Mae gwlân yn cael ei ddathlu fel ffibr hollol naturiol, cynaladwy a bioddiraddadwy'r dyfodol. Mewn oes lle mae'n rhaid i ni gwestiynu'r effaith y mae ffasiwn gyflym yn ei gael ar y blaned, mae nifer cynyddol ohonom yn dychwelyd i ffibrau naturiol – nid dim ond ar gyfer dillad, ond hefyd i inswleiddio a dodrefnu eu cartref. Mae gwarchod sgiliau traddodiadol yn rhan bwysig o waith Amgueddfa Cymru, ond gyda'r diddordeb cynyddol hwn mewn ffibrau naturiol a chynaliadwy, yn ogystal â'r ymchwydd mewn ffasiwn a thecstilau cartref, mae’r sgiliau yma a gysidrwyd am flynyddoedd yn 'grefftau treftadaeth ' nawr yn datblygu'n sgiliau pwysig ar gyfer ein dyfodol.

Mae ymwelwyr â'r Amgueddfa Wlân Genedlaethol yn Dre-fach Felindre eisoes yn mwynhau gwylio meistr wehyddwyr Melin Teifi, Melin wlân fasnachol sy'n denantiaid yn yr Amgueddfa, yn gwehyddu ffabrigau hardd mewn patrymau traddodiadol ar wyddau mecanyddol. Maen nhw'n darparu cipolwg diddorol i’n hymwelwyr ar waith a phrosesau melin weithiol. Ond yn anffodus, Melin Teifi yw'r felin wlân olaf yng Nghymru sy'n cynhyrchu gwlanen draddodiadol Gymreig. Yn anterth y diwydiant yn yr ugeinfed ganrif roedd 217 o felinau gwlân yng Nghymru, yn bennaf yn cynhyrchu carthenni Cymreig, gwlanen a brethyn tapestri. Ar hyn o bryd mae 7 i 8 o felinau gwlân yn gweithredu yng Nghymru, ac mae perygl difrifol na fydd y sgiliau hyn yn cael eu cynnal ar gyfer y dyfodol, oni wneir ymdrech gydunol. Dyna pam y mae Amgueddfa Cymru yn arbennig o falch i groesawu tri chrefftwr newydd dan hyfforddiant i'n tîm yn yr Amgueddfa Wlân Genedlaethol. Ymunodd James Whittall, Jay Jones a Richard Collins a ni ym mis Rhagfyr ac maent eisoes wedi dechrau ar eu hyfforddiant mewn sgiliau crefftau treftadaeth. Yn ddiweddar, maen nhw wedi dechrau arddangos rhai o'u sgiliau crefft llaw newydd, i'n hymwelwyr. Mae hyn yn ein helpu i ddod â stori'r diwydiant gwlân a chasgliad yr Amgueddfa yn fyw. Wrth iddyn nhw ddatblygu sgiliau gwehyddu dros y misoedd a'r blynyddoedd nesaf, y gobaith yw y byddant hefyd yn ein helpu i gyflawni rhywfaint o'r galw cynyddol am gynnyrch wedi ei wreiddio mewn traddodiad, a datblygu gweithgaredd masnachol newydd ar gyfer yr Amgueddfa.

Gallai gweithgaredd o'r fath gefnogi ein heconomi wledig ac ysgogi cyfleoedd i'n pobl ifanc wireddu'r potensial o ennill gwaith a bywydau boddhaus yn yr ardal, gyda'r fantais ychwanegol o gefnogi cynhaliaeth a datblygiad y Gymraeg. Mae tirwedd y diwydiant gwlân yng Nghymru yn debygol o newid dros y blynyddoedd nesaf, ac mae potensial i dwf 'melinau meicro', yn ddibynnol ar sgiliau traddodiadol yn cael eu cadw i alluogi cyflenwi i ddylunwyr Cymreig. Rydym yn falch iawn o fod yn chwarae ein rhan i adfer y sgiliau gwerthfawr hyn i gefnogi adfywio'r hyn sydd yn hanesyddol wedi bod yn un o ddiwydiannau pwysicaf Cymru.

