2010 is a significant year for several of Wiltshire’s museums, as they celebrate anniversaries of one sort or another.

To give you a reminder of some of the fantastic museums and collections on our doorstep here in Wiltshire, here is a rundown of the 2010 celebrations:

 
Medieval chess piece
Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum

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The Objects Conservation lab at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre is an exciting and consistently intriguing place to be with the diverse range of unique objects that come through the doors.

 
Detail during treatment of Indian talwar sword shown with silver and gold inlay from the Rifles Museum. The cleaned surface, right side, shown in contrast with the left side’s yellowed lacquer coating.

            My name is Drew Karnoski, and I’m a student of conservation at Cardiff University, currently completing a work placement in the Objects Conservation Laboratory at the WSHC. To find out more about the objects I have had the pleasure to work with, please 'read more'...

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Many of the objects that come into the Conservation labs are from Wiltshire Museums.

This month conservators have been working on a glass sign belonging to Mere Museum. The sign, advertising ‘Attaboy Hats’, came to the labs in several pieces. The museum would like to put it on display as part of an exhibition about local industry in Mere.

The sign before repainting
To find out more please 'read more'...
 

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A genuine thank you to everyone who sent us their comments; many apologies again for being unable to post them sooner. You were all right about object number one and we did get a correct answer for object number three too, so congratualtions and well done! Here are the answers:

Number 1 is a gunpowder flask from Cricklade Museum. Dating from the early 19th century this once belonged to Joseph Neeld and would have been used to prime a pistol with powder ready to fire. Joseph Neeld was MP for Chippenham from 1830 to 1856.

 
The Gunpowder Flask
Please 'read more' to find out about the other two objects...

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The Objects Conservation team regularly have volunteers working alongside staff in the labs who carry out valuable work for Wiltshire museums and external clients. At the moment we have two volunteers with us, working three days per week.

Jo Launchbury is a student at Cardiff University and originally came to work with the Objects team on a work placement as part of her degree course. She has since come back as a volunteer until she returns to university.


Joe working on the seed fiddle

Jo has worked on a number of projects during her time with the Conservation Service, including repairing two ceramic goblets, cleaning and re-packing a pony harness from Market Lavington Museum and cleaning and repairing a seed fiddle from Mere Museum. She has also visited a number of Wiltshire museums with the conservators, taking readings to monitor the environment in stores and galleries. 
 
Amanda Wilkinson has just graduated from Cardiff University and is currently working with us for three days per week in order to gain work experience. Read on to find out more....

Amanda in the process of repairing the jigsaw
 

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