Wednesday 20th December 2023
Evening with Wild Swans and Supper, WWT Slimbridge
Last autumn, Alison Lister came to Box Village Hall to tell us about her training and career in Textile Conservation and about the conservation projects undertaken by her Bristol-based business, Textile Conservation Ltd. 11 Club members subsequently took up the kind offer of a guided tour of her Studio which is based at the Paintworks development in Bristol. Alison put a range of carefully chosen objects on display from a variety of commissions that the Studio is undertaking and introduced us to each, explaining the individual challenges.
The Union Jack from the Royal Navy’s HMS Captain (launched in 1869) was made from wool bunting. If the Studio’s proposal is accepted, some earlier restoration will be removed and the Ensign sandwiched between sympathetically dyed cotton net and muslin, so stabilising it for rehanging from a pole in its current Church home.
The Coleford Wesleyan Methodist Sunday school banner is constructed of a wonderfully painted silk, but the latter is badly shattered. One of Alison’s assistants was assessing different red-dyed gauze to see which would be a suitable match, to be gently placed between the layers and hot glued in place. So from a distance the banner will appear whole, while close-up the repair and original can be distinguished. A painstaking conservation that will require around 1000h.
Besides these two objects we were treated to an overview of four others: a beautiful lace curtain, one of eight from a National Trust property in Armagh, which were also being strengthened for rehanging by delicately sewing to a suitably dyed net backing; another flag, this time from the British Legion, again being stabilised for rehanging in Church; an evocative child’s sampler from the 1800s, a private commission, requiring some wool thread embroidery restoration; a 19th C wedding dress top that had been damaged by damp in a museum store and was in need of cleaning; and a tapestry from Kelmscott (though older and not contemporary with William Morris), Samson tending the Lion, which also required strengthening for rehanging and so was to be given a robust linen backing as it was very heavy - it was interesting to compare the light-faded front, for example with the green foliage now appearing blue, to the still vibrant colours on the back.
A really memorable visit.