Sunday, September 25, 2011

Beetle Wing Dress

A Victorian dress decorated with 1,000 real beetle wings worn by Ellen Terry, one of the most celebrated actresses of the age, is set to go on display at Smallhythe Place in Kent following 1,300 hours of painstaking conservation work carried out by a team led by Zenzie Tinker.

Ellen Terry portrait by John Singer Sargent

'We had collected the beetle wings that had fallen off over the years so that the conservator was able to re-attach many of the originals, plus others that had been donated to us - 1,000 in total. 'The one hundred or so wings that were broken were each carefully repaired by supporting them on small pieces of Japanese tissue adhered with a mixture of wheat starch paste.'

2 comments:

  1. Lsamsa10:05 pm

    The dress is beautiful to see...I would love to have occasion to wear something like that.
    However, wearing something covered in insect wings...huge ewwww factor, despite the hard work involved.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Nag10:37 pm

    I wasn't grossed out by the dead insect dress until I read your comment.

    ReplyDelete

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