Richard Collins, Crefftwr o dan Hyfforddiant, yn dysgu nyddu ar y droell nyddu.

BBC Radio Wales Rhaglen Roy Noble 01/03/2020: Crefftwyr newydd Amgueddfa Wlân Cymru

(Gwrandewch o 1:12:00)

Helo Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn,

Gobeithio gwnaeth pawb mwynhau'r gwyliau. Wnaeth eich planhigion blodeuo dros hanner tymor? Cofiwch i gofnodi'r dyddiad mae eich planhigyn yn blodeuo a’r taldra yng milimetr i’r wefan. Mae’n bwysig cofnodi'r wybodaeth hon ar gyfer pob planhigyn, oherwydd bydd hyn yn effeithio ar y dyddiad blodeuo cyfartalog ar gyfer eich Ysgol.

Mae ysgolion syn cymryd rhan yn ymchwiliad ychwanegol yr Edina Trust hefyd yn cofnodi os yw’r Cennin Pedr wedi eu plannu yn y ddaear neu mewn pot.

Rydym o hyd yn siarad am y cofnodion tywydd rydych yn cadw pob wythnos, ond mae’r cofnodion blodau yn bwysig hefyd. Mae'r ymchwiliad yn edrych ar effaith mae newid yn yr hinsawdd yn cael ar flodeuo planhigion y Gwanwyn. I wneud hyn mae'n rhaid i ni gymharu'r dyddiau blodeuo cyfartalog ar gyfer pob blwyddyn o’r ymchwiliad.

Mae’r siart bar isod yn dangos y dyddiad blodeuo cyfartalog ar gyfer pob blwyddyn o’r prosiect. Llynedd welodd y dyddiad blodeuo cyfartalog cynharach ers 2008. Wyt ti’n meddwl bydd ein planhigion yn blodeuo yn gynharach neu’n hwyrach blwyddyn yma?

Dyddiau blodeuo cyfartalog ar gyfer Cymru 2006-2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mae’r siart bar isod yn dangos y dyddiad blodeuo cyfartalog ar gyfer pob ardal ym 2019. Mae’n dangos a blodeuodd planhigion yn gynharach yn Ogledd Iwerddon ac yn hwyrach yn Yr Alban. Wyt ti'n meddwl byddwn yn gweld yr un patrwm eto blwyddyn yma?

Dyddiau blodeuo cyfartalog 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gwyliwch eich planhigion yn agos dros y wythnosau nesaf. 22 Chwefror oedd y diwrnod blodeuo cyfartalog ar gyfer y crocws yng 2019.

Mae’n ddiddorol i weld sut mae ein planhigion yn datblygu dros amser. Mae gweithgareddau am fywyd planhigion ar gael ar y wefan: https://amgueddfa.cymru/bylbiau-gwanwyn/

Cofiwch i rannu eich lluniau Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn.

Athro’r Ardd

Sadly, Dippy has now left National Museum Cardiff and continued on his tour to Rochdale. But he won't be forgotten! This video, made by Dippy volunteer Ben, says farewell to the super sauropod, and acknowledges the importance of the volunteers in making the exhibition such a success! 

Music credit : Cherry Blossom by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3496-cherry-blossom/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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If you missed it, check out our other volunteer-made Dippy video!

 

The current display Imagine a Castle: Paintings from the National Gallery, London offers a great opportunity to see a selection of European Old Master paintings for the first time in Wales alongside Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales’s own collection.

Comparing European and Welsh castles and the history and legends that come with them plays a vital part in defining Welsh cultural identity. Yet the history of castles in Wales is, for some, contentious.

To find out why we need to go back to the thriteenth century. During this time, there were many disputes between Welsh princes and English kings. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (last Prince of Wales) was involved in many disputes with Edward I, who launched a vicious campaign on the Welsh. This resulted in Llywelyn losing his power, land, titles and ultimately his life.

