VANE TEMPEST BANNER RESTORATION - GALLERY Textile Restoration Studios, Altrincham

29th October 2004:The children of Parkside School  accompanied by parents, teachers and members of the SDVT Banner Fund set off from Parkside at 8:30am on a dull wet  October morning.  Nevertheless, spirits were high and everyone was looking forward to  learning how the banner was being restored.  It was October holiday-time for the children (and staff) but their choice was to travel to Altrincham, near Manchester  to visit the Studios.

 

At the Studios, the Vane Tempest banner was laid out on a big table.  The children gathered around for a good view.  They were told that the banner had been carefully taken to pieces. The large piece on the table is just the centre portion.	Jacqueline  Hyman, who is the Proprietor of the Studios, had created a textile restoration classroom. She explained to the children in simple language all the processes which were being carried out  on the banner
The microscope was very popular with the children as they were shown  how different textiles looked  at high magnification - a long word which tells us how much bigger the threads look.	Some of the threads were very dirty and the dirt  was difficult to remove .  This picture shows one of the banner  fringes being cleaned.
The children learned that proper waterproofing of textiles could be important and different materials felt different to the touch.	They  learned that  when the banners were used and stored badly they could be attacked by unfriendly substances  such as acids. Here, they are learning to test the banner for too much acidity.
The test strips the children used were compared with a colour chart which told they how much acidity was present.	Even the Mums joined in and they too learned a lot about restoring banners and caring for textiles.

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