Month: September 2017

A goddess and a cat

Many of you are probably familliar with this museum item, namely the “Gayer-Anderson cat”, preserved in the British Museum in London. It is the depiction […]

We now know a little more about the history of one of the emeralds of Catherine the Great of Russia. Just for sport, how about trying to 3D model […]

The sketchbook series: have a look at what we’re up to.

3D Modeling exercice by an album sheet of a study for an athenian with swans and dolphins, attributed to […]

Have you ever looked at a gemstone for so long its shape and reflections start to make no sense ?Make it move just a little and it worsen !

Light […]

Need fancy handles for your DIY project ? […]

TL; DR: “Victorian” and “traditional” often means “can’t really date but looks old”.

As with most of the good stories, it all started with a finding in an old box […]

Thanks to M.Page, we are now a little less distraught facing the curves and multiple leaf divisions of the acanthuses representations. If push comes to shove, restoring missing parts […]

M.Page has shown us how to draw a simple and straight acanthus leaf using basic geometric shapes and principles. Let’s now see how he proposes to curl and bend […]

Today, it’s high time we finish the acanthus leaf we started a while ago with the precious help of M.Page. […]

Using an optical instrument, magnifying glass, binocular or microscope is a daily routine in the curation and conservation world. Choosing such an important device to be our daily ally […]

End of the year festivities are coming and we know some of you will make things at home to give to your loved ones.
To help you in this endeavor […]

Some of us store various amounts of gizmos and doodahs in attics or garages, washed up in improbable boxes invariably labeled « misc. » during a consequent period. Among those items […]

Now that you are well acquainted to the fact that in order to restore you need to understand, let’s dive into some of the issues and pitfalls lurking in […]

Using a pencil to draw, take notes or make shopping lists started around the XVIth century. The lines produced by its lead are similar to the ones made by […]

 
Every famous explorer worth his or her salt brought back natural specimens from their journeys. This practice historically created most of the modern natural history museums, enriching their collections […]

It is now time for us to learn how to draw acanthus the easy and fool-proofed way, courtesy of M.Page.
Let’s start with the grid that will be the basis […]

Did you know furniture moldings and architectural decor could be described the same way ?

Now, you try!

This storage chest is richly ornamented: the three carved statues on the front represent […]

Chemical composition is one of the key elements to trace the origin and the age of old papers. Elements such as cotton fibers shouldn’t be found in papers before […]

Cinnabar is a natural compound containing mercury(II) sulfide. Processing cinnabar results in a fine, brilliant, deep red powder : it has been used ever since the antiquity as « Vermilion » to […]

Anaximander is, according to Themistius, the first pre-socratic philosopher to write about nature in De Natura, where he speculates about the universe around him and its construction. He also […]