LATEST NEWS...
TV appearance on Quest's Salvage Hunters the Restorers
The filming of this episode began in the summer of 2020 so it was fantastic to see it go out as part of Series 4 (Episode 15) . Follow this link for a snippet of the action:
twitter.com/i/status/1425387308849713155
Let's hope that it leads to many more exciting opportunities.
twitter.com/i/status/1425387308849713155
Let's hope that it leads to many more exciting opportunities.
Specialist Lecture for Preservation Equipment Ltd.
It was my absolute pleasure to present an online talk for one of the leading conservation suppliers, Preservation Equipment Ltd. We had a really mixed group of interested attendees and the whole presentation is now available for free online:
www.preservationequipment.com/Blog/Blog-Posts/How-to-describe-book-bindings-Webinar
www.preservationequipment.com/Blog/Blog-Posts/How-to-describe-book-bindings-Webinar
Evening Class from September @City Lit for 12 weeks
I am very excited to be teaching an evening class at London's City Lit in book conservation for beginners. It is a full 12 weeks and offers a great introduction to book conservation working in a practical workshop.
Follow this link for more information:
https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/book-conservation-for-beginners-i
Spaces are limited due to Covid restrictions.
Follow this link for more information:
https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/book-conservation-for-beginners-i
Spaces are limited due to Covid restrictions.
New Blog Post for ICon - Creating Opportunities During Covid
I have just written a blog post for the Institute of Conservation, hoping to inspire other conservators to create their own funding opportunities working with accredited museums. www.icon.org.uk/resource/looking-for-opportunities-in-lockdown-successfully-applying-for-ace-hlf-funding-as-an-individual.html?dm_i=6S6,79TM6,FZ0K41,THLCY,1
Completion of Dickens Fellowship Scrapbook Project funded by Arts Council England (ACE) & Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)!
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This video is an in depth look at the full conservation of one of the Dickens Fellowship Scrapbooks. It covers all of the treatment steps giving you a rare glimpse into the conservation processes. This was an incredible collection to work on, and they can be accessed online via the Resources Section of the Charles Dickens Museum website. It is a joy to share my experience of these fascinating volumes.
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I was hugely proud to accept the support of the ACE HLF Project Fund for Dickens Fellowship Archive Project – Enabling Access for the Future
This project was for the first phase of funding conservation and cataloguing of the scrapbook collections which are fundamental to the Charles Dickens Museum. It has allowed this previous unsearchable, and hugely significant collection to be available to scholars and enthusiasts around the world, via the online catalogue, in good time for the Museum’s centenary celebrations in 2025. The 97 volumes of Fellowship Scrapbooks date from 1905 to 1997 and contain newspaper cuttings on any Dickens-related topic, from national publications to provincial papers. They contain primary materials including advertisements for theatrical performances, newspaper cuttings (mainly British papers, with some American articles), photographs and paper ephemera and were compiled by members of the Dickens Fellowship who founded the museum. |
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Online Training...
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Following on from the success of my parchment workshop at the end of last year, I am now preparing to run another online workshop. It is going to be another practical workshop making a limp paper binding based on the work of the late Chris Clarkson and his work to promote conservation binding techniques. It promises to be really interesting, especially for those who are keen to make a beautiful, well-constructed binding and discuss the ethical issues around using the techniques on collection items.
This is being organised by ICRI - the Institute of Conservator-Restorers in Ireland who will be managing ticket sales. https://www.icriconservation.ie/about-us, thank you so much to Julia and her team. I am thinking about offering this course again later in the year - thank you for your support. In preparation for it, I have put together a selected bibliography that is available for free, just follow this link to download the pdf: |
| limp_binding_bibliography_mar_21.pdf |
Exciting New Collaboration - Conservation Training for Auction Houses & Book Dealers
It is always a pleasure to work with other conservators and over the last few months I have been working on a couple of projects with Suzanne Press ACR (www.suzannepress.com/) an experienced conservator of works of Art on paper, also based in London. One of these has resulted in our collaboration to reach out to auction houses and book dealers in and around London to offer conservation training on handling, assessment and how to offer and access advice for clients. We have now provided training to the teams at Bonham's and Sotheby's, which has been incredibly interesting. The teams work with a huge books from all periods and cultures, with all kinds of damage from minor tears, and old insect damage to full-on obliteration of bindings due to fire. We are keen to extend this training opportunity as valuable knowledge for our allied professions.
Here is a link to the leaflet that we have created about the training: sp_cc.pdf
Please feel free to contact either of us to find out more, either via the information provided on the leaflet or this website.
