet had stuck to these colours,resulting in a change in surface texture (Figure 2). Excesspaint media had contributed to this problem, and hadstained the surrounding canvas.

2. Other areas of paint had dried and split in long verticallines probably as a result of rolling.

3. Areas containing white paint had dried to form a brittlefilm, and the impasto had fractured away in places. Somethinly applied grey paint was poorly adhered to the layers

beneath and was flaking.

4. The paint layers were covered in a light deposit of surfacedirt and dust.

5. The loosely woven cotton support was not strong enoughto carry the heavy paint layers, and had split around thefront edges.

6. The stretcher was incomplete, and needed to be replaced.

Removing The Polythene SheetThe polythene sheet was strongly adhered to the paint layerand could not be removed with solvents or by mechanicalaction. The soft paint tended to pull away from itself ratherthan separate cleanly from the polythene. It was decided totest cooling the surface to increase the rigidity of the paintlayer and make the bonds of adhesion between the oil andpolythene more brittle.* A flexible cooling source wasessential, as it needed to conform to the uneven profile of theimpasto. Some commercial ice packs, intended to treat sportsinjuries, were bought from a local retailer. These consisted ofan aqueous gel in a rectangular polythene sleeve, whichremained flexible after storage in a domestic freezer. The icepacks were cooled for several hours, by which time theirtemperature had fallen to approximately minus 3°C. An icepack was then placed on an adhered area of polythene, andgently pressed onto the impasto. The polythene sheet wastested every minute to see if it could be separated from thepaint layer, and to check for signs of condensation.

After 6–10 minutes the area had cooled sufficiently for thepolythene to be pulled away at a shallow angle (Figure 3).Separation was initiated with a scalpel in some places. Thedetached polythene was stained with paint medium and smallflecks of paint were also removed in areas. However, thesystem was felt to be an effective, time-efficient solution, andthe rest of the sheet was removed using this method.

Figure 1: ‘Mons Graupius’, unrolled on the studio table, with thepolythene sheet still attached

Figure 2: Detail of red paint showing the change in surface texturecaused by the polythene.

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Texturing The Paint SurfaceThe areas of paint attached to the polythene sheet hadadopted a shiny, distracting texture. Tests were conductedwith various tools (including a frayed swab-stick, steel brush,and impressions made with non-woven synthetic materialssuch as Reemay) to see if the glossy texture could bereduced. Unfortunately it was very difficult to impose anytexture on the paint layer due to the excess of media. It maybe possible to deal with these areas in the future, when theyhave dried completely. A matting agent (such asmicrocrystalline wax or fumed silica) could be applied to thesurface to suppress its appearance.

Consolidating The Paint LayerTwo different methods were used to consolidate the paint. Inareas where thin paint was flaking from the ground, LascauxMedium for Consolidation was favoured as it flowed easilybeneath the edges of the flakes. The consolidant was appliedwith a paint brush, and any excess was removed immediatelywith a swab; it was then left to air-dry. In areas where the painthad split, an adhesive with more body was required. It wasalso important that the adhesive did not require heatactivation. A dispersion of Mowilith in water (in the ratio 2:1)was injected with a syringe into the split, and the two sideswere held in contact with finger pressure. Any residues wereremoved immediately from the surface with a cotton swab.

Removal Of Surface DirtMany areas of paint were sensitive to water and it was onlypossible to clean the non-tacky areas (namely, the white andpale areas), and the exposed areas of grey ground. Thesewere cleaned with demineralised water. A soft brush was usedto remove dirt from around the impasto.

Strip-LiningThe support consisted of a piece of loosely woven cottonduck. The weight of the paint layers had caused puckeringaround points of attachment to the stretcher and there werenumerous splits along the front edges. It was necessary toreinforce the edges by strip-lining, and to provide a loose-lining to confer extra stiffness to the support and to protectthe reverse. The painting was turned face-down onto sheetsof release paper, and the reverse was cleaned with a vacuumcleaner and soft brush. The strip-lining consisted of pieces ofpolyester Permawear fabric, coated with six layers of Beva 371adhesive dispersed in stoddard solvent (in the ratio 1:1).Permawear was chosen as it had a similar flexibility to theloosely woven original support.

