Monday, August 8, 2011
Whales in the news.
http://www.bt.no/nyheter/lokalt/Hvalene-inntok-Bergen-sentrum-2538667.html
The whale team and the work here at the whale hall has also been in the news recently and you can see the pictures and hear the report from the Bergens Tidende here....
http://www.bt.no/nyheter/lokalt/Hvalvask-og-annet-forefallende-arbeid-2538070.html
and the report from Aftenposten here......
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article4193650.ece
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Whale Skeletons Reveal a Little of Their History
Marielle has been examining the skeletons, bone by individual bone, for cut marks which can give her clues as to how the dead whales were defleshed and prepared so that the skeletons could be extracted, cleaned and re-articulated ready to hang in the whale hall.
All of the whale skeletons in the hall that she has examined so far have shown extensive cut marks on many of the bones. By mapping these marks and researching historical documents she has been able to build up a picture of how the skeletons were prepared.
Although it is not known whether the whales we have here were acquired by the museum through beachings or brought into whaling stations along the Norwegian coast Marielle has found that the cutting marks illustrate that the whales were defleshed by hand. The vast quantities of blubber were removed using flensing knives designed for this purpose.
An example of a flensing knife, specifically designed to remove whale blubber.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The Scaffolding Move
We've made a little time lapse video of the scaffolding coming down from around the completed skeletons and the new structure going up. Just click on the link below......
Monday, June 20, 2011
It's a Big Day in the Whale Hall
Beginning today and over the course of this week the scaffolding will be dismantled and taken down as the cleaning, repairing, conserving, restoring and stabilising of the whales in the first half of the whale hall is complete. This is an important day for everyone on the whale team as we have worked really hard over the last year on these huge skeletons and it marks the progress we have made on the project.
Scaffolding will now be set up around the whales occupying the second half of the hall - these are the smaller Minke whales and a Fin whale. In addition the tail of the Blue whale and the skull of the first Fin whale will be now be accessible from the new scaffolding.
As the scaffolding comes down today we can see the newly cleaned skeletons from the floor and it looks great. We are really pleased with the work so far and we can't wait to get started on the next skeletons.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
The Blue Whale
An initial test clean showed that although the wet cleaning techniques used previously would be suitable for the mandibles (lower jaws) and some areas of the skull, the thick plaster and paint layers would be harder to remove and required a different cleaning method.
Wet cleaning of the Blue whale right mandible. The results can clearly be seen.
Using the sand blasting machine to clean the paint, plaster residue, dirt and oil from the maxilla.
The results of a sand blast cleaning a strip of the maxilla. As you can see it was very effective.
A comparison between the cleaned (left of picture) and un cleaned Blue whale skull base.
A comparison between the cleaned (left of picture) and un cleaned Blue whale maxilla.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Fixing the Flippers
Zina undertook the task of restoring the Sei whale flippers and began by making moulds of some of the intact finger bones in order to make replica casts that could be used to replace the missing bones. She used alginate (a substance used by dentists for making moulds of peoples mouths) to make moulds of the finger bones and then Jesmonite AC100 (which is similar to plaster of paris) to make the exact casts from the rubbery alginate moulds. The bones were cast in two halves and stuck together on the flipper with more Jesmonite.
Two jesmonite finger bone casts in position. The cast to the right has been completed with paint, allowing it to blend in with the other bones.
The finished flipper. A great improvement!
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Sei Whale Spine is Repaired.
The spine after the wooden block and attached bone pieces have been removed.
A screw into the cork holding the metal mesh securely in place.
Securing the bone pieces onto the metal mesh.
A re-attached vertebral process.