{"id":1528,"date":"2023-11-16T04:54:24","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T04:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arteastic.in\/blog\/?p=1528"},"modified":"2023-11-30T13:24:16","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T13:24:16","slug":"how-to-take-care-of-your-family-heirloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arteastic.in\/blog\/how-to-take-care-of-your-family-heirloom\/","title":{"rendered":"How to take care of your family heirloom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preserving family heirloom<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

My introduction to the Taj Mahal and the legendary Konark sun temple was through a couple of family albums filled with black and white photographs. My father, a photography enthusiast, had a German Agfa camera and a small darkroom to develop the negatives. The albums were filled with photographs shot and developed by him; photos with his college friends in Konark, my parents\u2019 romantic pictures at the Taj Mahal right after their marriage and so on. One particular picture of a cheerful teenage boy always intrigued me. It was the picture of my father\u2019s elder brother who had died due to typhoid at a young age. No one in our big joint family ever mentioned him. My father had carefully preserved his memory in the album.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember spending hours going through the albums looking at people I had never met and places I had never visited, and yet developing a sense of familiarity and kinship and forming memories of my own.<\/span><\/p>\n

Memories, roots, and heritage <\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n

All of us have some such valuable and memorable possessions. e.g., Black and white family photos, intricately carved heavy wooden furniture, rare books, silk sarees handed down, and so on. They have memories attached to them. They always have a story to tell, about that period; about the people who owned them. These truly are family heirlooms. Some are precious as art, some as family memorabilia and yet some others for their own emotional value. Some of them could be exquisite craft which are lost in modern times. Preserving these heirlooms therefore becomes akin to not just preserving our memories and emotional connections, but also a small part of our heritage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the artefacts last naturally for centuries. e.g., a great grandmother\u2019s gold jewellery; or the family deity in the form of a stone murti. However, some others need care. e.g., mother\u2019s exquisitely woven zari silk saree<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

We at Arteastic strive to keep our traditions artforms alive and vibrant and preserved. That is why we wanted to share some simple steps on how to preserve such heirlooms.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Picture albums<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Every family has them. The black & white pictures nicely pasted on black sheets of a thick family album. Over time, the pictures become pale yellow. The best way to preserve them in this digital era is to scan them and make digital copies of the same. The faded colors can also be fixed to some extent using various photo editing software.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stone Statues<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n

When I was in school, I visited Konark with my father and my sister. After visiting the Sun temple, my father took us to a sculpting school where young local boys were learning how to sculpt. They gifted us two beautiful nartakis or danseuses. My father, being a govt employee, used to travel extensively to all parts of Odisha. Once he came back with a beautiful black granite Radha Krishna murti.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

These artefacts form part of my childhood memories. When I visited home a couple of decades later, I saw those statues lying there, covered with dust. With my mother getting old and frail, there was no one to take care of them. I got them home. Just a thorough wash under the tap water and they were as good as new. Stone statues are the easiest to preserve with minimum effort. Normally the stone statues do not have any colour on them. Like wood, they have their natural shades of pink or green or grey. After washing and cleaning them, you can polish them optionally for the statues to regain their natural shine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Books<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Some of the books belonging to your parents could be rare or out of print. The fairytale books or the Tintin series will have fond memories from your childhood days. So, it is a good idea to preserve some of them. Old books have a typical smell. Over the years the pages become yellowish. Insects and termites are a big problem as well. Try and ensure the following:<\/span><\/p>\n