The place did it come from, the place will it go?

The music “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” by some accounts, was heard sung on plantations in America by slaves since earlier than the Civil Struggle. Nevertheless, the model popularized in 1994 by Swedish Americana-themed Eurodance group Rednex, (after which later carried out by Daniel Radcliffe and firm for the soundtrack of the bizarrely stunning “Swiss Military Man”) incorporates the important thing to a complete moral strategy to restoration and conservation.

Howdy, my title is Shane. I’m a furnishings restorer and conservator based mostly in Sydney, Australia. For some cause I’ve been allowed to write down content material for FineWoodworking.com. The beloved and dearly missed Nancy Hiller did a significantly better abstract of my life than I’ll ever have the ability to write myself, however I’ll attempt to introduce myself none the much less.

I began my journey in woodworking and furnishings correctly solely about 10 years in the past. I had carried out some easy carpentry, occasion décor, and prop work prior, however by no means something “tremendous.” Nevertheless, in 2014, sick of working 9-5 doing one thing I didn’t care about, I began volunteering at an environmental charity in Sydney referred to as The Bower. I realized from a few of the different volunteers there concerning the fundamentals of furnishings restore and building.

I spent the following few years constructing a furnishings restore and woodworking program for them with the help of quite a lot of different employees and volunteers, always attempting to be taught extra and get higher alongside the way in which. It wasn’t lengthy earlier than I spotted, like I’m positive a lot of you may have, that the issues that individuals say confidently may the truth is be based mostly in completely nothing. I used to be given some actually good recommendation, and I used to be given some actually unhealthy recommendation. The issue was that I didn’t perceive sufficient to have the ability to inform the distinction between the 2.

It was in an effort to make sense of every thing I used to be informed that I got here throughout the tome that’s “Conservation of Furnishings” edited by Shayne Rivers and Nick Umney. This guide appeared to have a scientific strategy to restore. The issues within the guide appeared based mostly in cause and never simply anecdote. I used to be intrigued, and I got here to imagine that Conservators had been a bunch of people that had all of the solutions, who understood what was occurring, and who may inform me learn how to restore one thing in order that it might final ceaselessly.

So, I stop my job at The Bower. I traveled to the UK to review Furnishings Conservation at West Dean Faculty, and I’ve been working as an expert restorer/conservator for probably the most half ever since. And the truth is that the extra you understand, the extra you notice what you don’t know.

Maybe I’ll get into extra of my academic journey in later posts, however I’ll let you know this: There’s quite a bit about furnishings and wooden that we nonetheless don’t truly know for sure, and never everybody agrees on the correct factor to do.

When requested “what’s the proper method to restore or preserve this piece of furnishings,” individuals who truly know what they’re speaking about nearly at all times reply, “It relies upon.”

Many individuals have tried to outline the distinction between restorers and conservators. Years of schooling, an understanding of science, and tutorial {qualifications} generally come up in these discussions. So far as I’m involved, restoration will not be separate from conservation.

In a strict dichotomy, restoration and preservation are on two sides of a line, with restoration that means an entire overhaul and erasure of historical past to return one thing to its authentic state or former glory, and preservation being the locking of the item in time ceaselessly. Clearly neither are what occurs more often than not.

My job could imply returning a chunk to an earlier state, nevertheless it may also imply preserving it within the state it’s in proper now. In some instances, you could restore solely its operate however depart the age on its floor, or you could resolve to return it to a state between when it was created and now (eradicating paint however not patina). Typically probably the most acceptable alternative is to do nothing. It’s coming to that call after which following via on that call that defines my work as a restorer/conservator. That is additionally referred to as sympathetic restoration, or just “being considerate.” I truthfully don’t care concerning the titles related. I care concerning the items and who they matter to.

The query is what are the values of the item and for whom are they helpful? Is your property vital as a result of it capabilities as a home, due to who made it and the way, or since you and your family members have lived your lives in it? Would you take away the basic measurements of your loved ones’s heights from the door body for the sake of returning it to its “former glory”?

My job is to take this stuff into consideration. I stability them towards an knowledgeable understanding of supplies, historical past, building, and methods. And that is the place The Cotton-Eyed Joe Strategy comes again.

There are numerous frameworks for determination making, however that is certainly one of my favorites and was coined by my good friend, guide and {photograph} conservator Nayla Maruuf. She says it’s a must to ask your self these two questions:

“The place did it come from?”

“The place will it go?”

First have a look at the historical past of the piece: the way it was made, what it was made out of, why it was made, what it was used for, the place it has been, and what it has meant to folks. This offers you an understanding of what you are attempting to protect and what you are attempting to alter.

Then have a look at the place it can go. Is it going again into use in a house, on the market, in a museum, on show, in storage, in a area, in a fireplace? This tells you ways far it’s a must to go and what it wants long run.

I’ll provide you with an instance to ponder.

One of many first objects I labored on after ending my Conservation diploma was a wood drum from a Lit Sung Goong temple in Cairns, Australia. The drum was part of the Lit Sung Goong assortment on the Cairns and District Chinese language Affiliation INC (CADCAI).

The piece had two distinct competing histories. It had been made as a ceremonial drum, meant to be stunning and purposeful. The temple it was part of, constructed within the late 1800s in northeastern Australia, had been demolished within the Sixties, and the group round it had taken a lot of its objects into their very own houses to protect them. Now, Cairns is a sizzling and humid place, and most of the objects, together with the drum, suffered severe injury within the many years to observe. Made very equally to coopered barrels, the drum is constructed with a sequence of formed staves which tightly match collectively and are held in place by a couple of bamboo dowels and the dried skins on the high and backside [Click here for a related article on coopering]. The skins of the drum had shrunk and torn, the wood staves had deformed, and it now not held collectively.

This drum had a historical past as a proud purposeful and ceremonial object, nevertheless it additionally informed the story of what occurs when group areas are destroyed, and the care that was taken to maintain this drum properly past its purposeful capability. After remedy, it was to return to the CADCAI assortment for storage and show.

Because it goes ahead, which of those tales may you attempt to preserve in your remedy of it? Do you attempt to maintain each?

I’m trying ahead to writing extra for Advantageous Woodworking. I feel it’s vital to have restoration, conservation,, and restore content material on such a premier woodworking website. I’ve to apologize although, as a result of I’ll most likely have only a few strong solutions. I’ll attempt to share what I do know, what I’ve realized, and what I’ve seen. However the extra I be taught, the less solutions I really feel I’ve. “It relies upon” is the unofficial motto of my area.