Many industrial processes are inspired by nature, and can be seen as a mechanised extension of a traditional hand process using tools from the natural world. The Teasel Gig is one such invention. Here's a little about this extraordinary machine which is a mixture of the natural and man made.

Teasels were traditionally used to ‘comb’ the surface of damp woollen cloth by hand to

Teasel Gig

make it soft and fluffy. This process is called ‘raising the nap’.

The Teasel Gig machine was invented to make this process faster and more efficient. The teasel gig contains 3000 prickly teasels in an iron frame and is powered by electricity. The cloth is passed over the teasels, giving it a more even, fluffy finish.

The Teasel Gig is a curious mix of the natural and man-made. It combined the hand processes of the past with precision engineering – the future of the textile industry

Teasel Gig with Teasels at The National Wool Museum, Drefach Felindre

A ‘Teasel Man’ travelled from mill to mill renewing the teasels in the gigs. It was a very skilled job as the teasel heads had to be carefully arranged to ensure the cloth was finished evenly. Most of the teasels came from specialist gardens in Somerset

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales would like to congratulate the 4,463 pupils from across the UK who achieved Super Scientist recognition for their participation in the Spring Bulbs for Schools Investigation 2019-2020.

A big congratulations to you all! Thank you for working so hard planting, observing, measuring and recording, you really are Super Scientists!

Many thanks to The Edina Trust for funding this project.

Super Scientists 2020

Enillwyr / Winners

Cymru / Wales: Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Tonyrefail

Gogledd Iwerddon / Northern Ireland: Holy Cross Girls' Primary School

Lloegr / England: St Michael's CE Aided Primary School

Yr Alban / Scotland: Gavinburn Primary School

 

Yn Ail / Runners up

Cymru / Wales: Bryncoch CiW Primary School

Gogledd Iwerddon / Northern Ireland: Greenhaw Primary School

Lloegr / England: King's Meadow Academy

Yr Alban / Scotland: Penpont Primary School

 

Clod Uchel / Highly Commended

Cymru / Wales:

St Paul's CiW Primary

St. Julian's Primary

St. Robert's Catholic Primary

Ysgol Gymraeg Caerffili

Gogledd Iwerddon / Northern Ireland:

Steelstown Primary School

Lloegr / England:

Arkholme C of E Primary School

Bursar Primary Academy

Clifton Primary School

Ossett Flushdyke Junior and Infant School

St Austins Catholic Primary School

Stoneferry Primary School

Woodfield Primary

Yr Alban / Scotland:

Dalbeattie Primary School

St Fergus' Primary School

St John Ogilvie Primary School

 

Cydnabyddiaeth arbennig / Special Recognition

Cymru / Wales:

Blaendulais Primary School

Bro Pedr

Broad Haven

Carreghofa C P School

Darran Park Primary

Evenlode Primary

Ferryside V.C.P School

Gaer Primary School

Henllys C/W Primary

Litchard Primary School

Llanedeyrn Primary School

Llanharan Primary School

Pil Primary School

Sofrydd Primary School

St Athan Primary

St Joseph's Cathedral Primary School

Tonyrefail Community School

Ysgol Deganwy

Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant

Ysgol Llwyn yr Eos

Ysgol San Sior

Lloegr / England:

Canon Peter Hall Primary School

Fieldhead Primary Academy

Fleet Wood Lane Primary School

Hudson Road Primary School

Oldfleet Primary School

Stanford in the Vale Primary School

Yr Alban / Scotland:

Carnbroe Primary School

Earlston Primary School

Greenburn School

Lawefield Primary School

Sanquhar Primary School

St Mungo Primary

Whatriggs Primary School

 

Gwyddonwyr Gwych / Super Scientists

Cymru / Wales:

Dyffryn Cledlyn

Aberdare Park Primary School

Albert Primary School

Blaengwrach Primary

Garth primary School

Georgetown Primary

Hendredenny Park Primary

High Cross Primary School

Llangan Primary School

Maesgwyn Special School

NPTC Newtown College

St. Michael's RC Primary

Ty Isaf Infants School

White Rose Primary School

Y Berllan Deg

Ysgol Craig yr Wylfa

Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan

Gogledd Iwerddon / Northern Ireland:

Auchencairn Primary School

John Paul II Primary School

Newbuildings Primary School

Saint Patrick's Primary School

St Anne's Primary School

St Paul's Primary and Nursery School

Lloegr / England:

Adelaide Primary School

Bardney CofE Primary School

Castleford Park Junior Academy

Chorley St James CE Primary

Dunstall Hill Primary School

Garstang St Thomas C.E. Primary

Gonerby Hill Foot C E Primary School

North Road Primary School

Sandal Magna Community Academy

St Helen's C of E Primary School

St Michael's Church of England Aided Primary School

St Peter's Catholic Primary School

Yr Alban / Scotland:

