Leonie McKenzie

Screen showing welcoming sign for celebrating museums 2025, with a stained glass window behind it

Had an incredible day at #CelebratingMuseums2025 with Museum Development North! The event was filled with insightful talks, and I'm still reflecting on the thought-provoking discussions. Excited to dive deeper into some of the key points raised and continue these conversations in the near future.

A person with long brown hair and glasses on the left of the screen. Behind is a range of items both on the floor and on the table.

#museumselfieday just little bit behind the scenes of the current project I'm working on. Here are a few items that have come out of the attic ready to be catalogued, rationalised and put into the store rooms.

Thank you for doing this and for sharing!

a starter pack of conservators from various disciplines - please let me know if you'd like to be added, and who I've missed...
go.bsky.app/4HjAJJX

I didn't think I had seen one either. I'll see if anyone else has spotted one, if not I definitely think it would be a good idea to have one set up!

Does anyone know if there is a conservation/conservators starter pack? #glam #glams #heritage #conservators #conservation #museums #freelance #archaeology

Green background, with a black rectangle in the middle. In that rectangle there is a flat lay of the 7 sherds of glass milk jug. They are white with a rose pattern over them. This is before conservation.

Green background, with a black rectangle in the middle. In that rectangle there is an image of the reconstructed glass milk jug from two different angles. The glass milk jug is white with a rose pattern. This is after conservation.

Next was a small glass milk jug, this had been broken and only 7 large pieces remained. I cleaned these of surface dirt, adhered the pieces together and made fills to support the original pieces where there were low areas of surface contact. 3/ #conservation #conservator #heritage #moretocome

Green background. On the left is a large blue multilayer rosette with leather ribbons, on the right is a blue and red layered rosette. Both before conservation work.

Green background. On the left is a large blue multilayer rosette with leather ribbons, on the right is a blue and red layered rosette. Both after conservation work.

Starting with the non-archaeological. I worked on three painted leather rosettes. This involved cleaning off years of surface dirt, removing the old top coat and consolidating loose flakes of paint 2/

Great to see bluesky really starting to pick up! As I've had a flurry of new followers, I thought I'd introduce myself! I'm Leonie, a trained conservator from Cardiff uni. I've worked on a number of objects, with archaeological finds being my favourite 1/

A wooden and glass display case, showing photographs from the late 1890s-1950s ISH. Along with items that could be purchased from shops on the high street.

Earlier this month I started my first job in the museum world!! I'm not able to show much yet, but I can show my first curated exhibition case that's at the local library for showing the history of the market street!

#museum #heritage #newjob #communitymonth

In the top left hand corner is a close up image of a woman wearing classes with her hair tied back. The rest of the image is of a white front door in a Georgian building

I'm happy to announce I have started a new role, collections assistant, at beck isle museum.

#firstday #NewJobAlert #NewJob #collections #collectionsassistant

Large pink light area going diagonal across the image from top left to bottom right, surrounded by green light

Large pink light area going diagonal across the image from top left to bottom right with trees shadowed just below, surrounded by green light

Large burst of pink lights radiating from the centre of the picture

Foreground shows a shadowed house on the right and trees across the bottom. Just above that is the northern lights, ranging from blues, green, pinks and purples

How wonderful to see the #auroraborealis over our house! #northenlights #solarstorm #yorkshire

This dog wasn't shot in a gravel pit...
A #Roman burial of a #dog. The beloved animal was buried with a vessel, its head was bedded on a piece of leather.

A life without #dogs is possible but pointless.

From Cologne, 1st AD.

Photo: Römisch-Germanisches Museum Köln

🏺

After conservation, reconstructed bronze age pot with two styles of decoration near the rim

10 black trays with sherds of newly discovered bronze age ceramic on a wooden floor

Where it started to where it finished.

