There are two mannequin forms that were created for a pair of Inuit pants and a pair of Greenlandic shorts both on display in Art and Innovation: Traditional Arctic Footwear from the Bata Shoe Museum Collection. The exhibition designer determined that the best look would be to pass an acrylic rod through each leg. An […]
Ask a Conservator with Ada
Last month, our curatorial team participated in the global event, #AskaCurator. In case you missed it, here’s our conservator, Ada, answering some of your questions. What does your typical day look like? The first thing I do and the last thing is to check the environment (temperature and humidity) in each gallery and storage room. […]
Fabricating Mannequins: Displaying Parkas and Coats (Part I)
Clothing and people come in all shapes and sizes. The challenge of displaying outfits for an exhibition is creating a form with the right proportions. Ten mannequins were required for the exhibition Art and Innovation: Traditional Arctic Footwear from the Bata Shoe Museum Collection; each one was dimensionally different but essentially used the same technique. […]
Chinese Children’s Booties: Taming the Tangles
One of the challenges of working with the BSM’s diverse collection is preparing shoes for long term storage since each style has its own inherent design issues. The museum acquired a collection of Chinese children’s booties with tassels that presented just such a challenge. These boots are made of silk satin with a cotton or […]
Conservation Blog: Monkey Business
In 1986 the BSM acquired at auction an automaton made in the 1880s at the famous Phalibois workshop in Paris, France. It features a monkey cobbler sitting at his workbench under a flowering tree. This artefact was selected for our previous exhibition, Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19thCentury, thus providing […]
When Good Sneakers Go Bad
In 2013 the Bata Shoe Museum (BSM) organized an exhibition called Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture discussing the evolution of sneakers from sports footwear to fashion accessory. In examining the shoes before they went on display we noticed they were showing signs of active deterioration. Inherent vice is a term used […]
Sea Me Now: Treatment of a Pair of Deep Sea Diving Boots
These deep sea diver’s boots were made in the 1920s by Siebe Gorman, a company originally based in London, England. They are made with a thick leather boot anchored by a heavy brass sole each weighing 8.2kg (18 lbs). The strap over the vamp is 4cm wide (1 ½”) with 2 narrower straps, 2cm wide […]
Working From Home Part 2
As physical isolation is still in place I’m continuing with treatments in my ad hoc conservation lab at home. The next artefact up for consideration is a fragment of 18thC chintz, a finely woven cotton fabric from Indian featuring a combination of hand drawn and dyed designs, which will be framed for display in the […]
Working From Home Part 1
Due to the current situation of COVID-19, the BSM staff has been getting creative on how to bring you the BSM From Home! Our conservator, Ada, has turned her home office into a temporary work space! Find out more about the process in today’s blog post written by her. My plan was to continue conservation […]
In Need of Some Polish: Conservation of a Late 19th C Shoe Polish Box
Sometimes when a museum curator is planning an exhibition, they discover that there are artifacts needed to tell a story that are not yet part of the overall collection. This box was acquired by the BSM for just such a reason. It was purchased, along with its accompanying glass bottle containing remnants of black shoe polish, […]