Natural History Conservation Intern
A year of training in the conservation of natural history objects
Week 7 – 24th to 28th October – A week full of fills
Continuing work on my Steneosaurus obtusidens specimen I found it to have been more affected by pyrite oxidation than I had originally thought. Other than consolidation my approach was to handle the specimen with extra care in the affected regions – even brushing over with a soft brush would cause further deterioration – cracking and powdering.
I started to fill gaps in the specimen this week. I would be using micro-balloons in B-72 to make the filler, but found it difficult to weigh up the options between the types of micro-balloon to use. The micro-balloons are used to thicken the adhesive into a “paste” that will fill out a gap and hold in place. As the adhesive is B-72 the fills can be removed using acetone if needed. After testing the options available to me I choose a very fine micro-balloon powder that would make a smooth mix. However the downside is that the filler being white would lighten when dried so I would have to mix a pigment colour accordingly.
Using acrylic paints I mixed a pigment to match the existing fills – they would inevitably appear new in the specimen as they had been aged by dust and time as the others had been.
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- Before gap fills
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- After gap fills
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- Before gap fills
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- After gap fills
I was not a great fan of the micro-balloon B-72 filler. It was difficult and messy to apply and thickened too quickly when exposed to air – I felt I needed 3 hands to use it! In the cracks it expanded out and became aerated within so wasn’t filling the gap as needed. Over the weeks I continued to struggle using it, continuously taking advice and testing different application techniques – I decided I just didn’t like it as I was continually frustrated when using it and unhappy with my work.
It was Pest Odyssey this week (I didn’t attend – far too expensive!) and some of the speakers held a seminar at the Natural History Museum to run alongside (which I did attend – free!). The subject was pest management in Northern American institutions. I found the lecture on the building of the Natural Heritage Building (NHB) in Canada particularly interesting. The building was built with pest management in mind; from the landscaping to the flooring. Ideas such as creating a declining slope away from the building and a vegetation free perimeter showed the level of detail they considered in the planning. At the same time it came at a huge expense to implement and maintain these measures – particularly as pests are not the main cause of damage to museum objects. It’s also a wonderful once in a lifetime opportunity to take advantage of a new building being built and many of the measures could not be effectively applied to old buildings.
Week 6 – 17th to 21st October – A week to remember
Unfortunately due to unexpected events I don’t have anything to report about my internship for this week.
Aside from this I attended an interview for the position of Assistant Conservator at the Royal College of Surgeons in which I was successful! So at this point my internship all turned on its head while I rearranged my plans for the year ahead.
My internship will now be 6 months long instead of 12 months, with me starting at RCS in March 2012. I will now have 3 months in Preston learning about taxidermy conservation with my supervisor James. The pressure is on for me to learn as much as possible in half the time! But the pressure is off in that I have a job to go to after my internship!
This is a picture from my portfolio that helped me get the job…
Week 5 – 10th to 14th October – Consolidation, Consolidation, Consolidation
The upper surface of the Steneosaurus obtusidens fossil was consolidated to protect it for turning. This was a lengthy process. Initially I made up a thin adhesive (5% B-72 in acetone) to consolidate all the small cracks and fractures using thin soft brush. The deep fractures were carefully consolidated by dripping the adhesive in with a thin glass pipette.
Me enjoying consolidating!
Another adhesive of 40% B-72 in acetone was made up to stick back on fractured pieces. The left articular region on the posterior side of the specimen (named according to modern crocodile morphology) had crumbled away into 1 large and many small (and microscopic) pieces due to pyrite oxidation – so that spent away plenty of hours under the magnifier but made all the difference once done.
The left articular region before treatmentThe left articular region after consolidation
The left articular region after consolidation
Old AJK dough fills that had cracked needed to be re-filled – in order to do this most of these old fills needed to be removed. It was easy enough to do with acetone, a small palette knife and tweezers.
I helped package some very important specimens for transportation including a delicate Hypsilophodon foxii fossil skull. We used some fancy PELI hard shell cases to carry one of the most special specimens that would be hand carried. They had soft foam inserts but were replaced with a higher density conservation grade plastazote.
