Week Three

I spent most of this week up a scaffold or crawling around on my knees, which can only mean this week and next will be spent participating in the palace's Annual State Bed Clean and Audit. I currently have no photos of this work, but will have some soon, so look forward to that in a blog post in the near future. For now, here is a photo from the King’s wing, which is where I was working this week.

Hampton Court is home to a number of throne canopies and beds, which are all very large and often attached to the wall. They have to be inspected to make sure that they aren't rapidly deteriorating, being eaten by pests, or other things that require attention. These inspections help the staff decide what artifacts need to be treated in the upcoming year or two. We also perform routine surface cleaning (also known as vacuuming) and document any changes that has occurred to the object. We also check and clean the furniture in the rooms of whatever wing we are working in (but they tend to be very boring- which is always a good sign for a conservator).

I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday working on the throne canopy in King William III's Presence Chamber, which is the second public room in his suite. The first day we need a full four-level scaffold so we could clean the top of the canopy (which was filthy) and the finials. Tuesday was spent on a three-level scaffold inside the canopy. The highlight of Wednesday was being part of a line on conservators sewing fine netting over the fringe at the bottom of the backcloth, essentially creating a bag to catch all of the bits of it that keep falling off (which featured the sound of textile conservators in a panic- quick, silent sewing). The Presence Chamber is extremely cold normally and the weather has been positively frigid this week. It was even (very briefly) snowing at Hampton Court this week.  

We moved to the Georgian Route Thursday to work on a bed, but I spent it examining all of the parts of the bed that had to be removed (mattress, quilt, etc) in a much larger (and much warmer) room. Friday was a bizarre day and I spent it mainly doing non-bed clean things, such as hold up a pair of King George V's trousers as we figured out what size of mannequin he requires for exhibition. When the real form shows up, I get to prep him for exhibit but that won't be for a few weeks. I can’t wait to start that work!