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National Museums Scotland

Artefact Conservation Department

February 2014 to June 2014

Supervisor: Ticca Ogilvie

 

During my internship, I took part in the conservation and collections care of both organic and inorganic objects in the permanent collection. I performed a comprehensive survey to assess and describe the condition of the Chinese glass within the collection, as well as interventive conservation treatment as necessary. I condition checked and conserved metal objects going on loan abroad and for the Common Cause: Commonwealth Scots and the Great War and the Next of Kin exhibitions. In addition to this, I worked with taxidermy specimens as well as archaeologial objects within the collection.

 

I gained various skills, including:

· Taxidermy specimen conservation: cleaning, backing, tear-mending, re-stuffing

· Historical metal conservation: cleaning, removal of old coatings, removing corrosion products, electrolytic reduction, consolidation for the Common Causes and Next of Kin exhibitions

· Archaeological (Egyptian) painted surface conservation: cleaning, consolidation, relaying

· Glass conservation: cleaning, consolidation, removing old adhesive, joining

· Ceramics conservation: scientific analysis (FTIR, UV, SEM), cleaning, consolidation, removal of old coatings, filling, inpainting, and sealing

· Designing and carrying out a comprehensive survey of Chinese glass in the collections

· Preparing objects for long-term loan out

 

Dry cleaning a taxidermy specimen

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