#DiggingForBritain 🏺 @CAERHeritage
#GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

Clay soil surrounding an outline of a rectangle on pottery with a meter stick (red and white) just above

10 black trays each with different sherds of pottery in them, surrounded by trenches and soil from a dig

A white woman wearing blue glasses and a green top, using a wooden tool to remove soil around bronze age pottery in a trench

A 🧵 showing the conservation journey of a 3500 year old bronze age pot found in Cardiff. It all started when a few sherds were uncovered on a bright and sunny Friday, the rest of the pot was recovered on the Saturday. #DiggingForBritain 🏺 @CAERHeritage
#GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

Seeking opportunities in Conservation, Collections Care or learning in heritage in North Yorkshire or Buckinghamshire! If anyone knows of openings or leads in these fields, I'd greatly appreciate any info or connections you can share. #ConservationJobs #CollectionsCare #NorthYorkshire #glam #GLAM

Seeking opportunities in Conservation, Collections Care or learning in heritage in North Yorkshire! If anyone knows of openings or leads in these fields, I'd greatly appreciate any info or connections you can share. #ConservationJobs #CollectionsCare #NorthYorkshire

Seeking opportunities in Conservation, Collections Care or learning in heritage in North Yorkshire! If anyone knows of openings or leads in these fields, I'd greatly appreciate any info or connections you can share. #ConservationJobs #CollectionsCare #NorthYorkshire

If you fancy seeing some of the other objects I have worked on over the past two years, you can see them here leonie-conservation-21.my.canva.site or here linktr.ee/leoniemckenzie #diggingforbritain 🏺 #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

After conservation, reconstructed bronze age pot with two styles of decoration near the rim

10 black trays with sherds of newly discovered bronze age ceramic on a wooden floor

Where it started to where it finished.

#DiggingForBritain 🏺 @CAERHeritage
#GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

If you fancy seeing some of the other objects I have worked on over the past two years, you can see them here leonie-conservation-21.my.canva.site or here linktr.ee/leoniemckenzie #diggingforbritain 🏺 #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

complete reconstruction of pot, showing the full profile with decorations near the rim

complete reconstruction of pot, showing the full profile with decorations near the rim and a large fill

complete reconstruction of pot, showing the full profile with decorations near the rim and a large fill

complete reconstruction of pot, showing the full profile with decorations near the rim

The reconstruction of the #bronzeage #pottery was complete! Overall it took ~150 hours, more cotton swabs than is beliveable, a lot of patience and care, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment! I learnt a lot. #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

white woman holding a paintbrush and painting onto the fills of the pot

Finally, the last of the inpainting could be done. #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

With all the sherds readhered and all the fills all completed the next stage was to tidy up, smooth off and perfect all fills. #bronzeage #pottery and draw your eye to the pot itself. #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation x.com/Leonieconser...

Last of the fills, this time the last two sherds of rim were added. By doing this is is possible to see more clearly the shape of the pot, although this has been greatly distorted being in the ground. #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation x.com/Leonieconser...

Even more fills, this time the fills were needed in order to adhere a sherd of pottery in a location that was hard to do other wise. #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation x.com/Leonieconser...

part reconstructed pot, with pink wax layer behind and a white layer of plaster being used to make a fill

part reconstructed pot, with pink wax layer behind and a white layer of plaster being used to make a fill

Next came more fills, this ended up being large fill for several reasons; to balance the pot so it doesnt fall over, the be able to insert pieces that did not adhere directly to others but fit in those spaces. #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

Once the side was built up I inpainted to fills on the inside before they became too inaccessible. This helped to blend them in with the surrounding pot while not hiding the fact that fills are present. #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation x.com/Leonieconser...

before image, shows large section of reconstructed pot with lighter brown fills between sherds

before image, shows large section of reconstructed pot with darker brown fills between sherds, which blend in more with the surface of the pot

What a difference inpainting makes, the fills draw the eyes less and therfore the pot surface is the main focus, before and after pictures below. #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation

full profile of pot with some gaps and holes and one area of white fill

More time + more clamp stands + more sand hands + more sherds + more fills = one side of the pot built up from the base to rim #diggingforbritain 🏺 @caerheritage #GLAM #museum #archaeology #conservation