Zenzie Tinker Conservation Ltd.

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Zenzie Tinker Conservation Ltd. Conservation for Museums, Galleries and Private Collectors

http://www.zenzietinker.co.uk http://www.zenzietinker.co.uk

So the fabric covered box being unwrapped in the previous post is a (possibly) royal close stool from the King’s Closet ...
10/10/2026

So the fabric covered box being unwrapped in the previous post is a (possibly) royal close stool from the King’s Closet Knole House thought to date from the late 1600’s and William & Mary’s reign. The rather unsuitable padded velvet covered seat would have been nice and comfy - and would have had some kind of stool bucket placed underneath to create a travelling or mobile commode. Close stools were the forerunners of the 18th and 19th C night commodes and modern medical commodes. Once used, the High ranking ‘Groom of the Stool’ would pop a lid on the stool bucket and carry it away to be emptied. The final image shows the very similar royal close stool from Hampton Court Palace.

Interestingly the Palace close stool is 25 cm taller than the Knole one - close stools feature in royal Tudor and high ranking accounts books and inventories, often covered in rich fabrics and trimmed with passementerie. The height difference indicates they were made to measure - maybe the Knole one belonged to King William and the Hampton Court Palace one belonged to Queen Mary, who was significantly taller than her husband so would have needed a taller close stool for her comfort!

Since unpacking this strange piece of intimate furniture, Mira has been undertaking surface cleaning tests to carefully lift engrained dust from the fragile velvet surface without further damaging the velvet pile. So far low level vacuum suction has been undertaken (see image 8) but for a deeper clean, little pieces of gel are also proving effective and gentle, lifting less fibre than various cleaning sponge options.

Mira is also testing various support materials, adhesive films and application methods to work out the best support method for the splits in the damaged velvet. The velvet is/was not adhered to the wooden box originally but held in place via metal braids and dome headed pins. So our support method of the velvet also needs to remain independent of the wood. This creates some access issues but we always relish a tricky treatment!

Follow along to see how Mira solves each issue over the upcoming weeks.

What is in this well packed box from Knole House ?Out come the tissue puffsSomething delicate and precious ……Mira carefu...
02/10/2026

What is in this well packed box from Knole House ?

Out come the tissue puffs

Something delicate and precious ……

Mira carefully undoing the cotton tie tapes …….

Having a peek inside ……..

First glimpses ……..

It’s got velvet and fancy pins …….

This is the first view of the damaged back - any ideas?

And this is one of the side views - what could it be?

A quick glimpse at what everyone is up to today1&2 Molly is multi tasking colour testing one sampler for wet cleaning an...
23/09/2026

A quick glimpse at what everyone is up to today
1&2 Molly is multi tasking colour testing one sampler for wet cleaning and mounting another one.
3 Ania is working on the damaged lining of a 19th century ceremonial dress coat.
4&5: Both Rhianne and Jess are working on one of the Cyrus Brussels tapestries from The Clothworkers’ Hall.
6-9: Mira is just finishing off the Virginia Woolf embroidered shawl from Monk’s House NT by dyeing some net to overlay the still weak areas at the corners.
10: It is really great to be using the almost finished lab for our dyeing - Rhianne actually christened it the other day dyeing some warp for her tapestry.
11: Enzo is gazing hopefully at the treat cupboard but he’s too early - 4pm is the designated hour and not before!
12: Enzo and Pippi competing to try out a new distraction - a lick ball bowl laced with peanut butter. Ordered two but only one has arrived so far!
13&14 Views during our Open House day at ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE with . Exhausting day with more than 6000 visitors - most of them wanting to know about judicial wigs!

All in a weeks work at Zenzie Tinker Conservation

Busy week or so in the studio and at getting new displays finished and ready for Open Houses Open City at the Royal Cou...
17/09/2026

Busy week or so in the studio and at getting new displays finished and ready for Open Houses Open City at the Royal Courts of Justice in London 10-4pm this Saturday.

One of popular annual attractions we have is that visitors are able to try on some of the handling collection robes and have their photographs taken. With lots of children queuing up last year to try on the (large) robes we decide to make a smaller version - swipe to see our adorable second generation ZTC team member test driving our new mini high court judge red robe. We are hoping it will inspire some of our younger visitors to take up the law profession!

New laboratory progress to report these last two weeks: both work benches fully installed, stainless steel splash backs...
11/09/2026

New laboratory progress to report these last two weeks:
both work benches fully installed,
stainless steel splash backs in apart from around the corner column,
sink in,
hob and extractor in,
most of the cupboard doors in,
new lab fridge in
And a big gap to the left of the sink, deliberately left for the water purification system to be installed soon.
Then we can sort the contents of the drawers and cupboards,
clear the washable and start wet cleaning and dyeing properly again!

We have been busy preparing new displays for the Royal Courts of Justice displays that we care for in readiness for tho...
11/09/2026

We have been busy preparing new displays for the Royal Courts of Justice displays that we care for in readiness for thousands of visitors on Saturday 19th September for the annual Open Houses event Open City

These two new mannequins are being dressed as female barristers - one as a junior barrister and one as Kings’ Councel. Their black robes are traditionally different to each other with the simpler black silk robe being worn by KCS over their sober business clothes and the more elaborately sleeved and collared wool robe being worn by ordinary barristers. Both wear a barristers wig still traditionally made of horsehair but now a vegan version is also available too.

We are trying to increase the representation of female mannequins on display in the exhibition, to better represent what is happening in the legal profession in the UK. According to the Bar Standards Board there are currently 41.9% female barristers, 58.1% male barristers and 60.3% of the new Pupils are female which is encouraging for gender parity. However when one looks at the KC/Silks level the numbers of women decline significantly with only 21.5% of KCs being female.