The pieces of strip-lining were 15.0cm wide, and overlappedonto the back of the image by 2.5 cm. The forward edgeswere ‘pinked’. The strips were heat-sealed into position withlining irons set to 80°C, and the paint layer was checkedfrequently for changes in surface texture (Figure 4). Twopieces of strip-lining were abutted at the midway point alongeach side, due to the painting’s considerable size.**

Figure 6: The transportation structure (note that the cardboard tubeis missing from the image; it was threaded around the central steelpole before the painting was draped across)

Figure 3: The ice pack used to remove the polythene sheet.

Figure 4: During strip-lining. The strips of polyester Permawearfabric were heat sealed into place with lining irons. The newstretcher is in the background

Figure 5: During preparation of the loose-lining, showing theapplication of acrylic gesso to the linen canvas


Preparing The New Stretcher With A Loose-LiningA sheet of Melinex (25 microns thickness) was attached to theassembled stretcher to protect the surface during thepreparation of a loose-lining. A medium-grain linen canvaswas attached above the Melinex and secured with staples.The linen was cleaned with a brush and vacuum cleaner andde-crimped by saturating it with water, and allowing it to air-dry. The linen was then sized with a single coat of Mowilithdispersed in water (in the ratio 1:1), and applied with a roller.Once dry, the surface was sanded, and any slubs andinconsistencies were removed with a scalpel. Two coats ofacrylic gesso primer were then applied to the surface, againwith a roller (Figure 5).

The loose-lining was then rolled around a separate cardboardtube and covered with Melinex for travel. The stretcher wasdisassembled, and each part was cleaned and sanded. Thefront edges were lightly rounded with a plane and the woodwas polished with beeswax and carnauba polish. The stretcherwas then packed for transport to Rochdale.

The Transportation SupportAs the painting was too large to fit through the internal doorsof the gallery, it needed to be re-stretched on site. It hadbeen hoped that the painting could be transported withoutneeding to re-roll it. A joiner was asked to produce atransportation structure consisting of a hinged wooden A-frame, which supported a metal pole inserted through acardboard tube (with a diameter of 22.0 cm) (Figure 6). Thepainting could then be draped across the cardboard tube. It

was felt that the paint layers were flexible enough to copewith this pressure for short periods of time.

The central metal pole enabled the cardboard tube to belifted on and off easily. The sides of the A-frame were kept anequal distance apart by wooden bars at the base. Softwoodbattens and pieces of plywood were attached to each side ofthe A-frame to support the sides of the painting. Casters werealso attached to the bottom to allow the structure to bemoved easily around the studio. Once the painting had beendraped across the A-frame, a sheet of release paper wasplaced over the top to protect the paint layers (Figure 7).

However, after discussions with the staff at Touchstones,Rochdale Art Gallery, it became clear that the A-frame wouldnot fit inside the gallery’s service lift. It was also too heavy andunwieldy to be carried up the main stairs which contained anumber of turns. While rolling the painting again wasundesirable, it was the only realistic solution to the problem.The painting was rolled around the cardboard tube in thestudio, with an interleaf of release paper separating the paintlayers. The transportation structure still played an importantfunction as it enabled the painting to be suspended off thefloor of the transit vehicle, and prevented it from movingduring the journey.

Attaching The Painting To The Stretcher On SiteThe polished stretcher was unpacked and reassembled in thegallery, and placed onto trestle tables. The loose-lining wasunrolled across the stretcher, stretched with canvas pliers, andattached with steel staples. The painting was then unrolled ontop of the loose-lined stretcher (Figure 8). The front foldedges were aligned with the edges of the stretcher, and thepainting was folded around the tacking margins with fingerpressure. A hair dryer was used to warm the strip-lined edgesto produce a crisp fold.

The painting was stretched with canvas pliers and securedwith copper tacks (Figure 10). Two conservators workedopposite each other to maintain an even tension. Six tackswere placed at 3.5–4.0 cm intervals at a time before movingonto a different side.*** Excess strip-lining material wasremoved at the corners so that a neat, flat fold could becreated.

The painting was then lifted off the tables and placed face-inagainst a gallery wall so that the back could be reached. Theturn over fabric was secured to the back of the stretcher withsteel staples. The painting was keyed-out, and the keys weretied to the stretcher with nylon line, brass screws and screwcups.

