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Conservation Journal

Spring 2011 Issue 59

Highlights in this issue

Keep Your Hair On - The development of conservation friendly wigs

Keira Miller & Sam Gatley, Textile Display Specialists

One of the challenges we regularly encounter when displaying head wear is how to achieve a good fit with proper support when headdresses are designed to be worn upon elaborate hair styles.

Will it stand? Morris and Co. wallpaper stand book

Anne Greig, Book and Paper Conservator

The Morris and Co. stand book was given to the V&A in 1980. It came as part of a large gift of miscellaneous wallpapers, designs and pattern books from the wallpaper manufacturer Shand Kydd Ltd. following the closure of their factory in Christchurch, Hampshire, several years earlier.

The effects of fingerprints on silver

Donna Stevens, Senior Metals Conservator

It is accepted conservation practice to wear gloves when handling silver objects. This is because fingerprints, apart from being visually distracting through the leaving of a surface deposit, will also corrode the metal, eventually leading to loss of the original surface.

The conservation of John Constable’s six foot sketches at the V&A

Clare Richardson, Senior Paintings Conservator; Nicola Costaras, Head Paintings Conservator

Two of Constable’s six foot sketches have been on near continuous display at the V&A since they were first loaned to the Museum in 1862 by Henry Vaughan. They now begin a two-year absence when they will be travelling to European and American venues as part of an exhibition of Constable’s sketches.

Spring 2011 Issue 59

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