13.06.2020, 11:30 A.M.

Gilding and Historic Paint Effects: a free children's conservation and craft workshop for Cruinniú na nÓg 2020 with Ruth Bothwell, Decowell Studio, County Antrim.

Look at some of the painted and gilded objects we conserve and restore in our studio. You will see us: removing carbons from a fire damaged 170 year old painting; making rabbit skin glue; repairing a snail’s horn and applying palladium leaf to door architraves.

Our work ranges from small churches to royal historic houses and castles, where we record details of damaged painted and gilded surfaces. This helps us understand more about the causes of damage and how we can stabilise and repair it.

We do a lot of detective work to find out the history of a building and it’s previous owners, so we research and ask a lot of questions. We constantly learn so much from our varied and sometimes challenging projects.

It’s an important and rewarding job protecting and caring for historical objects and buildings as they are such a very important piece of our history. It’s up to us all to learn more about them and how to look after them. So join us for some fun and take the opportunity to ask us questions during this live workshop about what we do and how to become a conservator.

Ruth's workshop is being delivered on behalf of the Irish Georgian Society and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for Cruinniú na nÓg 2020.

(Recommended age 8-18 years)

To participate in this free conservation craft workshop, which will be delivered through Zoom, it is necessary to download Zoom https://zoom.us/download (free to download) onto your computer/tablet or smart phone in advance of the workshop.

Please click on this live link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85413303034 no more than ten minutes prior to the commencement of the workshop (i.e, you can join the meeting from 11.20am) and the Irish Georgian Society, who are hosting the workshop will admit you.

Please note that you will be able to hear and see the Irish Georgian Society representative hosting the meetings, as well as Ruth delivering the workshop in her studio but we will be unable to see or hear you. You can ask questions at the workshop through the Zoom chat function.