Follow Senior Textile Conservator Susana Fajardo in this ASMR video as she works on a golden tabard worn by Ian McKellen for his performance in Shakespeare's Richard II from 1968 – 1970.
She focusses on the importance of handling an object correctly, especially when dealing with delicate theatre and performance costumes. These garments have often had many lives – having been repaired quickly for the stage and stored in ways which can make preservation difficult, so extra special care must be taken whilst in contact with them.
Process: Does a conservator need to wear gloves? 00:27 Why is correct handling of an object important? 01:00 Silk pads: 01:31 How can needle damage be reduced? 02:09 Are theatre costumes hard to preserve? 02:36 Photograph of Ian McKellen wearing the gold tabard in Richard II: 03:42
All the objects we have in the museum are unique.
They come to us and, of course, handling is the main issue.
Sometimes we have to wear gloves.
But with costumes and textiles we try to just wash our hands before we touch the object
because we need to feel, we need to grip.
The sensation of holding a textile is very important,
especially when we're dealing with costumes.
I give a lot of training in the museum on object handling
and when I start my first message is always this, minimum handling.
So now we slide it.
Inevitably we have to be very careful.
So up to a certain distance or size I can move an object safely on my own, but often I can't.
So we have to work as teams, we have to rely on our colleagues to move objects.
Like this one.
This will support the fold which I'm going to create when I pack the textile.
And I have a pad here covered with silk which is against the object
because I don't want it to catch and to pull.
So yes, you can create a lot of damage with bad handling
and this is one of the first rules with museum objects.
Make sure your handling is corresponding to what you have on your work table.
So the piercing of a needle will create more damage, so we want to avoid that.
But in this work, on this tablet, I am inevitably stitching quite a lot
but I am choosing my points, my key points where I can anchor the decoration,
make sure it makes sense.
And I'm not overdoing with my stitching.
Sieser costumes have had many lives, they've been repaired quickly
and not always stored in ways that aid their preservation
so we have to often deal with old repairs and layers and layers of treatment
which makes it difficult.
But in the middle of all these layers of past repairs and treatment
we have to find a way of retaining what is left and keeping it safe
so we can handle it, we can store it and we can sometimes display it for the public.
