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
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