Fit for a Queen: Remarkable Restoration, Exquisite Embroidery & Innovative Invisible Mannequins

September 12, 2016 By Julia 9 Comments

In Celebration of Her Majesty’s 7th cycle Birthday 2016

at the Grand Palace

July is always a busy month at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok, as annual preparations take place for Her Majesty’s August birthday. This year was a big one—7 cycles of 12 is very auspicious and the museum pulled out all the stops. Two new exhibits premiered—Fit for a Queen couture clothing by Balmain for Her Majesty’s World Tours, and Dressing Gods and Demons, costumes for the Khon Ramayana dance. The theatrical exhibit highlights modern dance textiles with historic examples, exemplifying the rigorous revival work that the Queen initiated over the past decades. The dresses of Her Majesty are superb—fit for a queen! Designed by the renowned French couturier Pierre Balmain, specifically for the 1960’s and 70’s State Visits and world tours. He worked closely with the Queen, tailoring a look that was both elegant, au courant and majestic. Balmain chose exquisite Thai silks to transform into sophisticated suits, party frocks, cocktail dresses, and ball gowns, lavishly embroidered by the legendary Monsieur Lesage; thus marrying European style with Thai luxury. There are also Balmain’s original sketch books, Louis Vuitton luggage with royal cyphers, and hats and shoes.In the “back of the house,” the conservation department had been preparing for months, but in the final 6 weeks, 12-hour days were the norm to ensure that the exhibits were perfectly prepared and installed.

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Invisible Mannequins

One of the highlights was the fabrication of “invisible mannequins.”Audiences were captivated and the press was enthralled, as reported in this Bangkok Post review from August 6, 2016, by Parisa Pichitmarn:

Besides the processes of preventing and reversing damage on the clothes, the very ball gowns themselves seem to be floating on air—a first in Thailand. Conservator Julia M Brennan noted, ‘We’re pioneering …a new style of mannequin, …a technique used in the US and Europe. We want to push the boundaries and do that here. It’s a big contribution to the style and to understanding conservation and the mechanisms of displaying.’

In fact, what you don’t see is [this] highlight that elevates “Fit For A Queen” towards world-class standards. How are these magical forms made? Conservation consultant Julia M. Brennan laughed,

with colleagues Nui and Yao

“We work with our hands, if we do our job well then you cannot see what we do.”

The ‘Lesage’ of Lao: Master Tiao Somsanith

August 12, 2016 By Julia 3 Comments

I recently met Tiao Nithakhong Somsanith at the 5th International Conference on Lao Studies, in Bangkok. He transformed a drab classroom into a sacred space—golden embroideries of the Buddha, lace-like stencils of angels hovering like snowflakes on the windows overlooking the Chao Praya river, and an aura of the timelessness that imbues these ancient arts.

Amongst this glimmering beauty, is Tiao Nith, a spry, multi lingual, elegantly dressed, spontaneous man, with an infectious laugh.

As a child of royal lineage in 1960’s Luang Prabang, Lao, he grew up surrounded by courtly arts, such as painting, lacquer, embroidery, and dance. He watched his grandmother and mother patiently practice this aristocratic art, making traditional triangular pillows, royal sashes and sabai, jackets, collars and dowry pieces. They delicately worked the precious gold threads, imported from Dorures Charles Mathieu, a French company that historically supplied these luxury threads to the Lao royalty.

Even though embroidery was a woman’s work, the young Tiao Nith apprenticed until he reached the level of a mo, or gold embroidery expert. Additionally, he became a doctor and practiced in rural Lao, and later psychology in France, where he sought asylum. The family embroideries were exquisite, and he managed to save a few pieces to inspire and teach today’s students.

You can get ‘stuff’ from your genes, but not everyone does such remarkable things with their hidden gifts….

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Tiao Nith is both a guardian of the traditional techniques and designs, and a contemporary artist, exploring the limitations of the artform.

