Monday 9 September 2013

A Day in the Life (I fixed a door today, oh boy)

My work can be highly varied, something for which I am always grateful and one evening last week, reflecting on the day's work and the number of diverse tasks I had undertaken that day, I thought "Do a blog, a snapshot of the day!"
Repair of damaged and broken Georgian door furniture, and installation, to the door between the Gothick Room and its dressing room, at Temple Newsam House.

 
Working with Temple Newsam site staff to determine water ingress problems over the South Wing and the Darnley Room, for reporting back to property management for attention. I lecture on the subject of conservation of historic houses, interiors and collections to students from the universities of Leeds, York and Hull, so I also updated the lecture with some more examples of what can go wrong and why. Additionally, conservation of historic buildings falls within conservation policy, an official policy document written by Head of Collections, Registrar and LMG conservators. Friday, last week, it was chucking it down, so that is the best time to look for leaks, and also spotted an overflowing downspout, indicating a blockage. The day before had been lovely, however, and I had the company of a heck of a lot of swallows on the roof of Temple Newsam House.


Picture by Jeff Darken


Ensuring that all the facets of the display development at Leeds City Museum, centred on the John "Longitude" Harrison precision pendulum clock, keep going forward, audio visuals, graphic treatment, showcase, other display accessories, and the objects themselves. Applying the size coat in preparation for gilding these finials for the hood of the John "Longitude" Harrison precision pendulum clock. The making of the finials was donated by craftsman Barry Horton, link to his website at the bottom of this blog.








Continuing with structural repairs to some fine chairs by Thomas Chippendale the Younger prior to their being reupholstered.



Some minor repairs to objects coming back to Temple Newsam from a loan to Sewerby Hall, East Yorkshire.

Posted by Ian Fraser (with gratitude to John Lennon for blog title inspiration, and for all the music)
http://www.barry-horton.com




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