: Projectau

We are currently recruiting housekeeping volunteers at St.Fagans to help look after the displays in the historic houses and Castle. This is a new scheme that is open to anyone who would like to get involved and learn more about traditional housekeeping techniques. Many of which still have a use today, such as using natural herbs and flowers to repel moths from precious woollen jumpers.

With your help we would also like to enhance the interpretation of the buildings by putting more of the collections on display and reintroduce traditional crafts to create replica items, such as rag rugs, baskets and wicker carpet beaters.

Training will be provided, so no previous experience is required, all we ask in return is a few hours of your time a week.  This is a pilot project, so even if the days currently on offer are not suitable please do still get in contact and register your interest.

As part of the project we have converted one of the cottages at Llwyn yr Eos farm into a base for housekeeping volunteers, with studios and a comfortable place to relax.

If you are interested in becoming a housekeeping volunteer please follow this link and we look forward to hearing from you.

Mae'r blog yma'n dilyn blog Marsli Owen.

Pan benderfynom ni wneud digwyddiad o’r enw ‘Trwy’r Twll Clo’ meddyliais am y gwahanol bethau y buaswn yn gallu dangos i bobl yn adeiladau hanesyddol Sain Ffagan. Roeddwn i eisiau rhywbeth oedd yn cysylltu’r gorffennol a’r presennol, felly dewisais hanes yfed te a lleoli fy hun yn y parlwr yn ffermdy Kennixton.

Mae’r parlwr yn Kennixton wedi ei addurno yn steil y 1750au - efallai eich bod yn ei adnabod fel tŷ Capten Blamey oddi ar y gyfres deledu ddiweddar Poldark. Penderfynais fod mewn gwisg ar gyfer y digwyddiad er mwyn ceisio dod a’r tŷ yn fyw, a gosod y bwrdd ar gyfer te fel y buasent nhw wedi gwneud yn y 18fed ganrif.  

Mae gan de hanes gyffroes iawn yn ysbrydoli ffasiynau, ffortiynau, chwyldroadau a throseddau. Daeth i Brydain yn 1657 gyda Catrin o Fracança, gwraig Siarl yr 2il o Bortiwgal. Daeth yn ddiod ffasiynol iawn yn sydyn, ychydig fel y ‘Kate-effect’ heddiw,

Fel llawer o bethau poblogaidd, rhoddwyd treth uchel arno gan y llywodraeth. Roedd rhai delwyr diegwyddor yn ceisio gwneud i’r te fynd ychydig pellach gan ei amhuro gyda dail y ddraenen wen neu hyd yn oed baw defaid! Er mwyn goresgyn y dreth uchel ar de, buasai llawer o bobl yng Nghymru wedi prynu eu te gan smyglwyr. Mae’n bosib y buasai preswylwyr Kennixton wedi cael gafael ar de yn yr un ffordd. Roedd yn wreiddiol wedi ei adeiladu ar arfordir Gŵyr a buasai te wedi ei smyglo wedi bod ar gael yn hawdd. 

NId y Cymry’n unig oedd yn gwrthwynebu talu treth mor uchel ar de; doedd yr Americanwyr ddim yn gweld pam y dylen nhw chwaith. Er mwyn dangos eu teimladau, taflon nhw de Prydeinig i mewn i'r harbwr yn Boston - y Boston Tea Party - gicdaniodd Rhyfel Annibyniaeth America yn 1775.

Carais wneud y digwyddiad yma, a chynhyrchiodd rai sgyrsiau diddorol iawn gydag ymwelwyr. Roedd yn dŷ yn teimlo llawer mwy fel cartref wrth wneud ychydig o weithgareddau dydd i ddydd. Ond mae’n rhaid i mi gyfaddef, mi oeddwn i’n falch iawn o ddod allan o’r ffrog ar ddiwedd y dydd - roedd y sgert fawr a llewys tynn yn gyfyngedig iawn. Gorffennais y dydd yn gwisgo jeans cyfforddus a’n mwynhau paned o de yn dorch ar y sofa!

Bydd blog arall wythnos nesaf gan Heulwen, a fydd yn trafod y Prefab.

‘Drown’d in drowsy sleep, of nothing he takes keep’. These were the words that William Goscombe John chose to accompany his sculpture Morpheus when it was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1891.

The caption was taken from the 16^th century poem The Fairie Queene by Edmund Spenser, although it is not a direct quotation. This epic allegorical poem follows the journey of several Arthurian knights as they battle their way through a mythical fairyland.

Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams, plays a small role in The Fairie Queene. He is called upon to help the black sorcerer Archimago trap Redcrosse, one of the Christian knights. He does this by conjuring up a false dream of love and lust to fool Redcrosse into believing that his lover Una has been ‘sporting’ with another knight. This leads to Redcrosse abandoning her and continuing his quest alone.

