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Enamelling in Birmingham and the Black country

mikejee

Super Moderator
Staff member
Enamelling in the Midlands

Went to a talk last thursday on "Investigating craft skills of the 18th century enamel trade", by John Grayson, Birmingham City University. John is an artist who was interested in making tinplate automata, when he was asked to investigate producing enamelled products. This got him interested and he began to investigate the history of these and how it was done, in particular the handmade 18th century items (1750-1830) (as opposed to the industrialised later processes). this was a time when people were attempting to replicate the appearence of porcelain These largely originated around the Bilston, Wednesbury areas and to a small extent in Battersea. However, virtually none were signed, and nineteenth century collectors had assumed that all the good stuff mostly originated in Battersea and the rest in the midlands. However research by a curator named Rackham (still based on design and style) in the 1920s showed that this was not so, and that the Battersea factory had in fact only lasted a few years.

John was particularly interested in the structure under the enamel, which at the time was copper. Many of these were very complicated , and he could not see that they had been manufactured in one piece. However there was no information on this anywhere. Indeed some seemed unlikely to be true, such as a suggested description of a typical furnace used in the process. In an investigation he attempted to study a selection of enamelled objects in museums, selecting , much to the curator's surprise, objects that were damaged, and so the structure inside could be observed. these were from the V & A, wolves Art Gallery, Museum of London and the Harris museum in Preston.

Following this he attempted to manufacture his own similar products by what he considered was likely to be the method used, and compared the results. He found that flanges and interlocking wedge tabs were used, and that when he used these they gave results similar to the original. For example very faint lines appeared in the enamel where bends in the metal underneath were present. One thing thta did puzzle him at first was that there was no record of anyone ever reported finding specialised enamellers tools. this was explained by the discovery that all the tools that were necessary were already available for general metal working. One modern technique he did use to save time was to manufacture a former for supporting the copper metal while hammering not by careful shaving of wood, but, to save time, by use of a 3D printer .

After the talk he handed round samples of an enamelled candle snuffer (about 5 cm long) which he had made and decorated himself . (It was very cute). As an exercise he tired to see how many complete items (candlesnuffers) he could make in a day, and got to about 12. He did add, though thta when he was learning the art of decoration at a commercial modern enamelling firm, and asked them why they were grinning , they told him that he and his family would be starving if it was his real job and he was working piece work, as were they.

There is a touring exhibition on his work which is on its last event at wolverhampton art gallery, and finishes at the end of June
 
My mother was a badge enameller in the JQ for many years. They used nibs to put colours in before firing them. And yes she was on piece work.
 
I was an outworker for Bilston and Battersea Enamels back in the 90's.

The items were made in the Bilston factory, with a basic white enamel and a pattern transfer and we took them home to fill in and shade by hand with enamel paints. We were given a finished sample to copy.
The boxes were sold under the name of Halcyon Days in posh shops and were quite expensive to buy, they also made items for museum shops etc.
We were paid by the hour based on the time it would have taken a quick, experienced person to paint!

I went up to the factory every week and had been shown the process which was interesting. Sadly the company has now closed.

Some of the work the produced is (was) in the Bilston Museum
 
I was an outworker for Bilston and Battersea Enamels back in the 90's.

The items were made in the Bilston factory, with a basic white enamel and a pattern transfer and we took them home to fill in and shade by hand with enamel paints. We were given a finished sample to copy.
The boxes were sold under the name of Halcyon Days in posh shops and were quite expensive to buy, they also made items for museum shops etc.
We were paid by the hour based on the time it would have taken a quick, experienced person to paint!

I went up to the factory every week and had been shown the process which was interesting. Sadly the company has now closed.

Some of the work the produced is (was) in the Bilston Museum

9AEB0BE6-7320-49C5-98A7-740E6AB580A7.jpeg

Illustrated London News 1972
 
Thanks!
The shop in London wasn't actually owned by the factory. I live in London now and was in that area a few years ago so went in to have a look. It was the staff there who told me the Bilston factory had closed.

Edit: I see the Brook Street shop has relocated to the City due to the Crossrail constructions.

 
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Most interesting to hear about out-house enamel painters of second half of 20th century. I wonder if there are further family archival details about earlier enamellers of Birmingham. These would be most interesting for me. Especially for the large-scale production of tourist items such as crests for attaching to spoons, etc. Also guilloche work on silvered copper, etc. Erika Speel, [enamel historian]..
 
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