finished amulets

  Continuing from The Small Blessings http://pittrivers-amulets.blogspot.co.uk/project at The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, I went on to finish off some of the amulets which I started during the project. I have also made a few new ones.
To give the finished amulets a feeling of belonging to the permanent collections, they were all hand labeled and numbered.

plaster, gold and silver leaf

plaster, metal matchbox holder

aluminium, crystal bead, leather

embroidered wool purse, leather, donkey hair, found objects

aluminium, stone, leather

beeswax, plaster, thread, paper

copper, found objects, knitted purse

plaster, gold and silver leaf

Beeswax, plaster and pins

The labels were edged with aluminium and copper, to give a similar feel to the labels in the museum. All the specimens from the project have gone through conservation to check for any infestation and put through the deep freeze. This will protect objects in the museum from potential contamination.

Working on this unique project has inspired my work a great deal. It has led me to try out new techniques, such as mould making and casting and also to consider ways of presenting my work.
Hopefully I will continue to develop some of these ideas in my future work.

The last day at The Museum

Today was the last of the 6 sessions of the Small Blessings http://pittrivers-amulets.blogspot.co.uk/ project, which I have been working on with a community group from Mind (Mental Health charity). It has been a wonderful project to work on, not only because it has been based at The Pitt Rivers Museum http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/ but also it has created a direct link to my own work.

We have explored different materials and techniques during the project, including mould making, clay and metal. It has been interesting discovering and learning all about the amulets collections and creating our own amulets, charms and votives.
One of the important aspects was the presentation of the finished pieces. At the start of the project we visited the conservation rooms at the museum and saw how the collections are cataloged, labelled and presented at the museum. We tried to keep our work along the same lines as to fit in with the rest of the displays.

I'm looking forward to eventually seeing the work displayed in one of the cases at the museum.

Hand writing labels

Finding inspiration for the descriptions

Labeling the casts

Numbering the objects

The group finishing off their artwork

The finished artwork

The artwork with the hand written labels

This one will be displayed in a box with a cushioned lining

The metal crimping on the labels really made a difference to the finished objects

Sheet metal

I wanted to see if I could use the sheet metal to create something similar to the amulets which I had seen at The Pitt Rivers. Particularly the ones which were of people and animals.

Metal amulets - Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

The metal was easy to cut, using scissors. I used a copper hammer and a mini anvil to pound the metal. Not only did this flatten it but it also gave it a distressed, aged look and got rid of the severe scissor edge. I used different tools to etch, scratch and create patterns in the metal. Finally, I added oil paint with a sponge which gave the metal a burnished look and aged feel.

I made the following animal amulets and researched superstitions related to the animals:

Monkey
An amulet carried during exams or tests to allow the person the ability to think through complex problems.

Fish
Wise and knowledgeable. Given to a person by someone who as told them a secret and want them to be silenced.

Donkey
The hairs from a donkey's cross were cures for ailments. Worn in a charm around the neck to guard against whooping-cough,toothache, fits and to ease teething in babies; sometimes the hairs were eaten in a sandwich!

Crocodile
Crocodile blood cures eye problems and snakebites.

This technique was simple and I think it is something which would be good to try in the workshop at the museum.


Link to the Small Blessings blog  http://pittrivers-amulets.blogspot.co.uk/

Link to the Flickr page  http://www.flickr.com/photos/76253275@N03/sets/72157629496147470/

Photos to follow...

Small Blessings - The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

I was asked to take part in a new project based at The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. I will be working with a group of adults from Mind (a mental health charity), observing a new collection of amulets,charms and votives which have been donated to the museum. The collection belonged to Adrien de Mortillet (1853-1931) and contains examples from all over the world. I am trying to find out more about de Mortillet, but so far have not been too successful. I do know that he had many careers including a perfumer and a balloonist!

Over 5,000 objects have been donated to the museum, and it is the job of the conservationists to catalogue these and create a database so that they can be easily found in the future. A separate blog has been set up to document this process which can be found here.

http://pittrivers-amulets.blogspot.co.uk

My job is to work with the members of Mind to discover more about these objects and to create our own pieces, which will be exhibited in the museum at the end of the project.
From observing the amulets, charms and votives at the museum they are mainly made out of the following materials:

clay
plaster
wax
natural materials such as seeds, bark, fruit, grasses
parts of animals and human including hearts, bone, teeth and skin
metal
textiles
food

plaster moulds with wax casts

metal charms and amulets

votive offering - clay

magic bundle placed in the village to lay a curse

I decided to try and keep to these materials...although I won't be using any human hearts! Initially, I will be experimenting with plaster moulds, clay, metals and textiles and see where that takes me.
It's an exciting project to be involved in and I am looking forward to seeing what we come up with.