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Cabinet of Curiosities

The Application of Commercial Taxidermy Classes to the Conservation of Historical Taxidermy

Posted on 18 January 2023 by Emma Thomas

Content Warning: This blog post contains a frank description of taxidermy, including photographs of skinning and mounting animals. If this is not something that you are comfortable with, please do […]

Evolution of British Pottery Marks

Posted on 19 March 2021 by tszcheung

Pottery marks are a dependable means by which the manufacturers, origins, production dates and so many details of the ceramics may be identified. Often, the marks include factory names or […]

Asian Lacquer – Sap Varieties and a Basic Guide to Purchasing Raw Lacquer

Posted on 16 January 2021 by jingyizhang

Asian lacquerware is a unique art form that involves coating objects with layers of natural resin to produce decorative and protective coatings. Asian lacquer is derived from the refined sap […]

Frequently Asked Questions in Taxidermy

Frequently Asked Questions in Taxidermy

Posted on 12 March 2020 by Ella Berry

Photo of me (left) talking to guests at the National Museum of Wales After Dark event alongside vertebrate curator Jennifer Gallichan (centre) and Nichola Hope (right) drawing. Photo courtesy of […]

What’s the “tea” about Anoxia Treatments?

What’s the “tea” about Anoxia Treatments?

Posted on 9 March 2020 by Kate Dieringer

Photo courtesy of Kate Dieringer When I started an internship in San Francisco, California, I had no idea what to expect while working in a private conservation studio. One of […]

World Book Day 2020: Conservation fiction

World Book Day 2020: Conservation fiction

Posted on 5 March 2020 by Caitlin Jenkins

Today is World Book Day, a worldwide celebration of the joys of books and reading! The theme for 2020 is ‘share a million stories’. I haven’t got quite that many […]

If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Fix It – A Critical Review of “New Kintsugi”, a Modern Take on a Traditional Repair Method.

If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Fix It – A Critical Review of “New Kintsugi”, a Modern Take on a Traditional Repair Method.

Posted on 29 January 2020 by Cal James

After finding out about the technique of “Kintsugi”, an ancient Japanese technique of repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold powder, I was intrigued. After some further research, including reading Shan-Ying […]

Mask on, Mask off: Masking Films from X-radiation

Mask on, Mask off: Masking Films from X-radiation

Posted on 8 January 2020 by Amber Bhatty

Photo by author So, I spent an hour and forty minutes X-raying my objects and developing the films. When they were finally dry, I laid them on the lightbox to […]

UV Huh! What is it good for?

UV Huh! What is it good for?

Posted on 4 January 2020 by Gabriella Cortes

Ultra-violet (UV) light. What’s the first thing that springs to mind when you think about it? Those blacklights used in forensic crime dramas to reveal hidden clues? That episode of […]

Kintsugi: a Japanese traditional ceramic conservation skill

Kintsugi: a Japanese traditional ceramic conservation skill

Posted on 5 November 2019 by Shan-Ying Chen

Introduction Kintsugi, also called Kintsukuroi, is a set of traditional Japanese ceramic repairing skills that has been practiced for centuries. Archaeologists and historians have found that some excavated pottery in […]