This is textile related, not costume. My mom has a large (approx. 4' x 6') embroidered hanging. It is made of silk. It was made in China, in the late 1800's. What is the best way for her to preserve it? It hung for years at my great-aunt's, who was a smoker. My mom has it covered by a sheet and rolled up right now, but she'd like to have it cleaned, if possible, and maybe put in some sort of frame. We have no idea who to ask about this, so when I saw your post about clothing conservation, I thought I'd ask. Thanks, Sharon Collier
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arden Kirkland Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 9:46 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [h-cost] Historic Costume Preservation Workshop at Vassar College Hello! I wanted to share a link to a project I'm working on this semester, the Historic Costume Preservation Workshop at Vassar College (HCPW). This NEH funded project has students working with me (and other faculty/staff) to better document our collection of 500+ examples of historic fashion, dating from the nineteenth century. We've had two formal workshops so far, with Jessa Krick discussing best practice for cataloging, and Jonathan Scheer and Rebecca Chartier discussing best practice for handling and storing textiles and writing condition reports. We will have one more intensive workshop in April, with CSA member Colleen Callahan. Meanwhile, we have weekly labs to document the objects, and each of us will focus on one object for a research paper before we're through. We're hoping to host a small exhibition at the end (if we can find a secure space!) In the weekly labs we have unearthed some interesting pieces, and we have many questions to answer as we head toward final projects and further research. Many of the students are coming to this project with no knowledge of costume history, so their ability to identify different features varies greatly. As the project moves along, I'll be pushing them into more external research to test their theories about the dates, fibers, etc. of the objects, and most importantly, to discuss different aspects of each object's significance. Here's a good video post to start with: http://blogs.vassar.edu/hcpw/2010/03/01/video-of-blue-floral-bodice- with-bustle/ Please browse around the site and take a look at what else the students have found. Over the next few weeks, there will be new posts every day or so, to show more videos and photos of the objects We'd love your feedback! We have to make some decisions soon, to choose about 7 objects from the collection for our final projects. We'll identify objects that have condition issues, and stabilize them so that we can mount them and exhibit / photograph them. It's going to be hard to narrow down our selections, so your comments can help guide us. I hope you'll take a look! If you find it interesting, you may want to subscribe to the blog. Just click on the "Subscribe" tab on the top right and choose from the list of options. I highly recommend subscribing by email - then all new posts will show up in your inbox. Videos and photos won't come through in the email if you do that, but the email will link you to the blog so that you can see everything. Of course, you can also contact me directly if you have any other questions or comments about the project. Enjoy! -Arden p.s. my apologies to anyone who's getting this twice, since I also just posted it on the CSA list . . . -- Ms. Arden Kirkland Costumer Vassar College Drama Department Poughkeepsie, NY [email protected] 845-437-5589 (costume shop) http://blogs.vassar.edu/hcpw http://ardenkirkland.wordpress.com http://blogs.vassar.edu/vccc http://tryingonhistory.blogspot.com/ http://grou.ps/digitalobjects/ _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