His contemporary embroideries are transcendent; the attenuation of threads into golden grasses that appear to be blowing in the wind, or stitched leaf carcasses that look like they are dipped in gold and laid on silk…..or the nearly abstract wall hangings of embroidered monastic codes, like Surrealist automatic writing, twisted golden script copied from ancient Pali palm leaf manuscripts—transforming one message into another medium.

What a special new friend in the global circle of textiles.

Tiao Nith will participate in an exhibit (August 15-20, 2016) and receive an award at the SACICT Foundation, Support Arts And Crafts International Center of Thailand. He teaches, works in Luang Prabang, Nan, Thailand, and France.

Puppet Masters: Conservation in Miniature

April 6, 2016 By Julia 10 Comments

The Workshop Team

In the first partnership of its kind,

I led the The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok and the Taiyuan Asian Puppet Museum in Taipei for a puppet textile conservation training workshop.

In the lively one-week session, conservators Nuchada Piranprasankit and Yaowalak Bunnag, from the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles, and I trained staff at the Puppet Museum in techniques and treatments for these tiny marvels from the permanent collection of the Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum 台原亞洲偶戲博物館。

My own knowledge also expanded as we learned all about the history of hand puppets and marionettes, their construction and fabrication, use and wear, and the marvelous artistic ‘culture’ of puppeteers. It was such a change from the usual treatment of human-size costumes and monumental banners and tapestries. Our hands and eyes were captivated by the tiny little costumes of hand puppets from the 1800 and 1900s with their tiny embroidery, applique, buttons and trim.

I was enchanted!

Surprisingly, many of these puppet costumes are exact replicas of full size pieces – gold embroidered dragon robes, scholars gowns, rank badges, golden courtesan dresses – but all in miniature! And although it is challenging to work on these tiny artifacts, we were able to treat over 15 costumes in a week – an impossibility in the world of large textiles.

: Treating Tiny Treasures

: Treating Tiny Treasures

: Treating Tiny Treasures

After transforming the collections workroom into a puppet hospital, we were abuzz with conservation discussions, wet cleanings, stitch repairs, and re-assembly of these exquisite soulful little darlings.

: The conservators at work.

: Our team sharing their expertise and techniques.

Like doctors, Nuchada, Yaowalak and I patiently worked using fine delicate support fabrics, sheer overlays, special threads that are as fine as human hair, and surgical needles, to re-construct and repair these small precious puppet costumes. We worked closely with Kim Seibert and Alex Ma, collection specialists and custodians of the over 10,000 puppets. In addition, staff from the Fujen Catholic University joined in the training.

Several 19th century costumes were wet cleaned. Worn down from heavy use, perspiration from the puppeteers’ hands, and being traditionally stored in large wood transport boxes, these costumes are very brittle, dry and acidic. First each fabric was carefully tested, and then the costumes were wet cleaned, using a traditional saponin, our local soap nuts [無患子]. Saponin is similar in chemical composition to sodium laurel sulfate, a surfactant commonly used by conservators. The careful cleaning removed the acidity, and made the fabrics cleaner and softer, so they will live longer.

: Kim Siebert with Yao and Puppet Museum volunteer.

: Yao treating a costume.

: Yao teaching laid-couching stitching.

: Alex color testing dyes prior to wet cleaning.

I am hopeful that this workshop will be the start of a long-term partnership between the two museums. As Nuchada and Yaowarat reflected as they headed home to Bangkok:

Most of the time, we work on Her Majesty’s couture clothing. Conserving puppet costumes is different! They are so small! Everything is in miniature, making the time of the treatment shorter, but also so very delicate and difficult. We learned so much about puppet costumes and this amazing tradition of performance and storytelling through ‘live action textiles’. We take home to Thailand a greater understanding of our region, and why textiles, little and big, are so important in all our lives.”

Great partnership with Dr. Lin

Here, the founder of the Puppet Museum, Dr Paul Lin, in a good exchange in the expertise of a surgeon and a textile conservator, acknowledging each other and how they use similar tools—like curved steel surgical needles, and techniques—techniques to ‘fix’ and care for people patients and as well the textiles! A Eureka moment!
一位外科醫師、一位修復師開心地笑了，他們懂、無論是人還是織，修復的方法相當類似。]