Following this English victory, Edward began the most ambitious castle-building policy ever seen in Europe. His collection of fortresses became known as the infamous ‘iron ring’ and included those at Harlech, Caernarfon and Conwy. They were intended to intimidate the Welsh and subdue uprisings. Along with these English-built fortresses came new towns that were intentionally populated with English settlers. Welsh people were forbidden to trade or sometimes even enter into the towns’ walls. Yet, while these castles remind us of English power over the Welsh, the strength of their construction underlines that Edward was conscious of the formidable and ever-present threat of Welsh resistance.

To acknowledge the histories of castles in Wales, we have included works from two Welsh artists, the ‘father of British landscape painting’, Richard Wilson, whose works offer an eighteenth-century perspective, and contemporary artist Peter Finnemore.

Wilson’s work reflects his travels to Italy and the influence of the hugely important French landscape painter, Claude Lorrain, whose work can also be seen in this exhibition. Wilson painted many Welsh landscapes and is recognised as changing the face of British landscape painting. While his work encouraged artists to come to Wales, many of his later Welsh compositions, such as Caernarfon Castle (Edward’s main seat in Wales) remind us more of the warmer climates of Italy. As such, they also point to his inspirations outside of Wales.

On the other hand, Finnemore’s photographic works, Lesson 56 – Wales and Ancient Ruler Worship (made especially for this display), look at castles in Wales from a more recent Welsh perspective. Finnemore’s work revolves around his Welsh-speaking grandmother’s school textbooks that were written from an English standpoint. Her childhood drawings in these books humorously undermine the didactic English text. Ancient Ruler Worship depicts Castell Carreg Cennen and looks back to World War II. It is taken from a still in Humphry Jennings’s propaganda film, Silent Village, that portrayed this castle as a site of Welsh resistance during an imagined Nazi invasion. The film demonstrated solidarity with Lidice, a mining village in the Czech Republic that was totally destroyed by the Nazis.

Whatever we may feel about their history, many of Edward’s Welsh castles are now designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Edward left a unique and internationally important legacy of medieval military architecture that can only be seen in Wales.

What is Ming?

Ming is an Ocean Quahog clam with the scientific name of Arctica islandica. It was nicknamed Ming when scientists discovered that it would have been born in 1499 during the Ming Dynasty of China. Ocean Quahogs grow up to 13 cm long and the oldest one fished off the coast of Iceland was 507 years old, making it the oldest non-colonial animal known to science.

Where do Ocean Quahogs live?

Ocean Quahogs belong to a big group of shells called ‘bivalves’. Most bivalves are filter feeders and suck in water through their tube-like siphons (you can see in the photo, the two holes surrounded by darker pink). While lying on the seabed or buried in the sand or mud bivalves can safely take food particles and oxygen from the water.

Ming was collected from the deep waters around Iceland but we get this species in British and Irish waters too, although it does not live to such a great age here. The waters surrounding our islands are warmer than those surrounding Iceland, which is just south of the Arctic Circle. Warm waters hold less dissolved oxygen than cold water and so around the UK the Ocean Quahog needs to work harder to get oxygen and so has a faster metabolism. A faster metabolism means that it grows quicker but when animals have a fast metabolism they do not live as long. In the colder waters surrounding Iceland the Ocean Quahog has a slower metabolism and so grows slowly and may even live for longer than 507 – scientists just haven’t found an older one yet!

 

How long do animals live?

Some other bivalve molluscs can live for a long time as well. Giant clams can grow to 4 feet long (1.2 m) and live for around 100 years. They have tiny plant cells in their tissue that photosynthesize producing energy from the sun to give to the clam. This is why they reach such a large size – talk about plant power!

The Geoduck, which lives in the coastal waters of western Canada and USA, can live for 164 years. It is known as Gooey duck and has large meaty siphons that are a popular food for humans!

Come to our Insight gallery at Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd - National Museum Cardiff to to find out more about how long animals can live for and much more...

 

An introduction to Ming the clam can be found here:

https://museum.wales/blog/2020-02-11/Meet-Ming-the-clam---the-oldest-animal-in-the-world/