Week 4 – 3rd to 7th October – Steneosaurus obtusidens
The Natural History Museum concentrates its conservation efforts on preventative conservation. My supervisor Gill manages the environmental monitoring of the museum. Although any conservator must prefer remedial conservation, the practice of preventative conservation is a priority because it can prevent a specimen requiring interventive treatment. I started week 4 with a crash course in environmental monitoring in the museum – with a museum of this scale the problems are endless, but it’s fair to say that all museums pose a unique set of challenges to overcome. It seems impossible to perfect the environment in the museum which is a real headache as it would be a priceless protection to the collection. Relative humidity and temperature are the most important factors measured, but there are many more. Some factors, like power and flood are specific to single rooms, but absolutely imperative to the safety of the collection in that area. The museum uses the Darca 2 Heritage database and Eltek radiotelemetry system to collate information from the departments within the London and Tring museums.
This week we decided upon my main project piece – or rather my supervisor Gill and Head of Conservation Chris settled upon an appropriate challenge for me. Steneosaurus obtusidens – a 1.5 metre long Jurassic marine crocodile skull from the Oxford Clay in Peterborough. The specimen poses multiple conservation issues – none of which I was familiar with having never worked on fossilised material before. The specimen was mounted in polyurethane form on a wooden board – the foam was brittle and is a known carcinogenic. The specimen had a number of fills from previous conservation work – but since this time (unknown) it has cracked and fractured extensively. This would initially seem to have been caused by the failure of the mount but after investigation the specimen was suffering with pyrite oxidation. Pyrite oxidation is common in specimens from the Oxford Clay and is “fuelled” by high relative humidity – so it may appear that the specimen deteriorated as a result of the environment, but this would be investigated at another time.
Steneosaurus obtusidens
To start my project I needed a work request form from the curator and then I was able to proceed with a condition report and conservation work plan – this would take me some time as I didn’t know what work needed doing, but after imposing on my colleagues I was able to draw up a plan and get an idea on what I would be doing. The week (and weeks to come) would be taken up by the project. I sketched the specimen as well as photographing it. Many people don’t understand what drawing can offer that photography cannot supply – I believe it enables the drawer to focus on morphology, structure and line – to show what is important in the context of its use, or to show the specimen in its entirety by “fixing” the perspective to prevent the focus on one area more than another. I love to photograph but I do believe drawing is a special skill that is at risk of being lost.
Preliminary sketch of Steneosaurus obtusidens
Week 3 – 26th to 30th September – Let’s skip the science
Once again this week started as a busy one in the lab. A 2 day seminar on Raman spectroscopy was held in the museum, and attendees were able to see the Renishaw Raman microscope in action in the PCU.
As I was helping ferry groups to and fro, I also decided to attend the seminars. The first day started off with the applications of Raman spectroscopy in conservation. I am a bit wary of conservation science (requires rather too much brain activity) – but the speakers were excellent and really highlighted the advantages of this knowledge to me. Raman analysis is non-destructive and many objects can be left in situ if analysed with a remote fibre probe. It can be used in the identification of pigments, which has huge advantages in conservation – one of the areas I found most interesting was its use in authenticating an item. I won’t say too much but there was a little example from the V&A where they analysed a pigment sample from a rather special group of acquisitions – the synthetic pigment was found to have been first developed later than the “artists” dates – thus they found they had a rather special group of near perfect forgeries. Microscopic analysis can also be used to identify materials in archaeological burials. It aids in the differentiation between human tissue and other materials. By analysing the protein content we can better understand degradation, and the processes of preservation.
So I was pretty fascinated for about ¾ of that first day, but then it all descended into pharmaceutical and bio-medical applications, very important stuff but I definitely had enough of that at uni.
This week I also learnt to make boxes – a step on from last week though. The skulls that are being re-packaged are very wide and don’t fit in the pre-made box “cut-outs”. So by making a template to the same design in conservation grade card I was able to re-create one to the desired size for each specimen. It’s harder than it sounds – no tape or glue if you go wrong, so it all has to go right because it takes hours to make the 3 pieces (top, tray and box). Its only after spending 3 months at NHM that I know respect how important box making is. Storage is the main cause of damage to objects, and a good box can even help the clumsiest of people better handle an object (unless they throw it on the floor – it’s only a box after all!)
Box in the making
Box Made!