In this sculpture Morpheus is shown asleep - or perhaps softly stirring from sleep, his arms stretched languidly above his head. Apart from this, John makes no other reference to the narrative of The Fairie Queene and it is not clear why he would have chosen to depict a figure who plays a relatively small role in the story, and in Greek mythology.

We might say that the mythological theme was a pretext for depicting a nubile male nude. Alternatively, we might see it as a statement about the role of the figurative sculptor. In mythology, Morpheus had one great power: he could mimic the human form, and trick people into seeing physical bodies that are not really there.

Stephanie Roberts and Penelope Hines 

Why are we concerned with boxes whose lids don’t close properly?

This is not just curators and conservators being pernickety; we really do have very good reasons to make sure that every closed box stays shut.

Museum collections contain a lot of valuable things that are easily perishable. Swords are made to be tough, but - believe it or not - even swords are not indestructible.

Iron rusts when it gets wet. Iron also rusts because of moisture in the atmosphere. Other metals can corrode in much the same way. If we are not careful we would end up with merely a bag of rust!

Therefore, we store all manner of sensitive objects (including cannonballs!) in what we call “micro-environments”. While many of our stores and galleries are air-conditioned, the humidity in the air is often too high to prevent these delicate objects from rusting.

Micro-environments are boxes or plastic pouches that contain one or several objects, plus a chemical that regulates the humidity within the box or pouch. This chemical is silica gel – if you have ever bought an electrical item the packaging probably contained a little sachet saying “Do not eat!”. The little granules in this sachet are silica gel. It is very widely used to keep things dry. Including in museums.

Once we have packaged our objects with silica gel we do not want moisture from the atmosphere to get into the box; that’s why we make sure the box closes properly. Only then will the objects be safe and dry, and ready for display or study.

To read more about our collections care work, go to our Preventive Conservation blog.

Mae nifer o eitemau diddorol wedi cyrraedd y casgliadau diwydiant a thrafnidiaeth eto’r mis hwn. Yn y ffotograff isod, a dynnwyd ar 22 Gorffennaf 1926, gwelwn griw o 29 chwarelwr llechi. Mae’r lleoliad yn anhysbys ond mwy na thebyg taw yn chwarel Dinorwig neu’r Penrhyn y tynnwyd y llun. Os allwch chi helpu i leoli’r ffotograff, neu’n adnabod rhywrai o’r dynion, cysylltwch â ni.

Dyluniwyd a chynhyrchwyd y tri darn cerameg yma gan yr artist George Thompson, crochenydd yn byw yn Amlwch, Ynys Môn. Mwynfeydd copr mynydd Paris yw’r ysbrydoliaeth.

Plac cerameg gyda slip ocr coch a gwydriad copr.

Pot cerameg a stand mewn clai crank pinc gyda gwydriad graffit a copr.

Powlen gerameg gyda slip graffit, ocr coch ac ocr oren.

Yn y ffotograff isod gwelwn weddillion tŷ injan troslath a simdde ym mwynglawdd copr Parys, Ynys Môn, 1964. 

Gwnaed y model hwn o fwynglawdd copr mynydd Parys oddeutu 1967, ac mae bellach yn rhan o gasgliadau Amgueddfa Cymru.

Mae’r fedal hon yn coffau torri’r dywarchen gyntaf yn Noc y Brenin, Abertawe. Ar 20 Gorffennaf 1904 cyrhaeddodd y cwch pleser Brenhinol, Victoria & Albert, Fae Abertawe. Wedi cyrraedd Doc Tywysog Cymru, esgynnodd y Brenin Edward VII a’r Frenhines Alexandre a dewiswyd yr enw Doc y Brenin er anrhydedd iddo. Wedi’r seremoni, teithiodd y Brenin na’r Frenhines drwy strydoedd Abertawe mewn cerbyd agored. Agorwyd y Doc yn swyddogol ar 20 Tachwedd 1909, ac mae’n dal i gael ei ddefnyddio heddiw. Yn 72 erw i gyd, dyma brif ddoc Harbwr Abertawe.

Ffotograff yn dangos tagfa longau (hwyliau a stêm) yn Noc y Brenin, oddeutu 1910. Trafferthion traffig yn y dyddiau cynnar.

Golygfa arall o Ddoc y Brenin. Tynnwyd y llun gan y ffotograffydd  John Eurof Martin ac mae’n dyddi o ganol yr 20fed Ganrif.

Mark Etheridge
Curator: Industry & Transport
Follow us on Twitter - @IndustryACNMW