Cummertrees Primary School

Drummore Primary School

Gelston Primary School

Glenluce Primary School

Gordon Primary School

Laurieknowe Primary School

Locharbriggs Primary School

Loreburn Primary School

New Abbey Primary School

Newmains Primary School

Our Lady of Peace Primary School

Saint Anthony's Primary School

Sheuchan Primary School

Wormit Primary School

St Peter's Primary School

We'll be celebrating the re-opening of the National Waterfront Museum after more than four months in verse, with a specially commissioned poem about life in lockdown, woven through by your words. This week, we're launching a campaign to get our visitors, fans, and community to contribute words and phrases for what will become a poetic legacy of these unprecedented times for the city and surrounding area.

All being well, on 28^th August, we'll be unlocking the museum's doors and look forward to welcoming you all back, albeit on a pre-booked, ticketed (free ticket) entry basis, to manage numbers and maintain social distancing measures.

2020 marks the National Waterfront Museum’s 15^th anniversary. When it opened in October 2005, it was to the words of a poem by the then National Poet of Wales, Gwyneth Lewis. So, for the unlocking of the doors this August, we want to conjure words, rhythms and rhymes once more, this time with your help!

Datgloi ~ Unlock will be a poetic celebration of the unlocking of our doors. We're asking the community of Swansea, our visitors and fans to let us know two things, each in 280 characters, which is the length of a tweet:

• Describe your experience of lockdown (ANSWER IN 280 characters or less)
• Why are you looking forward to the re-opening of the National Waterfront Museum? (ANSWER IN 280 characters or less)

Those wishing to get involved and submit their thoughts and words are invited to do so via the museum’s Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/waterfrontmuseum 

or by Tweeting @the_waterfront and using #DatgloiUnlock

or by emailing us on DatgloiUnlock@museumwales.ac.uk

Through this project, our aim is to gather a sense of the lock-down experience for the people of Swansea and the region, and to understand what re-opening the museum will mean for you. The commissioned poets, Aneirin Karadog and Natalie Ann Holborow will then take these statements and craft them into two poems, one in Welsh, the other in English.

Speaking about the project, the Head of the National Waterfront Museum, Steph Mastoris said:

“Over the coming weeks, we’ll be engaging our local audiences and followers through social media and asking them to share a phrase or two about lockdown and what they’re most looking forward to seeing / doing when our museum reopens. Our commissioned poets will then use these words and phrases as the basis and inspiration for their poems, so that they reflect the experiences of our community during lockdown, and celebrate the unlocking of our museum, which over the past 15 years has found it’s place at the heart of the city’s community.”

The poets commissioned for this project both have strong connections with the Swansea area. 

Aneirin Karadog who will compose the Welsh language poem for Datgloi ~ Unlock

Aneirin Karadog is a poet, broadcaster, performer and linguist. He was brought up in Llanrwst before moving to Pontardawe in the 1980s

He graduated from New College, Oxford University, with a degree in French and Spanish. His mother is Breton and his father is Welsh; he can speak Welsh, English, Breton, French and Spanish fluently.

Aneirin is a familiar face on S4C, and a chaired bard of the National Eisteddfod (2016). He composes poetry on a range of metres from syncopatic rap to the ancient and fiendishly difficult Welsh language form, cynghanedd, and his work has been published widely.

Natalie Ann Holborow who will create the English language poem for Datgloi ~ Unlock

Natalie Ann Holborow is proud to be from Dylan Thomas’ hometown.

She is the multi award-winning Welsh writer whose debut collection, 'And Suddenly You Find Yourself' (Parthian, 2017) was listed as one of Wales Arts Review's 'Best of 2017' and was launched at the International Kolkata Literary Festival. She is a finalist for the Cursed Murphy International Spoken Word award and her second collection, 'Small', will be published by Parthian in 2020.

We're grateful to Literature Wales who advised and helped us set up this project. The poems will be unveiled at the opening of the National Waterfront Museum, planned for 28 August.

The National Museum of Wales is currently collecting reflections and memories of Covid 2020. Find out more about our Collecting Covid: Wales 2020 project here: www.museum.wales/collecting-covid/

 

We have had fantastic entries from all areas of Wales & beyond! The standard is truly incredible! Visiting these virtual museums has been great fun and an incredible honour! Many thanks to everyone who took part in the Minecraft Your Museum Competition! 

We hope you enjoyed taking part as much as we enjoyed visiting your Museum! 

