Illustration is of a piece I made at the workshop led by John Grayson at the Ruthin Craft Centre 16th. March 2019.
John has spent the last five years researching Eighteenth-Century South Staffordshire Enamels to understand the crafts and skills used in their manufacture.The enamels were decorative objects such, as snuff boxes, and candlesticks. They were made from thin copper foil coated with layers of lustrous enamel.
In his research John examined the crafts used in their manufacture, focusing on the making of the copper substrate that gives each enamel its shape. In his workshop he demonstrated how the objects were constructed and the techniques used to make them. Participants then used the techniques to make and enamel a heart shaped box.
I came away from the workshop thinking that there is an area worth exploring in my own work of using electrotyped forms as substrates for enamelled sculptural objects. There is also a visual link in the box I made in the workshop and my interest in the Japanese traditional Oribi ceramics.