Do think of coming to see us at the RCJ on the 17th September - we’d love to see you and chat about the collection and all the conservation issues we face. Visitors to the costume displays will also have the chance to dress up as a High Court judge and your photograph taken (for a small donation as the collection runs as a charity) and this year we’ve even got a child sized gown for all those budding lawyers!

It is also a wonderful opportunity to see inside the beautiful gothic revival Royal Courts of Justice from top to bottom including mock trials in court rooms, cells and everything else in between! Last year more than 5000 visitors came in with hundreds more down the Strand too late to get in, so do come early to avoid disappointment! We hope to see you 😊

Those of you who follow Monk’s House NT will have seen that we are conserving the gorgeous embroidered shawl given as a ...
06/09/2026

Those of you who follow Monk’s House NT will have seen that we are conserving the gorgeous embroidered shawl given as a gift by Lady Ottoline Morrell to her dear friend Virginia Woolf. It is the only known surviving garment associated with Woolf and so very precious to Monks House.

It’s in extremely weak condition despite having been conserved in the last 30-40 years when it was given a full support and couched onto polyester Stabiltex. However further physical deterioration had taken its toll and the shawl normally on display over a chair in Woolf’s study had had to be packed away for its own safety a number of years ago.

We were thrilled to be asked to undertake further conservation. The previous conservation support itself was still strong and the stitching so extensive it was decided to leave this in place and add another layer behind of dyed silk. This is principly to transfer the weight of the embroidery to something more substantial than the Stabiltex - previously the embroidery had not been stitched through and its weight as the ground silk deteriorated further was pulling that weakening ground silk apart. The new support layer also provides a visual infill for areas of loss like in images 3&5.

We’d estimated 400 hours or so for the treatment and the National Trust have reached the target through an extensive fundraising campaign assisted by Charleston for which we are very grateful. That said I can see we’ve underestimated - it’s one of those objects that eats hours. Handling has been difficult as well as controlling the tensions of the multi layers. We will of course honour our estimate and the work is progressing very well under Mira and Molly’s hands.

We will post again with some during conservation images very soon. In the meantime please enjoy the beauty of the subtle faded colours and the lovely silk embroidery and imagine Virginia Woolf enveloped in its soft folds on a summers evening in the beautiful garden at Monks House.

This week I had an out of the blue visit from an early client of mine. In 1991, when I had just finished my conservation...
03/09/2026

This week I had an out of the blue visit from an early client of mine. In 1991, when I had just finished my conservation training, Susan brought this gorgeous late 19th C wedding dress to me for minor repairs and cleaning prior to her wedding to David. She’d fallen for the dress at Portobello Road Market and bought it on a bit of a whim, she and her friend pooling their money for the deposit!

It seems like only yesterday and a while lifetime ago that I worked on this dress for her, making a little bustle pad out of poly wadding as my letter accompanying my quote says and washed all the skirt hem lace - Susan sewed it back on herself to save money. I remembered the dress and the job straight away when Susan tracked me down again - it turns out one of her sons lives in Brighton close to the studio. It’s funny how one’s memory of objects and special conservation projects doesn’t dim despite it being 35 years later. I remember worrying that the original silk threads of the seams might split with all the wedding dancing so reinforced many of them with new stitching. And I remember making a little modesty panel for the front of the bodice - and feeling slightly conflicted as a young conservator about being involved with the wearing of such a pristine historic dress! But the dress survived and Susan looked stunning and all ended well - the gorgeous couple are still gorgeous and seemed very happily married! It was so nice catching up with Susan and meeting David for the first time - and showing them the new studio.

A lovely start to the week which has gone on to my retreating back home again with a debilitating shingles flair up, four weeks and counting.

Big thank you to Sue and Dave for permission to share their photos and story❤️

Gorgeous colours, gorgeous tapestries – here is the lowdown on our new tapestry project for The Clothworkers' Company W...
31/08/2026

Gorgeous colours, gorgeous tapestries – here is the lowdown on our new tapestry project for The Clothworkers' Company

We are thrilled to have been commissioned to conserve three 18th C tapestries designed by court artist Maximilian de Haese for Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and woven by the Brussels workshop of the Van der Borght family between 1771-1775. The tapestries are part of the five tapestry, Story of Cyrus set; the other two from the set are now in the V&A and MFA Boston museum collections.

These three tapestries will be worked on by most of the team over the next two years and are already providing a wonderful tapestry conservation training opportunity for our younger team members and jess to work alongside our more experienced tapestry conservators Hazel and Ania. For emerging conservators, gaining enough tapestry experience to become proficient let alone expert is difficult in the UK with no dedicated training available. There are the occasional one-year internships advertised but these are not enough to train the tapestry conservators this country needs because it takes several years of focus on different periods of tapestry to gain the skills needed and each project takes months and sometimes years to complete.

The Clothworkers’ Co are already important, valued supporters of textile conservation training through their Clothworkers’ Scholarships awarded to students of merit at the . And at ZTC we have been the grateful beneficiaries of some of these Scholars joining our team including Jess, (Clothworkers’ Scholar 2023-25) (Clothworkers’ Scholar 2021-23) and Jamie, currently on maternity leave, (Clothworkers’ Scholar 2013-15).

So it is wonderfully fitting that the Clothworkers’ tapestries will now further support us in passing on much needed tapestry conservation skills to some of their former scholars such as Jess and Tabby.

The conserved tapestries will hang in pride of place in the new Clothworkers’ Hall currently being built in the City of London, in a few years.

Address

93/93A Islingword Road
Brighton
BN29SJ

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+441273685222

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