The Infill: you know you want it

A walk down 2015 Memory Lane

Well, hel-lo there! My goodness, we’ve missed you. Sure, we’ve been busy stuffing our faces, opening Christmas presents and just generally loafing about, enjoying the long holiday break. But even as we lay in a catatonic state in front of the telly, it just wasn’t the same without you. So we’re glad you’re back for another year of good old-fashioned conservation and cultural heritage fun, just like Granny used to make.

So it’s a new year, full of hope and promise. It’s the year you’re finally going to lose weight, drink less, go to the gym every day and become fluent in French. Yes, *this* year, darnit! But you know what? If not a single one of those things happens, it doesn’t matter. Not to us, at least, because – in the words of one Mr William M. Joel from New York City, USA – we love you just the way you are. And in the spirit of how much we think you’re simply the bee’s knees with discerning taste and cultural savoir faire, rather than bang on about what we found interesting over the course of 2015 we’re going to share with you the stories and articles that tickled your fancy. So without further ado, we give you…

Your ten most favourite Facebook posts

(In reverse order, for dramatic effect!)

1. My favourite tool: Bob Cresswell
2. 1,400-year-old medicinal treatise of Galen found hidden under hymns in ancient manuscript
3. Chemical Party  (video)
4. The making of: A traditional Chinese hanging scroll  (video)
5. Journal of Paper Conservation: Vol 16, No 1
6. Preparing Shell Gold
7. See Michelangelo’s Illustrated Grocery List
8. The astonishing story of how two young Irish men completed an audacious £7m art heist
9. Liz Hurley Kicked Out of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum for Taking Illegal Selfie on Antique Bed
10. Oldest Draft of King James Bible Discovered, Historian Says

We certainly hope number two doesn’t mean you want us to publish more celebrity news, but rather that you like engaging in a bit of schadenfreude at celebrity stupidity!

Your five most favourite Gathering posts

1. Course review: ‘Adhesives for Paper Conservation’  by Stefania Signorello
2. My Favourite Tool: Cheryl Porter’s Porcupine Quills  by Cheryl Porter
3. Function not Finery: Stationery Bindings 1500-1799  by Pamela Birch
4. Course review: ‘Adhesives and their Application’  by Salvador Alcántara Peláez
5. Preparing Shell Gold  by Anita Chowdry

Who are you and where do you come from?

We can’t really answer the first question because it’s a bit of a philosophical one and we’re no shrinks, but we thought it would be fun to share with you the answer to the latter. We’re loved most in the UK, US, Spain, Australia, Italy, Canada, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. But The Gathering is actually read in 127 countries – not bad when you consider that the world contains 193 (give or take), which by our reckoning puts us at 66% global domination. Bolivia and Botswana, we’re coming for you next!

Your video treat:

brings us full circle from the first item from our very first Infill at the beginning of 2015. He was broken but not defeated, he was down but not out, and now he’s come alive again in Cairo: it’s King Tutankhamun and his boy wonder-ful beard!

The final word…

… is simply from us to you, wishing you a conservative, restorative, preservative and cultural 2016!

Hugs, The Gathering

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