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Alumni Spotlight: Stephanie Whitehead

Alumni Spotlight: Stephanie Whitehead

Posted on 19 February 2020 by Caitlin Jenkins

Our 'Alumni Spotlight' series is back by popular demand! First to be interviewed is former conservation student (and department blog co-manager!) Stephanie Whitehead. What course did you study at Cardiff […]

P.S. We love you

P.S. We love you

Posted on 14 February 2020 by Caitlin Jenkins

Cardiff students work with a wide variety of objects at the university lab, on placements or other volunteering opportunities. It's difficult to pick a favourite object - like choosing a […]

Tubey or not tubey, that is the question…

Tubey or not tubey, that is the question…

Posted on 5 February 2020 by Caitlin Jenkins

‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ (Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2) Every object has its own story to tell. Some stories are happy, some […]

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 […]

Conservation Practice: Applying from the U.S.

Conservation Practice: Applying from the U.S.

Posted on 6 January 2020 by Greta Sweeney

Applying for postgraduate programs can be tough, but applying from another country 3000 miles away can make it even harder! If you’re interested in Cardiff’s Conservation Practice MSc program but […]

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 […]

X-Rays Galore: Blackfriary Metal Finds

X-Rays Galore: Blackfriary Metal Finds

Posted on 3 January 2020 by Alice Blakely

Following excavations from 2010-2018, the Blackfriary metal finds travelled from Trim, Ireland to Cardiff University in January 2019 for conservation. I was assigned the objects at the beginning of this […]

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 […]

Pathways to Conservation

Pathways to Conservation

Posted on 29 October 2019 by Caitlin Jenkins

It’s a rumour that we all found our calling as conservators from an early age, fuelled by a desire to disobey those DO NOT TOUCH signs in museums. At Cardiff […]