Figure 7: The painting stored face-up on the transportationstructure, covered with sheets of release paper

Figure 8: In the gallery: the unrolled painting on top of the looselined stretcher

Figure 9: The painting is attached onto the stretcher with coppertacks

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Storage ConsiderationsAs the painting is too large to fit through the gallery’s internaldoors, it will be stored behind a false internal wall inside theexhibition space. It has been suggested that a box frame iscreated, which incorporates a Melinex cover to be kept atleast six inches off the surface. The environmental conditionswill need to be monitored carefully, and the box frameregularly inspected for signs of condensation.

Materials and suppliers

Beva 371 (Lascaux 375) (Ketone/wax/EVA mixture) A. P. Fitzpatrick

Polyester Permawear, Carrington Fabrics, Lancs. (Polyester Permawear is nolonger available. A similar fabric called ‘Restretching Fabric’ [200gm polyester]is available from A. P. Fitzpatrick.)

Mowilith DP 5458, Cons. Resources UK

Medium for Consolidation (Lascaux 4176) A. P. Fitzpatrick

Medium grain linen canvas (305gsm) Russell and Chapple

Beeswax and carnauba polish John Lewis plc

Acrylic gesso primer Daler-Rowney

Hot/cold Gel Packs Aptonia (supplied by Decathlon sports shop)

Stretcher with 9 openings Barry Willson, Milton Keynes

Transportation structure Jack Richardson, Heartwood Carpentry, Sheffield

AcknowledgementsThanks go to Yvonne Hardman (Curator) and the staff at Touchstones, RochdaleArt Gallery; Jack Richardson, Peter Day, Claire Finn and Joanna Russell

Notes

* This method has been used in the past to separate paint from glass. See, forexample:Bubb, R., Letter to the Editor, The Picture Restorer, No. 23, Spring 2003, p.37;Moison, R., Letter to the Editor, The Picture Restorer, No. 20, Autumn 2001, p.26;Flanagan, D., Shorter Notice: Freeing an Oil Painting on Canvas Affixed toPlate Glass, The Picture Restorer, No. 19, Spring 2001, p.15

** The pieces of strip-lining were abutted only in the area of 2.5cm overlap onthe back of the image. The ends of the pieces of strip-lining were cut at 45°and adhered to each other in the area of the tacking margin.

*** Ideally the painting should have been attached on the reverse of thestretcher due to the presence of paint in the tacking margins. However, it wasnot feasible to place the painting face-down due to the tacky, flexible paintlayers and weight of the loose lined stretcher. Furthermore, the original frontfold edges had been preserved. It is likely that Gillian Ayres painted the imageoff the stretcher, attaching it once it had been completed with staples throughthe present tacking margin. Re-attaching through the sides of the stretcherwas arguably in keeping with the artist’s original intention. As the painting isexhibited without a frame, it has been suggested that the copper tacks arepainted with acrylic paint. Unfortunately, the tight schedule precluded thiswhen the painting was re-stretched, but it is a consideration for the future.

Figure 10: ‘Mons Graupius’ after treatment


Full details of all the eventslisted here can be found on theIcon website www.icon.org.uk

26 JanuaryBritish LibraryPreservation Basics TrainingVenue: British Library Centre forConservation, LondonThe day will explore what is meant bypreservation; highlight the risks tocollections and show how to minimise thoserisks with simple, cost-effective actions.

27 JanuaryIcon Historic Interiors GroupBurns NightVenue: Geffrye Museum, London.Aside from a Piper, Haggis, canapés and aprize for the most flamboyant Scottishcostume, there will be an after hourspresentation on the history and futuredevelopments of this innovative museum.Cost: £17 (£20 non-members)

9–11 FebruaryThe Swedish Energy Agency andGotland UniversityEnergy Efficiency in Historic BuildingsVenue: Visby, SwedenDetails via the Icon website

11 FebruaryPreservation of Glass Plate NegativesVenue: RCAHMS, John Sinclair House,EdinburghConservators and photographers fromRCAHMS will discuss their work with glassplates, and Jenny Hodgson, conservatorfrom National Monuments Record EnglishHeritage will present her talk entitledConservation of Glass Plate Negatives –Creating a Stable Future (recently presentedat the CF10 conference in Cardiff). Therewill be an opportunity for participants toshare their knowledge and experiences ofglass plate negative preservation.

Cost: £70 (£90 non members, £50 students)Contact: Tizzy Hepher on email:[email protected] ort. 0131 668 6850.

