String Flower

String Flower with Missing Petal

4" across

made by Helen Scott

found at Stove

Wedding Celebration Tea Tin

Twining's Tea Tin  

celebrating 1947 Royal Wedding

containing Helen Scott's wound up string.

found at Stove

Ballerina Cake Decorations

Ballerina Cake Decorations

2" high

from Kettletoft Stores

Kettletoft Stores no longer exists on the island following an attempt to burn it down some years ago. In it's heyday it was an essential & busy place, selling everything from groceries, candles, nails, fireworks, & coal to boxes of slippers that went back several decades. 

Spinning-wheel Wheel

Spinning-wheel Wheel

18" across

from Hazel Tulloch of Rusness

Found during clearing out an outhouse

The centre in the midst of conditions is a very subtle expression. The centre is omnipresent; everything is contained in it; it is connected with the release of the whole of creation.

( The Secret of the Golden Flower

 translated by Richard Wilhelm )

Pressed Mouse Skins in Greek Bible

Dudley Somerville's Greek Bible, New Testament

 containing pressed mouse & vole skins

found in a shed full of abandoned books on Rousay

Harvest mouse skin with lost tail pressed

in first letter to the Corinthians chapter 1

Vole skin pressed in second letter

to the Corinthians chapter 2

Warning Sign

From the Sea

Electricity Power Station Warning Sign

found on Stove Bay

Simulacra

Simulacra

 childhood objects made of plastic

collected on the shores of Sanday

from the sea

Vertebral Plate of a Whale

From the Sea

found on the North shore of Egilsay

10. 5" diameter

The unfused vertebral epiphysis

of a young whale

Pair of Boots

John Scott's Boots

with pony shoes on the heels

and 2 rows of extra nails along the front.

Found in his workshop, one of the stables at Stove

Rose Float

 Fishing Float with Rose

painted by Helen Scott

6'' across: enamel paint

found at Stove

Helen Scott would have seen the glass fishing floats painted with ships by Willie o' Neven from North Ronaldsay. Her husband John, was also born and raised there & was a friend and contemporary of Willie o' Neven 

Stove House

Gardemeles - house on the sands - the old name for Stove

which is where the museum takes place:

a collection that began in 1999.

Model of Stove House made by Helen Scott

8'' high. Made of cardboard, wallpaper, matchboxes & sellotape 

with details drawn in biro.

found at Stove

Helen Scott was born nearby in 1901 at South Myre and came to Stove, aged 14 as a servant. After leaving in a state of malnourishment and working locally as a seamstress of men's suits at the island clothing shop, she returned after the First World War and lived with her husband John as crofters in half of Stove House until 1993.  Their entrance was by the door on the far left of the model & opened straight onto one of her flower gardens.