So this week was mainly consumed with continuing on my repackaging of human remains. But on the Friday I had a little afternoon visit to Marion Kite (Head of furniture, textile and fashion conservation) at the V&A. I looked around the conservation studio and some on-going projects – the difference between their conservation facilities and NHM was the mirror image of the museums themselves – natural, scientific, working vs. stylish, clean, fashionable. I was most fascinated with the mannequins that are designed and made by specialist conservation staff – they are absolutely beautiful in themselves and complete innovation – made to shape, support and protect the outfit! And watching two women pin out a piece of wet cleaned Tudor lace to dry – I couldn’t imagine a more lady-like activity, maybe I ought to be taking notes. I finished my week in the Post-Modernism exhibition – I can’t lie and say I enjoyed it because I only liked Annie Lennox and Talking Heads in the middle, but as I had seen the FREE exhibition the Power of Making only the week before I will strongly advise that it is a much better idea to save your money in this case (it is a real 20 minute treat!)
However I did manage to make this comment on “post-modernism” by Charles Jencks speak to my specialism a bit
“After all, since it is fairly dead, we might as well enjoy picking over its corpse”
Week 2 – 19th to 23th September – Human Remains, Boxes and the BBC
After being thrown head first into the glass conservation course, this was my first proper week in the PCU (Palaeontology Conservation Unit). Like any normal first day I had all my tours, introductions and health and safety bits first. But after that we got straight onto my favourite subject – human remains!
The NHM are involved with a large repatriation project returning ancestral human remains to their countries of origin where the Traditional Owners can be identified. Recently the museum repatriated some remains back to the Torres Strait and Aboriginal communities – this story can be seen here.
Most of these remains had already been organised for this process – they had been packaged and condition reported. However the next project will involve the repatriation of other remains to a different ancestral community (sorry can’t be specific at this stage) – and this is the one I will be involved in through my placement here.
Due to the nature of this project I cannot post any photos of human remains.
The NHM had custom made box cut-outs designed for the purpose of storing skulls, mandibles and post-cranials. I was shown how to fold the boxes so that they slot together without the need for any glue – they are made of high quality conservation grade materials. The boxes have 3 parts – the box, top and tray. With the top off, the front side of the box slides down so the tray can slide out without a need to reach into the box and lift out.
The boxes are lined with plastazote which is cut so that it holds the skull on its crown securely, with the mandible in front.
I used the NHM condition report system which stores the information along with conservation details on KE EMu. My anatomical knowledge came in very useful here.
I cleaned an Ichthyosaur fossil for researchers who needed to take important measurements… and I can’t tell you anything more about that! I packed for a loan to Liverpool.
This week we were also bombarded by the BBC who does an excellent job of emptying the lab of any scientists or work! They were filming for a news story about the Science Uncovered event held at the museum on the 23rd September – I didn’t help with the event as it was my birthday. This would be my first experience with a film crew – my opinion is mixed, it’s great to see the conservation services getting some attention but the crews can be quite ignorant.
Sorry there were no pictures of my work – everything this week was pretty top secret! Here’s some of my skull art work instead…
Week 1- 12th to 16th September – Conservation of Glass Objects with Stephen Koob, Natural History Museum
So to start off my 12 month internship in the conservation of natural history and collections care I went on a week course in glass object conservation. Yes, it was a strange way to start. But I have good reason. The PCU (Palaeontology Conservation Unit at the Natural History Museum) where I am based for the first 3 months is a large and well equipped lab, so is often used to hold courses with practical sessions. As this was my first week, and the course would take up all the lab space and resources I would have been very stunted in my work unless… I went on the course!
So I was a bit unsure at first, I haven’t really worked with glass and it seemed a bit boring – no dead animals, no human tissue but it turned out this is one of the best courses I have been on. Stephen Koob is a lovely man with a real enthusiasm for glass – hence his work for the Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, New York). There were 11 on the course, including 2 other PCU staff.
Before the course this was the only glass I was interested in
The lectures were limited, the course had a substantial practical element. We learnt about the types of glass and the deterioration of glass – Stephen had lots of excellent examples from his years of work, which was lucky because it was all new to me! We were told about the cleaning of glass – and I am now scared to put any glassware in the dishwasher!
To start off the practical’s we were all given 2 or 3 broken glass objects – some appeared more difficult than others but they all had different problems. We each had one coloured and one clear object.
