Last week I attended the Interventive Techniques in Leather Conservation course at the Leather Conservation Centre in Leicester. This was 3 packed days learning about what makes leather such an interesting material and how to safely and effectively conserve it.
Why Leather Conservation?
“But Izzy, you’re a textile conservator. Why do you care about leather?”
I was initially interested in attending the course because I was asked to provide an estimate for the conservation treatment of an object owned by Aberdeenshire Council. The object is an Indo-Persian gauntlet featuring metal, textile, and leather elements. As a textile conservator I’m very familiar with treating fabric, however, this request made me realise that I knew very little about the conservation of leather. Leather is its own material category, but often appears alongside textiles. Leather appears commonly in clothing items such as in jackets, shoes, handbags, and accessories. I wanted to attend this course so that I could conserve the Indo-Persian gauntlet, but also future leather and textile objects that come into the studio.
What I Learned
The course began with covering the different types of historic leather and their unique care restrictions. We discussed health and safety, both for the objects and the conservators, as historic leather may have hazards from the tanning process or past pesticide treatments. Preventive conservation was also covered such as storage environmental recommendations: relative humidity and temperature. The tutors explained the major things to avoid when treating historic leather such as the dangers of heat and water combined, iron on vegetable tanned leather, and high relative humidity with alum tawed leather. Additionally, the course focused on interventive treatments such as humidification, lining, infilling, consolidation, and more. It struck me how similar some of these methods were to textile conservation, except adapted to a thicker, more water sensitive material. My favourite method was the infilling of gouges with melted Beva 371, then covering the repair with dyed Japanese tissue paper.
We explored conservation suitable materials, application techniques, and innovative ways of replicating textures. These sessions featured examining previous treatments at the Leather Conservation Centre, practising on mock ups, and treating actual historic objects in their study collection. Overall, after the course I have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to treat historic leather objects. My participation in this course was funded by the Anna Plowden Trust and Clothworkers’ Foundation which provides CPD grants to conservators.
Leather at Rossi Conservation
Going forward, this course has drastically changed my approach to the conservation of leather. I now have the mental tools to properly treat these objects, including the Indo-Persian gauntlet. I can now take on a larger variety of objects in my studio such as mixed media leather and textile objects like costumes.
Learn More
If you’re interested in learning more about leather conservation I highly recommend checking out the Leather Conservation Centre. They do quite a few online and in-person education outreach events for heritage professionals, leather craftspeople, and the general public.
If you have any questions about the conservation treatment methods detailed above or are concerned about a textile and leather object in your care, feel free to contact me here.