Clearmount’s Memorable Pieces: the ROM edition
In these unprecedented times, we thought we would bring you some levity and fun. We plan on showcasing the projects that we love, the ones that we still think about years later, and the personal items that we’ve encapsulated into timeless art pieces. When I first proposed this idea to our Clearmount staff, I asked them what their favourite and most unique project that they’ve worked on and everyone came back with the ROM pieces.
ROM – Touch and Learn Series
For those who don’t live in Toronto, the ROM stands for the Royal Ontario Museum. It is an amazing institution that has been around for over 100 years. It’s one of the largest museums in North American and is a beautiful collection of art, world culture and natural history. If you’re ever in Toronto, once museums open again, be sure to check it out. Until then take a virtual stroll through the exhibitions. Our favourites are the Earth’s Treasures, a beautiful collection of meteorites, precious gems and more. And don’t forget to tour the Bat Cave. Did it scare us to nightmares as children? Well maybe, but now we’re brave adults so we’re ok!
We’ve been working with the museum for years by embedding unique pieces of natural history for their touch and learn series. We take feathers, bones, bugs and more and embed them in Lucite pieces along with the names of the pieces in English, French and Latin. Every time our contact comes in with new embedments, it’s like the adult version of show and tell. She regales us with information about the item, how she’s gathered it from the archives, and what we need to know about its embedment. My personal favourite are the tiny bird skulls that get brought in. It’s amazing to see all the detail that nature has put into such tiny objects. My least favourite, the 6” wide tarantula. I know it’s dead, embedded and can’t hurt me, but it still gives me shivers whenever I see it in our vault!
The goal of these pieces is for them to go in their public displays for people to view the pieces from all angles and for children to handle during school trips. But that kind of activity isn’t always kind to our pieces. We’re durable, but not school trip youth durable! This is where our acrylic material is the best. If a piece becomes scratched or chipped during its time in the public, it’s not going to be scrapped. It’s brought back to us to be buffed, trimmed and made brand new again. We don’t lose these priceless samples because of slippery fingers. They last forever.
Which means that tarantula just keeps coming back….
To learn more about how we can help you preserve priceless samples, contact us here