4 MarchIcon Book and Paper GroupConservation Paper Binding WorkshopVenue: V&A Museum, London SW7 2RL;Tutor: Tracey RowledgeLooking at approaches to making paperbindings for books in need of rebinding.Discussing the rationale behind variousbook structures devised by Tracey andinstruction on how to make one of hernon-adhesive book structures, throughdemonstration and one-to-one tuition.Cost: £75 (£100 non-members) + £5 on theday for materials.Contact: register in advance with JaneRutherston, Head Book Conservator one: [email protected]

6–18 MarchPapermaking and Printmaking Tour inJapanProviding an opportunity tounderstand Japanese papermaking andprintmaking and experience ofJapanese culture and life style.Contact: Megumi Mizumura one: [email protected]

10 MarchLighting SeminarDon't leave it up to lux!: LightingMuseums and GalleriesVenue: Murray Edwards College,CambridgeParticipants will understand the basicprinciples of light, see how differentlighting affects perception of objects,learn how to implement and maintaineffective lighting plans, explore the qualityand efficiency of lighting options.Contact: either Rosy Aindow or SarahNorcross-Robinson at ConservationCoordinator, Norfolk Museums andArchaeology Service, Shirehall, MarketAvenue Norwich NR1 3JQ ort: 01603 223387

16 MarchPACR ClinicVenue: LondonClinics are aimed at potential PACRcandidates who are working towards aPACR application deadline. This event willsupport candidates with their PACRapplication, address any queries andprovide a useful insight to theaccreditation process.Please book via the Icon website

Icon Offices: Please note that from1 February events and meetings canbe held at the Icon Offices atUnit 1.5, Lafone House,The Leathermarket,11/13 Weston Street Bermondsey,London SE1 3ER.The Icon website providescomprehensive directions on how tofind the offices – from the home page,go to 'About Icon' and then to the'Find us' page.

listings17 March, 6pmIcon Book and Paper GroupThe Conservation of Lord Byron’sScreenVenue: The Wellcome Institute ConferenceCentre, 183 Euston Rd, LondonSpeaker: Graeme StoreyIn an illustrated talk on the conservation ofa four panel decoupage screen built byLord Byron in the early nineteenth century,the speaker will describe the practicalconservation and then focus on aconsideration of the ethics of preservingthe bonds between maker and object.Cost: £10 (£15 non-members, £6 students)Contact: register in advance with JoannaPayne on e: [email protected]

17 MarchPACR ClinicVenue: ManchesterClinics are aimed at potential PACRcandidates who are working towards aPACR application deadline. This event willsupport candidates with their PACRapplication, address any queries andprovide a useful insight to theaccreditation process.Please book via the Icon website

19 MarchHeritage Crafts AssociationSpring ConferenceVenue: V&A Museum, LondonA number of heritage crafts may be indanger of decline, but this is a day tocelebrate the ways in which craft workerscontribute to the rich tapestry of Britishheritage, and are a significant part oftourism and the economy.Cost: £30 (£25 – HCA Friends)

25 MarchIcon Stone and Wall Paintings GroupGoing Beneath the Surface – Day 2Venue: The Council Chamber,Stratford Old Town Hall, London.Second instalment of the conferencelooking at the removal of unwanteddeposits from decorative surfaces,focussing on laser cleaning, latex removalmethods, poulticing, and removal ofoverpaint, mould growth and staining.Cost: £45 (£60 non-members, £25students)Contact: register via Icon website –S&WP Group events page ore: [email protected]

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28 April, 7.15p.m.Icon Book and Paper GroupKeeping Fit for Conservation – Part 2Venue: St. Michael’s and All Angels ChurchHall, Bath Road, Chiswick, London W4.A physiotherapist who teaches Pilates anda trainer will work with the group to adviseand show them stretches and otherexercises which can be developed into asimple daily routine to relieve stiffness inthe back, neck, arms and hands caused bypoor working positions. Please bring matsand wear loose clothing.Cost : £30Contact: register in advance with JoannaPayne on e: [email protected]

5 MayIcon EventHealth and Safety for ConservatorsVenue: Cardiff UniversityFeatures: Responsibilities, Risk Assessment,Hazards and how to deal with them.Cost: £90 (£120 non members)

6 MayIcon Paintings Group ConferenceVenue: National Portrait Gallery LondonAdhesives and Consolidants used inpaintings conservation: case studies,materials testing, experience with newmaterialsContact: [email protected]

