{"id":1972,"date":"2022-01-18T12:45:06","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T12:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/?p=1972"},"modified":"2022-01-20T08:35:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T08:35:19","slug":"from-retail-to-18th-century-glass-my-first-object","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/from-retail-to-18th-century-glass-my-first-object\/","title":{"rendered":"From Retail to 18th Century glass: My first object"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you coming to study MSc Conservation Practice? Are you thinking about changing your career and retraining as an object conservator? Not sure what to expect?<\/p>\n

Here is a little look at what you could expect as a\u00a0 first year in the labs and when you get your first object. It can be quite an in-depth process, this blog post is a brief insight.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a first year MSc Conservation student who is retraining after 10 years in retail. It is safe to say that this pandemic has put a lot of things in perspective for people and many re-evaluated their careers, myself included. After spending nearly 5 years in retail management, I knew, for a long time I was not in the career I wanted.<\/p>\n

No time like the present to retrain and make a new path for myself? Why not!<\/p>\n

Why Conservation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have always been enthralled and captivated by museums and when I was younger, I wanted to become an Archaeologist, however life happens, and I ended up studying a degree in Theatre. Fast forward to 2020 I spent a lot of the first lockdown going on virtual museum tours and watching many Museums YouTube videos, and conservation came up- a lot. I knew it existed, but it wasn\u2019t until then that I thought of it as a career prospect.<\/p>\n

The more research I did, the more I thought that conservation was where I needed to be, that is when I came across MSc Conservation Practice, a conversion course that enabled me to re-train without needing to go back to obtain another undergraduate degree in a more relevant field. The two-year course will give me the tools and experience required to become a professional Conservator.<\/p>\n

If you want more information: https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/study\/postgraduate\/taught\/courses\/course\/conservation-practice-msc?utm_source=instapage&utm_medium=landingpage&utm_campaign=conversioncourses<\/p>\n

And well, here I am!<\/p>\n

My Object<\/strong><\/p>\n

In October, I sat down at my new Lab bench, and I was handed a box which read \u201cG1176, Glass wall Ornament, Bristol Museum\u201d.<\/p>\n

After getting over the initial shock that I have just been handed an actual historical object, on my first day and it was my role to treat it- what are the first steps? What did I have in front of me? As a conservator, where do I go from here?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t panic, you are not on your own, all your cohorts are in the same position, and you are fantastically led by expert knowledge and experience guiding you down the right path.<\/p>\n

So, what did I have on my lab bench?<\/p>\n

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Figure 1: image showing object in box and then object laid out.<\/p>\n