Category: Ballardvale

MTS e-Magazine Issue 1

6/19/2012

by Camille Myers Breeze

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Museum Textile Services e-Magazine, which debuts for Summer 2012. The fully illustrated, 28-page digital publication features project updates, fun textile tidbits, and helpful resources. We hope that the e-Magazine will help spread the word about the great field of textile conservation, including the individuals, museums and cultural agencies that work so hard to preserve our heritage.

Museum Textile Services e-Magazine is an initiative that stemmed from our 12-month working relationship with Erica Holthausen of Honest Marketing Revolution. We have thoroughly enjoyed the crash course in marketing that Erica has provided the MTS team, and this blog, the new website, and our popular Facebook page are all part of our new daily outreach activities.

As "Chief Instigator," Erica has also been lots of fun to work with! She really gets the special blend of expert conservation treatment, friendly customer service, and pure unadulterated passion that are the core values here at Museum Textile Services.

Sarah Berlinger wielding some of the tools of our trade.

Work is already underway on Issue 2 of the Museum Textile Services e-Magazine but there is plenty of time to include information and feedback from YOU! We'd love to hear how you liked the magazine and what textile conservation topics you'd like to learn more about.

Please feel free to make comments below or click HERE to use our feedback form.

Thank you for reading!

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We've Moved!

2/13/2012

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Museum Textile Services has a new studio! After an exhaustive three-week effort of painting, cleaning, and moving, the new facility opened for business on January 16, 2012. In its previous life, our new location was Wool Storage Building A of the Ballard Vale Mills. It was constructed in 1878 of brick with a slate roof, and was renovated/restored in 1994.

White Flannels, worn with a blazer.

The Ballard Vale Mills produced "white flannels," a term originally given to clothing worn while playing cricket but later generalized to mean casual men's pants of the 1880's.

Attic space with remains of the rope hoist.

While moving some of our items to the third-floor attic, we discovered wool fibers still clinging to the ceiling beams. It was very exciting for us to find physical evidence of the past function of our new space. There still exists part of a large pulley system, or "rope hoist" used to lift bales of wool to each floor.

A drawing of the Ballard Vale Mill complex, completed by A.H. Barber in 1912. We are in building "A."

Our new building has all of the modern conveniences while still retaining its historical charm. The studio space has increased by fifty percent, which has allowed us to give a permanent home to the tapestry tensioner and photographic equipment. Our new space has also given us another precious foot of ceiling height, allowing us to display and work on larger objects in-house. One of the long walls in the studio space showcases the building’s lovely brickwork.

The new studio space.

Other improvements include a permanent hookup for our large wash table, and the installation of a new stainless-steel darkroom sink to allow us to wash smaller textiles with greater ease. A larger storage room accommodates a table designated for object intake and examination, as well as a place to meet with clients. Additionally, there is a separate office for Camille, Cara and Courtney.

The new office space

We’re very pleased with our new facility and look forward to years of productivity and creativity!

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MTS e-Magazine Issue 1

We've Moved!

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