Here is a link to the leaflet that we have created about the training: sp_cc.pdf
Please feel free to contact either of us to find out more, either via the information provided on the leaflet or this website.
Virtual Open Studio - Now Live via ICon Accreditation Website
I am very proud to have my virtual open studio featured as part of the 20th Anniversary of the Institute of Conservation Accreditation Scheme. I went through the application process in 2006 and since achieving accreditation in 2007 have been a mentor for conservators from a variety of conservation disciplines including textile conservators and preservation managers. It is a hallmark of quality in terms of practical work, ethics, judgement and decision-making, similar to charter-ship in other professions. Here is a link to the Icon website which also features incredible conservators from other disciplines and their work.
https://icon.org.uk/accreditation/20th-anniversary-of-icon-accreditation/virtual-open-studios
https://icon.org.uk/accreditation/20th-anniversary-of-icon-accreditation/virtual-open-studios
Parchment Bindings Lecture - Available Online
I have also given a lecture on the conservation of 4 parchment stationery bindings as part of the virtual training programme for the Archives & Records Association. I was in great company in this lecture series and the talks by Victoria Stevens and Katherine Beaty are a must for all those obsessed by parchment stationery bindings like me!
Here is the link to the video of my conservation of parchment stationery bindings video:
https://play.webvideocore.net/popapp.php?l=324413&w=720&h=800&p=4GE35AGFE12D4C4&title=Make%2C+Mend+%26+Do%E2%80%A6The+Conservation+of+4+Eighteenth-Century+Parchment+Stationery+Bindings&bgcolor1=%23ffffff&bgcolor2=%23e0e0e0&hide_playlist=&hide_description=&hide_live_chat=1&layout=default&is_inversed=&theme=light&image=https%3A%2F%2Fmember.streamingvideoprovider.com%2Fpanel%2Fserver%2Fclip%3Fa%3DGenerateThumbnail%26clip_id%3D0%26size%3Dlarge%26playlist_id%3D324413%26is_playlist%3D1%26segmentName%3Dsingle&use_html5=1&live_id=&sel_playlist=1g2ab52ge47574c&sel_multiplaylist=&is_responsive=1&is_vertical=&one_thumb_per_row=1&thumbs_size=medium&disable_hash=1&skinAlpha=50&colorBase=%23250864&colorIcon=&colorHighlight=%237f54f8&fs_popin=&start_volume=&close_button=&player_align=NONE&player_bar=1&auto_play=&auto_hide_player_controls=1&chat_position=&description_position=&playlist_position=&allow_fullscreen=1&player_start_volume=&widget_height_behavior=0&template_published_fields=-1&play_button=1&play_button_style=pulsing
Here is the link to the video of my conservation of parchment stationery bindings video:
https://play.webvideocore.net/popapp.php?l=324413&w=720&h=800&p=4GE35AGFE12D4C4&title=Make%2C+Mend+%26+Do%E2%80%A6The+Conservation+of+4+Eighteenth-Century+Parchment+Stationery+Bindings&bgcolor1=%23ffffff&bgcolor2=%23e0e0e0&hide_playlist=&hide_description=&hide_live_chat=1&layout=default&is_inversed=&theme=light&image=https%3A%2F%2Fmember.streamingvideoprovider.com%2Fpanel%2Fserver%2Fclip%3Fa%3DGenerateThumbnail%26clip_id%3D0%26size%3Dlarge%26playlist_id%3D324413%26is_playlist%3D1%26segmentName%3Dsingle&use_html5=1&live_id=&sel_playlist=1g2ab52ge47574c&sel_multiplaylist=&is_responsive=1&is_vertical=&one_thumb_per_row=1&thumbs_size=medium&disable_hash=1&skinAlpha=50&colorBase=%23250864&colorIcon=&colorHighlight=%237f54f8&fs_popin=&start_volume=&close_button=&player_align=NONE&player_bar=1&auto_play=&auto_hide_player_controls=1&chat_position=&description_position=&playlist_position=&allow_fullscreen=1&player_start_volume=&widget_height_behavior=0&template_published_fields=-1&play_button=1&play_button_style=pulsing
To accompany my publications and work on the Conservation of Parchment Bindings I have compiled a downloadable bibliography.
| stationery_binding_1500-1800_july_20.pdf |
Making conservation more accessible online - using video footage to demonstrate conservation work in action!
The above video was produced during the conservation of the Beadnell Album for the Dickens Museum in London. The repairs were part of a programme of work which was made possible by the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust. It demonstrates the complexity of the repairs to return the pop-up elements to working order, whilst trying to keep as much of the original structure as possible. It was also an excellent opportunity to promote conservation work in action.
