BDC Gets Crafty: White Cotton (Ghost) Gloves

Unlike our colleagues in the BCL Children's Departments, the BDC rarely gets a craft day. It's not really our thing, unless you consider dismantling scrapbooks and treating newspapers with deacidification spray to be crafts, which we don't. But with Halloween coming up, I was looking for something fun to do that would liven up the place as part of the holiday decor. I started brainstorming, and finally inspiration struck!

We could turn our surplus white cotton gloves into little ghosts to hang about the Research Room!

White cotton gloves have long been a stereotype of museum and archives professionals, alongside cardigans, tweed, and wire-rimmed glasses. Unlike the others I listed (which are personal fashion choices that we all coincidentally seem to be making), the white cotton glove cliché held water. Gloves are crucial in preventing oils from our hands transferring to delicate materials while also protecting our health when handling historic materials made of dubious substances.

Historically, white cotton gloves were the standard. Hence why the BDC has approximately two bushels of reusable cotton gloves in our workroom. But with continued research in the field of preservation, the standard has shifted to nitrile gloves. There are many good reasons for this. Cotton gloves collect dirt and dust particles as well as shed their own fibers that can transfer to vulnerable materials, like photographs. Cotton gloves are also absorbent, which is not ideal when handling items made of toxic ingredients. They also lack grip and can dull tactile sensations which makes it harder to safely hold fragile objects. Nitrile gloves are not absorbent, do not shed fibers, have grip, and they are not going to trigger a latex allergy either!

The BDC has switched to using nitrile gloves predominantly with work that requires gloves. We are still keeping the bulk of the cotton gloves on hand in case we need back-ups, and in the rare situations where cotton gloves are still the standard. But we now have a large surplus of white cotton gloves. Which is why I decided that the BDC could spare a half-dozen for this small craft project, which didn't even make a dent in our pile.

So, back to the project!

Sydney and I spent a morning before the Research Room opened making these Ghost Gloves. We used the embroidery skills that we learned at the BDC's "Waiting for Lafayette" program last year and set about decorating our little specters so they each had their own personality in the afterlife. We then hung them up in the BDC to add some spooky Halloween flair!

The step-by-step process is given below, in case you want to make some, too!

BDC White Cotton (Ghost) Gloves

You will need:

1 white cotton glove

Black felt

White embroidery thread

Fabric glue

Scissors

Embroidery needle

Optional:

Buttons

Step 1: During and after stitching the fingers.

Step 1: Lay your white cotton glove flat on a table with the "back of the hand" face up. Thread your needle with the embroidery thread, then stitch the three center fingers of the glove together. You'll want to leave the thumb and pinky finger out to be the arms of your ghost!

Step 2: Fashion a face from felt.

Step 2: Cut out two small circles from the black felt, along with one bigger oval. The circles will be the eyes while the oval will be the mouth of your ghost! If you have buttons, you can use those as the eyes of your ghost and skip cutting out the two small circles.

Step 3: Give your ghost a ghastly grin!

Step 3: Flip your glove over, so the stiches are face down and the fingers point up. Now, you can begin gluing the eyes and mouth onto the center of the glove. If you are using buttons, you can glue or stitch them onto your ghost's face.

And voila - You now have a Ghost Glove! 

Sydney and I had three Ghost Gloves each and mixed up different facial features to give them their own unique look (and name). Sydney even gave one of her ghosts heart-eyes!

Our finished ghosts!
Top row (Cassi's) - LtoR: Boris, Winnie, and Felix.
Bottom row (Sydney's) - LtoR: Luna, Jasper, Gerald.

We left the Ghost Gloves to dry for a day before we pinned them to a strand of ribbon. Our friends now float above the shelves of the BDC!

If you'd like to see them in person, feel free to stop by the BDC on your next trip to the Beaufort Branch Library. We are quite busy this month so please remember that walk-ins are sometimes accepted while appointments are always encouraged. To make an appointment, send an email to bdc@bcgov.net or give us a call at 843-255-6468. We hope to see y'all soon!

Happy Halloween!