Specimen Preparation: Bells Curio 🔔🌰

This hands-on curatorial project provided me with valuable insight into combining natural and man-made objects for display purposes. As my fourth curio creation and most recent piece, this project allowed me to merge natural finds with crafted elements, creating a preserved personal specimen that reflects both collecting principles and aesthetic arrangement.

I curated this piece using brass bells, nut shells, and a chestnut collected in Coleford, combined with dried flowers I had pressed and preserved over several years. This project demonstrated how personal collecting can connect memory with practical specimen preparation techniques.

🧰 Materials and Equipment:

• 🔔 Brass bells, nut shells, chestnut (collected in Coleford)

• 🌸 Pressed flowers (preserved over several years)

• 🫙 Glass jar container

• 🧼 Soap and water cleaning solutions

• 🪥 Scrubbing tools and brushes

• 🧻 Paper towels (for drying before arrangement)

• ⏳ Drying time: several hours before sealing display

⚙️ Preparation Process:

• 🌸 Flower Selection - Selected pressed flowers from personal preservation collection

• 🫧 Initial Cleaning - Cleaned brass bells, nut shells, and chestnut using soap and water solutions

• 🪥 Detailed Preparation - Carefully scrubbed and prepared each component to museum-standard cleanliness

• 🫙 Assembly and Curation - Arranged all elements within the jar using curatorial principles and aesthetic balance

Bells, nut shells, and whole chestnut - Coleford, Gloucestershire - 21/09/2024

Dried Yellow Rose petals - Cheltenham, Gloucestershire - 09/02/2024

Pressed and dried Barberry branch - Cheltenham, Gloucestershire - 25/03/2024

Two pressed orange Montbretia flowers - Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire - 04/08/2024

Pressed and dried dark pink flower - Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire - 2024

🔔 Bells Curio Instagram Post 🌰

Key Skills Developed:

• 🖼️ Curatorial Practice – Material integration, aesthetic arrangement, and strategic object placement for unified displays

• 🫙 Preservation & Management – Multi-material conservation, long-term storage planning, and documentation of provenance

• 🏛️ Museum-Relevant Skills – Collections handling awareness, exhibition insight, and designing accessible public displays

• 🧩 Problem-Solving – Adapting techniques for diverse materials, improvising with available resources, and refining through experience

• 🎨 Professional Skills – Attention to detail, patience through multi-step processes, workflow organization, and balancing scientific accuracy with visual storytelling

This curio reflects both my interest in preservation and creative curatorial practice, demonstrating how everyday natural finds can be transformed into meaningful display specimens. The project enhanced my understanding of curatorial decision-making processes, skills directly applicable to museum collections and exhibition work.

💀 See more on my Instagram: @BonesByShannon 🪲

💡 Enjoyed this post? Subscribe!

✨ Learn more about my work and aspirations here: My Portfolio