The video below shows entries from all our participants and highlights the winning entries.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in this (woolly) mammoth of a challenge!

This competition shines a light on the talented young 'crafters' we have in Wales! They have created the most beautiful Museums and wonderful collections. They also thought of everything a visitor might need from cafes, to play areas, shows and of course toilet facilities. They are digital architects, curators and Museums managers all rolled into one! The digital skills they have used in both creating and presenting is something to shout about! Digital Literacy being a cross-curricular theme in Wales is really paying off. 

We are delighted to announce that the People's Collection Wales will be creating a collection of all the entries so others too can appreciate the amazing museums created. Once we have permission from participants,we will update this blog with links. People’s Collection Wales is a National digital collection that gathers history from the People of Wales.

We are delighted to announce that the Minecraft Your Museum competition has been shortlisted for the Family Friendly Museum Award From Home. 

The Winners:

1st place: Prize VIP trip for your class to your chosen museum (when safe to do so). Plus two reserved tickets for the Museum Sleepover - Dino nights at home & certificates.

Year 2 - Thomas Denney

Year 3 - Carys Lee

Year 4 - Gwilym Davies-Kabir

Year 5 - Osian Jones

Year 6 - Caitlin Quinn & Lucy Flint

Group category: Marc, Zach and Matthew Chatfield.

2nd place: Two reserved tickets for the Museum Sleepover - Dino nights at home & certificates!

Year 2 - Monty Foster

Year 3 - Nico Poulton

Year 4 - Luca Dacre

Year 5 - Chloe Hayes

Year 6 - Bethan Silk

Group category - Emily Jones and Daisy Slater

3rd place: Two reserved tickets for the Museum Sleepover - Dino nights at home & certificates!

Year 2 - Meilyr Frost

Year 4 - Arwen Silk

Year 5 - Zach Waterhouse

Year 6 - Evie Hayden

Group category - Theo Harrison, Thomas Sommer, William Howard-Rees

Highly commended: One reserved ticket for the Museum Sleepover - Dino nights at home & certificates!

Year 2 - Mali Smith

Year 4 - Oliver Jarman

Year 5 - Ffion Ball

Year 5 - Zac Davis

Year 6 - Scarlett Foster

Year 7 - Wren Ashcroft

Group category - Bella Hepburn and Phoebe Wilson

Group categroy - Gwen Fishpool, Ethan Coombs and Sofia Mahapatra

To be awarded Minecraft Your Museum certificates for completing the challenge!

Rita Jones

Thomas Silk

Elliott Thompson

Entry 1 (Gelli Primary)

Entry 2 (Gelli Primary)

Entry 3 (Gelli Primary)

Entry 4 (Gelli Primary)

Alis Jones

Andrew Poulton

Cari Hicks

Elyan Garnault

Ethan Beddow

Evan Hicks

Greta Wyn Jones

Joshua Akehurst

Jude Clarke

Matilda Turner

Ronan Peake

Tomos Dacey

Zac Jonathan

Cally Sinclair

Chris Jones

David Hughes

Durocksha Eshanzadeh

Eifion Humphreys

Emilia Slater

Emily Akehurst

Freya Powell

Harriet Heskins

Henry Lansom

Holly Wyatt

Ioan Davies

Isaac Smith

Jessica Thomas

Kayden Matthews

Lewis Hopkins

Macy Jo Tolley

Maisie Boyce

Mia Livingstone

Noah Pearsall

Oliver Reeves

Peyton Creed

Phoebe Skinner-Quinn

Rufus Huckfield

Sam Cowell

Sam Rees

Sophie Vickers

Sumaiyah Ahmed

Tomos Pritchard

Will Heskins

Zoe Murfin

Abhay Prabhakar

Alexander Newman

Angharad Thomas

Floyd Thomas

Gwydion Frost

Morgan Trehearne

Rhys Tinsley

Ziggy Dyboski-Bryant

Ben Fox-Morgan

Emilia Johns

Trixx Flixx

Dylan, Rhiannon, William Bringhurst Dylan, Rhiannon & William

Ellouise Grace James Matthews

Pippa and Monty Walker

Daniel Brenan & Micah Bartlett

Chloe and Grace Chamberlain

 

The Competition

Competition for 6-11 year olds.

The Challenge: Use your imagination to build your dream museum in Minecraft. Decide how you would like the building to look and fill it with some of your favourite Museum objects. They could be anything from any of our seven museums, such as a Dinosaur, a Roman coin or a house from St Fagans!

Prizes: Win a VIP trip for you & your whole class to your chosen museum - when schools re-open!  A prize will be awarded to each year group (Yrs. 2-6).