Coloured glass as given
First task – piece them back together. Starting with my coloured object I thought I had it very easy with only a few pieces, but this was not to be the problematic stage for me. We stuck together what we had with sellotape (everyone had a few pieces missing) – I then used paraloid B-72 on my coloured object as it can be reversed if needed. B-72 will bubble and trap air but this is less visible with coloured glass. I pieced it together quite quickly….
The missing pieces were very frustrating!
… but then came the clear glass object. I stuck it together with small pieces of tape, just doing the bottom section first. We then used an epoxy adhesive (Epotek 301-2) to drip into the fracture lines. The Epotek followed the cracks and filled them until they were near invisible. Epoxy adhesives look much better on clear glass because they don’t trap air like B-72, but they are so strong they can literally pull the glass apart and make it fracture in other places. It’s completely irreversible. It’s also a huge pain to clean up and remove – I would be terrified to us it on anything delicate. Over the first couple of days as I went along trying to piece together the clear vessel until we realised too much of the neck and rim were missing for it to hold its shape, so I could take a mould for the missing pieces… so in the end this object became redundant.
Couldn't go any further with this clear object
However the coloured object was perfect for the job, and threw up an interesting conundrum – how to get the raised pattern of the outer surface. Stephen would usually take a mould from the inside and fill with a resin from the outside – this is easier because of accessibility and having the wider curvature of the object. But Stephen didn’t want any half arsed jobs. So I did it the other way around. I took a mould using silicone of a complete side of the object. I took it from the outside so I got my bumpy raised pattern.
Mold for a fill on a complete side first using silicone
Once dry this would then be fixed to the side with the gap using more silicone. I would then have to mix up a pigment as near to the colouring of the object as possible and add that to the epoxy resin I would be using as a fill. Stephen had loads of tips on what fills, backings and pigments to use to get various finishes one might see on glass.
Filling with epoxy and blue pigment
I did this process for filling twice; the first time the colour was near perfect but the epoxy had escaped slightly from my mould (it is very difficult to get a perfect seal on a textured surface like this); the second was perfect in positioning and texture but the colour was too dark – I had used the same mix of pigment but the pigment has sunk to the bottom in this batch so it was in higher concentration.
First fill
Second Fill
The main problem for me was that the silicone moulds and the acetone used to clean actually lifted off my blue colour which turned out to be just a painted surface (cheap object!), so I ended up with nice blue fills but the object itself being clear in patches!
Stephen also showed us lot of different ways to create fills for rim sections where the mould covered both sides, and for detachable fills made of plaster and stuck in with B-72. Everyone tried different things.
During the week we had a visit to the V&A glass galleries, talks on crizzling and storage, and a trip to the pub – all in all it was a fascinating week and I met some lovely people. But it also helped me get back some of the artistry and dexterity I had lost whilst working in an office – and my sneaky start in the comfort of this group gave me a chance to suss out the museum, department and staff before they could really focus on me. Plus Stephen gave us signed books, our glass objects and any other old equipment to take away if we wanted too!
Apologies for the lateness…
In September 2011 I started a 12 month internship in natural history conservation and collections care set up through ICON (the Institute of Conservation) and funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund. The internship was to be spent at the Lancashire Conservation Studios in the grounds of the Museum of Lancashire in Preston; and I would be spending my time learning about the conservation of taxidermy with leading taxidermist, James Dickinson. As well as this there would be opportunities to learn about entomology and botany collections in other institutions.
I had been successful in the interview for the role the previous year but due to the illness of my supervisor the start of the internship was delayed. I discussed options for starting the first 3 months of my internship elsewhere, and was very lucky to get my number 1 choice- the Natural History Museum, London. So I at last started in September with a 3 month placement in the palaeontology conservation unit before returning to Lancashire.
The PCU is the only conservation unit in the museum. They prioritise the conservation of the palaeontology collection. They work mainly as preventative conservators but they do carry out remedial conservation where an object is necessary for research.
It was always my intention to write a blog from the beginning, but what with moving to London and adjusting to full time work again it all rushed by pretty fast! Fortunately I did manage to keep a daily diary so I now intend to do a back track summary of my first 3 months at the NHM through this blog. So keep an eye out for the first instalment!
a sneak peak!
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