Darning Placements
2arning Scotland’s Textile Collections: Placements (June – August 2019)
Following the exhibition Follow the Threads at The Lighthouse, the Darning project will offer two types of placements across the summer. One placement will work with textle samples to enhance our catalogues and the other will use archive records and capture industry knowledge to understand textile processes. These placements are seeking volunteers from different groups to come together and work collaboratively to enhance access to our collections and build their skills.
A collections workshop will mark the start of the placements in June. Volunteers will be introduced to the collections and the placement outcomes, and be given training in handling and discovering archives. Volunteers will then work independently or in small groups to undertake and complete their allocated tasks until mid-August. The results of the placements will be showcased at the Darning Scotland’s Textile Collections workshop in August.
Volunteer time requirements
- These placements will run from June to August 2019.
- Volunteers should be able to contribute around 30 hours to the project (suggested as 3 hours over 10 days but flexible) and attend the initial introductory workshop on Friday 14th June, 11am.
- Placements will be based in Archives & Special Collections premises at 13 Thurso Street, Glasgow.
Volunteer skills
Each type of placement is seeking different skills, please read through the requirements detailed below.
How to apply
Send an email to Kiara King (Kiara.King@glasgow.ac.uk) by 12th June detailing which placement you are interested in and why. After this date expressions of interest are still welcome up to the end of June.
Placement A: Catalogue enhancement – textile samples
Where textile samples are held within archive collections they can often be hidden by unclear or misleading descriptions. Even where they are clearly identified as samples; researchers can be frustrated by the lack of any meaningful description of the sample’s textile, pattern, or colour.
This placement will focus on developing new, improved descriptions of the textile samples included across our collections. Placement volunteers will develop skills in archive handling and description; researchers will benefit from enhanced descriptions allowing them to assess whether the samples are relevant to their research and ASC will gain the benefit of volunteers’ knowledge of textile and design.
The textile samples placement requires people who have the following skills:
- Ability to identify different types of textile
- Ability to describe patterns and colours
- Methodical approach
- Good manual handling skills (training for archive handling will be provided)
- Self motivation
- Attention to detail
- Excellent communication skills
- IT skills (word processing in particular)
Placement B: Understanding textile processes
Our collections document the entire lifecycle of textiles; from design, through manufacture, to finished product in a variety of records (design papers, product catalogues, technical papers, photographs, and film).
This placement aims to capture knowledge of textile processes and/or use the records held within the textile industry collections to develop a visual guide to the textile lifecycle. This guide will help researchers understand the working environment of the textile industry, the processes involved in the manufacture of textiles, and the context in which the records were created. Placement volunteers will develop skills in archive handling and communication, and ASC will benefit from the volunteers’ knowledge of the textile industry and storytelling skills.
The understanding textile processes placement needs people who have the following skills:
- Knowledge of the textile manufacturing process OR Storytelling skills
- Methodical approach
- Good manual handling skills (training for archive handling will be provided)
- Self motivation
- Attention to detail
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to work within a small team