Craft and Industry - Visit to the Emma Bridgewater Decorating Studio

In 1984,  Emma Bridgewater was working in London soon after leaving university. She was hunting for a birthday present for her Mum. She wanted to give her two cups and saucers that would say 'I love you. I miss you'. She hoped to see  china that would capture the warm, welcoming spirit of her mother's kitchen.  All she could find at the time were dainty and formal or robust and decidedly unromantic. Emma had a vision of the dresser from her mother's kitchen. She imagined it in a china shop, full of colourful, mismatched pottery.  She felt the only way to make the vision a reality would be to start making china herself. 

Emma Bridgewater first came to Stoke-on-Trent in 1985 where a local pottery company helped to her to create her very first pieces. In 1996 she and husband Matthew Rice moved production to the traditional Victorian pot bank alongside the Caldon Canal where every piece of pottery is still made by hand. Around 185 people work at the Emma Bridgewater Factory on Lichfield Street in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, a site first opened by the Meakin brothers in 1883.

Our group decided they would love to visit the Bridgewater Decorating Studio where they were able to choose a classic, un-fired, Emma Bridgewater pottery shape and use their creativity to design any pattern or picture . There was  a huge variety of ready cut sponges and paintbrushes and water based paints to help make their own unique designs or wording.

"What shall I choose?"

So many brushes

colours, shapes, patterns!

 a bit of sponge decoration perhaps?

Before and after firing

Some drawing

Carole did some freehand painting

Everyone found the painting process very relaxing and the whole day gave people the chance to catch up with old friends and new.

A child's mug, lovingly painted by his Grandma

perhaps it will become a family heirloom?

It's a holly jolly time of year!

Baby plate decorations for a new baby

Some more designs after firing

There is a fabulous collection of framed tea towels, many designed by Matthew Rice's mother Pat Albeck here is a great article Back To The Drawing Board looking at her Oxfordshire home and works in situ. We would love to find a copy of this book too! 

There is a secret walled garden to be found

and you can see how the natural world

growing and cultivation is at the heart

of work by Emma Bridgewater, Matthew Rice and Pat Albeck. It may be winter outside but for a wander through the seasons follow the link to Arthur's Blog to read more about the gardening year in the Walled Garden. If you are inspired why not check out his book too!

There are always flowers to be found

and it is a joy to eat in the Cafe which enabled us

to feast whilst using the many designs

Even if you have the smallest kitchen with no room for a range decked with gorgeous crockery it is possible to enjoy the dream and be inspired by all the art, craft, design and industry to be found in one small corner of Stoke-on-Trent. 

 The Afternoon tea is delightful too!

We were back before Christmas to collect the fired wares.

Parks, Gardens, Woods, Crafts - Waddesdon Manor Gardens - Painting with Autumn Light - Kate Dyer

Surrounded by views of Oxfordshire, the Chilterns Hills, the Vale of Aylesbury Waddesdon Manor, provided our group with an ideal place to photograph and explore.  We gathered by the rococo style Aviary  in the heart of the gardens filled with rare and exotic birds. 

Photographer Kate Dyer set up an impromptu studio near the Aviary and explained to the group about how make a cyanotype or sun print, we were fortunate that Autumn was kind to us and the light was still strong enough for our purpose.

Kate hope the cyanotypes would be inspired by the walk to the Aviary 

 

and would be made with found or natural objects plus 

a selection of preprepared architectural line drawings. 

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints. The process uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide.

Our chosen objects were lad on top of the cyanotype paper and a sheet of acetate was clipped on top, the image was them left to create a positive image produced by exposing the paper it to a source of ultraviolet light (such as sunlight). The extent of colour change depends on the amount of UV light, but good results were obtained after 10–20 minute exposures.

String made a good drying line

After exposure the paper was washed in water

and hung to both dry and develop

the results were beautiful and mysterious.

The history of the Cyanotype

The cyanotype processwas first introduced by John Herschel (1792 – 1871) in 1842. Sir John was an astronomer, trying to find a way of copying his notes. One of the first people to put the cyanotype process to use was Anna Atkins (1799-1871), who in October 1843 became the first person to produce and photographically illustrated a book using cyanotypes

Three dimensional carpet bedding

Download Walks map

After they had finished their cyanotype the group were invited to step back in time in the Victorian style gardens, gaze at flamboyant colours on the parterre amid the ornate fountains and statuary and to explore the gardens and building at their own pace, walking their own paths. In 2012, it was announced that Waddesdon Manor would be one of the sites for Jubilee Woodlands, designated by the Woodland Trust to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.

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Waddesdon Manor was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild between 1874 and 1885 to display his collection of arts and to entertain the fashionable world. Opened to the public in 1959, Waddesdon Manor is managed by the Rothschild Foundation, a family charitable trust, on behalf of the National Trust, who took over ownership in 1957. It’s home to the Rothschild Collections of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts.

Some of the group decided to tour the inside the 

house, and found treasure trove of collections.

In the Stable Gallery they were able to Witness nature re-imagined in an exhibition that sees an amalgamation of fashion, digital art and animal specimens on show. In collaboration with the Natural History Museum at Tring, Walter Rothschild’s spectacular collection of natural history provides the inspiration for colourful virtual collages by Platon H and couture dresses by Mary Katrantzou. 

Our time at Waddesdon raced by

This is the face of happiness and wellbeing and lies at the heart of this project - to bring people who lack access to parks, gardens, woods, water, crafts and industry to places they might not ordinarily visit. For many of the group it was the first time they had been to such a grand garden, so full of richness and inspiration. It was a memorable day and one to treasure.