The Costrel has been made out of 2.5mm thick natural vegetable tanned leather, and coloured with a water based mahogany dye. The Costrel was based on a custom design, based on the 17th Century Costrel that is housed in the National Leather Collection in Northampton.
This Costrel took 15 hours to construct, and 334 hand placed stitches. A saddle stitch was used to hold the leather together, using a waxed linen thread.
Menacuddle Well is based in St Austell, this well dates from around the 15th Century.
The water collected from this well was placed into a clean glass bottle for transport from the area.
A simple process to make three Nutrient Agar plates:
1. Put the 2.3mls of Nutrient Agar into 100mls of distilled water and mix together.
2. Once mixed, heat up slowly for 1 minute, than stair the mixture again to make sure it has come together.
3. Then pour evenly into the Petri dishes, this made three plates altogether.
4. Let the mixture set for around 30 – 45 minutes.
5. Once set use 3 drops of the well water on the agar gel.
6. Number the plates from 1-3 making sure to note which plate went where so not to forget.
7. Then place all three plates in the areas required, and leave for 7+ days.
Plate 1 -
This plate was stored in a cupboard outside, so it has been exposed to different temperatures from low to high.
Left for one 8 days, this plate shows bacterial discolouration within the majority of the plate, some areas more visible than others.
This photo was taken on the 23/04/2020
Plate 2 -
This plate was stored in a fridge on a medium setting, and was only taken out twice for inspection.
Left for one 8 days, this plate shows no signs of change other than two little white spots.
This photo was taken on the 23/04/2020
Plate 3 -
This plate was stored in the kitchen area of the house, inside a cupboard, so this plate had been exposed to a more warmer temperature.
(the cracks seen are from an accidental fall.)
This plate was left for 8 days and only shows faint signs of change in areas.
This photo was taken on the 23/04/2020
Conclusion - Trying to mimic the environment of changing weather that would have happened on the voyage. The results show that on Plate 1, which was secured outdoors, displayed a higher quantity of bacterial growth.
As expected plate 2, which was left in the fridge, had no real changes. This could be due to the cooler temperature, which may have helped with the preservation process.
Surprisingly, plate 3 showed no real signs of change. This could be due to the cupboard within the kitchen keeping a level temperature, so, next time I would leave the plate in an area were the temperature stayed in a warmer state.