Richard Hawkes

Fig. 1 A volume from The Gott Collection on a Plastazote® book support system For many years I have been making book cradles and supports for museums, archives and libraries to display valuable books and vulnerable bindings. These are usually made-to-measure from acid-free mount board, preventing stress being placed on the spine of the book […]

Many of the watercolours and drawings I am asked to conserve for museums and galleries are by amateur artists from the 18th to the early 20th century.  The value is not in their artistic merit but in the fact that they depict changing or vanished topographical views.  As such they are a unique record, often

Although I have sometimes been called upon to treat ancient manuscripts on parchment and papyrus, the earliest works on paper that I had conserved were Italian Old Master drawings and German engravings from the early 15th century.  That is until now, after I was asked by curator, Antonia Lovelace, from Leeds Museums and Galleries to

A well-chosen frame can really enhance the appearance of an artwork as well as provide a housing that helps protect your valued pictures.  However, at Artworks Conservation many of the problems that are dealt with result from poor quality framing materials such as acidic mount board, Sellotape and masking tape. For that reason, having restored a

Posters produced to advertise railway companies and their destinations were not expected to last longer than their brief period of display. The papers on which they were printed contained low quality wood pulp and the inks were bulked out with cheap extenders. They were pasted to billboards and walls and often torn down or covered

With the centenary of the First World War upon us, there have been a number of enquiries relating to the preservation of documents relating to its history. As well as family collections of letters and photographs, Artworks Conservation have also conserved several Rolls of Honour from various institutions. Currently on display at Kelham Island Museum