Floating Dairy Thermometer

Floating Dairy Thermometer

glass, strip of numbered paper, mercury 12" long

found in the kitchen at Stove

Wallpaper

Wallpaper

1950's - from 2 unused rolls

found in a boxbed at Stove which had become a cupboard

The grey geometric paper was used on the staircase and landing walls. The willow leaves in a downstairs room overlooking the sea which is where Helen Scott made things. A variety of materials were scattered around including the 50 empty biro tubes. This room was very damp and the wallpaper  faded and in a delicate and disintegrating state, in marked contrast to the unused roll found upstairs.

the grey paper was better preserved and created a dramatic effect with the yellow staircase and Persian rug effect lino.

  

Hook & Pulley

Hook & Pulley

wood, iron. bootlace, 10" long, C19th

found in John Scott's workshop in the stables at Stove

Pyjamas

Pyjamas

3 cleaning cloths, buttons, thread, paper, 12" long

C21st Anonymous

from Sanday School Fair

the poem inside the pyjamas reads:

We May look Like Pyjamas 

But Really We're Not

It's Three Little Handy

Wipes That You Have Got.

So Take Us Apart - It

Really Won't Hurt

And Use Us For Cleaning

And Chasing The Dirt

Necklace of Glass Cherries

Necklace of Glass Cherries (one cherry missing)

Art Deco

from Stromness Red Cross Shop

Robert Burns Plate

Robert Burns Plate

made at the Bridgewater Pottery, Bo'ness

brown transfer ware, circa 1890, 10" across

from Sanday Recycling Centre

Started by Charles Wason McNay in 1887 the pottery employed 200 girls and men. It closed in 1958 and was, according to the local paper, The Journal & Gazette " The last whiteware pottery in Scotland to close it's doors." A plate was also produced at Bridgewater with Jean Amour, Burn's loyal and tolerant wife, in the same wreath of flowers.

Improvised Rope

Improvised Rope

18ft strip of rolled fishing net

tightly bound with bailer twine and blue string

from the sea

Stoneware Bottle

Stoneware Bottle

encrusted with barnacles

4.5" high

from the sea

where it had been for many year 

Sing says the folding water on stiller water ----

one running through where the other's breaking. Sing me

something (the sound of the low wave-breaking)

 the tuning-down where it deposits life matter on

the uphill of shore)( also the multiplicity

of deepening and coverings where whiteness rises as a 

manyness)

(as the wave breaks over its own breaking)

(to rip in unison)(over its own backslide) ----

of something sing, and singing disagree.

 Evolution - Jorie Graham

String of Painteded Floats & Space Bobber

String of Pinted Floats & Space Bobber

used on trawler nets

from the sea

Although many different floats are being constantly washed ashore from  North Sea fishing trawlers, the applied yellow paint is unusual.

Gladstone Bag

Gladstone Bag

stiff leather, cotton, steel buckles, built over nickel frame !5" long

found in North bedroom at Stove, under the bed

The Gladstone bag was first made in the mid C19th. Containing two equal compartments, it was named after William Ewart Gladstone, four times Liberal Prime Minister of the British Isles who was seldom seen without one on his travels.

The Scotts may have used theirs on trips to Kirkwall on Mainland Orkney, which until the 1980's meant a night aboard the St Ola ferry which sailed once a week and went around all the outer isles.

Zundfix Tin

Zundfix Tin

diesel selbstxunder

ignition sticks for diesel engine

empty, rusted shut, 5" across

found in John Scott's workshop, Stove stables

The RECTANGLE or DRESS-CUTTING SQUARE

THE RECTANGLE or DRESS CUTTING SQUARE

for the rapid drawing of patterns

cardboard 21''  circa 1920

found at Stove

After the method of Madame ALICE GUERRE    Inspectress of needlework at the Professional School of the Pupils of the Seine,  Professor at the Professional Schools of the City of Paris and at the Elysa Lamontier Schools ( Society for the Technical Instruction of Women ) Directress of the Cutting out, Sewing & Modelling Class of the 7th Arrondissement of Paris.

Printing blocks

A Selection of Printing Blocks, circa 1940 - 60

the umbrellas 2.5" tall

copper, steel, nails, hardwood backing

a boxful found in the Scarth Centre warehouse, Kirkwall

around 2010 when it cleared everything out and closed down..

Apron

Apron

printed cotton  22" long

from Salvation Army shop, Kirkwall

Black-faced Ram Skull

Black-faced Ram Skull

19" across

found on a Galloway mountainside

Infaltable Turtle

Inflatable Turtle

polythene 32" long

from the sky

Detachable Tail

Detachable Tail

sewn by young boy 2013

from Stove

ABC das Aves

ABC das Aves

Portuguese Alphabet Book 7" high

from Sanday Recycling Centre

illustrated by Renato Demonte Ferraz

Educes Melhoramentos

Early Wallpaper

Early Wallpaper 

the deepest layers....too fragile to separate 

found in a ruined farmhouse on South Ronaldsay

Indian Bottle

Indian Bottle - drinking water for life raft

plastic 6.5" high

from the sea

the text on the side of the bottle reads:

DRINKING WATER

FOR

LIFE RAFT

1/2 LITRE

EXPIRY - 2 YEARS

BATCH NO 04

PACKED ON - AUG 91

APPROVED BY DIR. GEN. OF SHIPPING

BOMBAY

SINGH HINDUSTAN MARINE

PVT LTD

CALCUTTA

INDIA

Mermaids Purse

Mermaids Purse

chondrichthyes

disused egg case of Flapper Skate 9"

found on Stove Bay

Although the Flapper Skate is a critically endangered species their egg cases are frequently washed ashore on Sanday after winter storms. When first laid, the case has tough tendrils that often attach to kelp stalks rooted in the seabed. After several months a fully developed miniature skate emerges from slits that open in the sides of the case..

Burnt Binoculars

Burnt Binoculars

6" high, brass, glass, the lower lenses melted 

found in the embers of bonfire on moorland above Stove

Sheep Shears

Sheep Shears

for hand cutting the wool from the sheep

early C20th rusty steel 11"long

from Pool Sanday

Patrick Neill, in his account of a Tour around Orkney, published in 1806 observed   " When sheep are to be caught, they are still hounded down by dogs instead of being driven into folds and seized by gentler means. In many places, still, the wool, instead of being shorn with scissors, is forcibly torn from their backs. During winter the sheep betake themselves to the shores to pick up the tender sea-weeds cast up by the waves; and many of them perish in this pursuit, being washed away by sudden swells of billows. "

Face

Face

concrete and household paint 12" high

from Sanday Recycling Centre

Towers of Blocks

Towers of Blocks

from the corners of Wooden Pallets

each block around 4" high

from the sea

early memories

Supplies to the islands are brought across by boat on wooden pallets which, if they end up in the sea, are often battered to pieces. The corner blocks survive and are frequently washed ashore.

Portrait of Child and Dog

Portrait of Child and Dog

photograph mounted on cardboard 15" high

from Sanday Recycling Centre