14 MayIcon Ceramics and Glass GroupLosing Your Lustre?Venue: Hochhauser Auditorium, V&A,London.The conservation and restoration oflustred ceramic and glass surfacespresents a unique problem which ariseswith a variety of objects, whether inresponse to conservation based prioritiesor when working with approaches suitedto the private collector and thecommercial market.Contact: Nancy Sharpe [email protected] or Rachel Swift [email protected]

16–19 MayWest Dean CollegeConservation for HorologistsAn Icon-approved course for professionalhorologists aspiring to achieve PACRqualification.Contact: Liz Campbell on t: 01243-818219or e: [email protected]

29 MarchIcon EventHealth and Safety for ConservatorsVenue: Museum of LondonFeatures: Responsibilities, Risk Assessment,Hazards and how to deal with them.Cost: £90 (£120 non members, £85 ACRsand RoIs)

4 AprilIcon Textile Group Annual ForumIncompatible Partners? Challenges ofcomposite objectsVenue: V&A Museum, LondonPapers will explore the conservation ofmixed material objects, including innovativeor challenging conservation projects oftextiles with other materials such as wood,plastics, metals, feathers, precious stones,glass and leather, as well as the challengesfaced in storing and displaying them.Papers will highlight ethical issues such asprioritising the different materials,collaborative research, working with otherspecialists and the sequencing of thetreatment of the different materials.

7 AprilIcon EventHealth and Safety for ConservatorsVenue: Dundee University LibraryFeatures: Responsibilities, Risk Assessment,Hazards and how to deal with them.Cost: £90 (£120 non members)

13 AprilPACR ClinicVenue: LincolnClinics are aimed at potential PACRcandidates who are working towards aPACR application deadline. This event willsupport candidates with their PACRapplication, address any queries andprovide a useful insight to theaccreditation process.Please book via the Icon website

13–15 AprilCare and Conservation of ManuscriptsVenue: University of Copenhagen,DenmarkDetails via the Icon website

15 AprilIcon Historic Interiors GroupHistoric Interiors in Secular Buildings1600–1700 (Elizabethan to Georgian)Venue: Corpus Christi College, CambridgeFocussing on the radical transformation ofthe interior which occurred during thisturbulent period in British history in termsof structure, decoration, lighting, heating,decoration, furnishing and function – andrelationship to the exterior, in grand andvernacular houses.Plus a tour of seventeenth-centurybuildings in Cambridge.Cost: £75.00 (£95.00 non-members)Contact: Mette de Hamel one: [email protected] ort: 0207 6221620.Please book early as places are limited.

26 MayIntroduction to PACRVenue: LondonAimed at those who would like to find outabout PACR – the programme includeseverything you need to know about thePACR Accreditation – what is it, how doesit work, the professional standards and theapplication process, the assessmentprocess, the assessment visit andContinuing Professional Development.Please book via the Icon website

26th May, 7.15pmIcon Book and Paper GroupKeeping Fit for Conservation – Part 2Venue: St. Michael’s and All Angels ChurchHall, Bath Road, Chiswick, London W4.Many conservators are afflicted by stiffnessin their backs, necks, arms and handscaused by poor working positions. Aphysiotherapist who teaches Pilates and atrainer will work with the group to adviseand show them stretches and otherexercises which can be developed into asimple daily routine. *Please note changeof date owing to Royal Wedding holiday.Cost: £30Contact: register in advance with JoannaPayne on e: [email protected]

19–23 SeptemberICOM-CC 16th Triennial ConferenceVenue: Lisbon, PortugalDetails via the Icon website

26–28 OctoberA Pest Odyssey 2011: Ten Years LaterVenue: The British Museum, LondonFocussing on developments that havebeen made in the last ten years,highlighting international priorities andhow these have changed. To include newunderstanding about pest species andthe risk they pose to both collections andbuildings and practical control strategiesthat work in the heritage context.Contact: Dee Lauder on e:[email protected],uk

• Visit www.icon.org.uk for moreevents and full details of all theentries listed here. There is alsolots of information about shorttraining and CPD coursesavailable from a variety ofproviders. On the website Homepage choose Events and Careers& Training and follow the links.

• More PACR information andbooking forms are in theAccreditation/CPD section.

ICON NEWS • NOVEMBER 2005 • 3