Cadbury Research Library

I have not been able to blog much of the material that I have sourced during my research for the Winterbourne Project as I am only allowed to photograph for my own purposes. This has included the letters, diaries and photographs of the Nettlefold family in Winterbourne's own archives. Yesterday I visited the Cadbury Research Library at Birmingham University to look at their extensive collection of books published by William Morris's Kelmscott Press. Although it wasn't possible to photograph the books on this occasion I wanted to record my thoughts on seeing them 'in the flesh'. The images here are sourced from a google search.

What struck me most was the intensity of the ink, the beautiful texture of the handmade rag paper and the impression made on the back of each page by the relief print. The use of spot red was very noticeable throughout the books - a device used in religious books from previous centuries. The binding of the books was also of great interest to me. Many were encased in limp vellum with ribbon ties- again another technique inspired by medieval bookbinders.

 I also saw publications inspired by the Kelmscott Press. Arthur Gaskin, an artist and jewellery designer from Birmingham,  illustrated 'Good King Wenceslas' for Cornish Bros. of New Street.

'Winterbourne Stories' - first drawing

These aren't great photos, but they show the first drawing for the linos that I am doing for the 'Winterbourne Stories' project. There will be approximately 10 A2 sized lino prints inspired by the Kelmscott Chaucer in style. Each one will illustrate an episode in the life of the Nettlefolds, which helped form Winterbourne House as it is today.

This first drawing onto tracing paper shows Margaret Chamberlain, before she married John Nettlefold, on her first day at Birmingham School of Art. She wrote in her diary of 1890 about the classes she attended at the Margaret Street building, which would have been opened about 15 years by this time. It was designed by John Henry Chamberlain (no relation) who had also designed Highbury Hall (the home of Margaret's uncle Joseph). The floral decorative detail was influenced by the writing of John Ruskin -  champion of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

The image has been drawn from recent photographs I took of Margaret Street and an archive image of a young woman from around 1890.

The design of the illuminated border will be based on lilies, as these feature heavily in the decoration of the Art School's facade. There is a large stone carved roundel and terracotta panels that all show various kinds of lilies. I also feel the lilies are appropriate to Margaret's unmarried status at this time.

A New Project

I have spent some time over the last few weeks rummaging about in the archives at Winterbourne House. This lovely Arts and Crafts house, which now belongs to Birmingham University, was built by the Nettlefolds as a family home. John Nettlefold was from a family of industrialists (the 'N' in GKN) and his wife Margaret was part of the Chamberlaine family. The archives contain diaries, letters and photographs that give wonderful insights into their relationships, work and family life.

Of great interest to me is the small print facility that is housed in one of the out buildings. In recent weeks this has been reorganised and now consists of a print room with several presses and a composing room that houses a collection of Letterpress.

My idea is to create a series of prints that are based on the story of the Nettlefolds at Winterbourne. They will echo my Moseley Stories project, but this time would use lino cut and wood engraving techniques instead of copper plate etching to enable me to print them at Winterbourne. One of the influences for the visual style of the prints will be the Kelmscott Chaucer designed and printed by William Morris and illustrated by Edward Burne-Jones. There is a copy of the book on display at Winterbourne.

There is also a strong link to John Byam Liston Shaw, a follower of the Pre-Raphaelites, whose work 'Boer War' (1901) has always been one of my favourite paintings in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Byam Shaw painted several portraits of the Nettlefold family including a lovely full length study of Margaret standing at the dining room window.

There were several books in the archives that had been illustrated by Byam Shaw, including a Tales from Shakespeare. I intend to use his style of illustration as an influence for my prints.

I have already produced an initial wood engraved illuminated letter as a starting point. The letter M is surrounded by bleeding heart which grows in the gardens at Winterbourne. I combined this with some letterpress. The combination didn't really work as the text is too large. But it does give an indication of the overall idea.

Making more books

Having spent some time making more prints onto book cloth - experimenting with different coloured inks and cloths, I have been making up more books in various sizes.

 The larger ones are quite tricky to glue together and I need to keep trying to perfect my technique.

Moseley Dovecote Garden Concertina Book

I have made a sample concertina book with an recessed cover. The front cover was made by glueing two 1mm grey boards together. The top board had a square cut out to create the recess. The back board was made in the usual way with 2mm board. Both boards were covered with book cloth. I placed a wood engraved print into the recess.

I am using the concertina book to record the Dovecote Gardens through four seasons. The first drawing is a panoramic view of the garden as it is now in May.

I plan to repeat the drawing each season, continuing the panoramic view along the length of the book.

Editioning the Moseley Dovecote Prints

Today I found some time to trim and edition 20 prints from each of the 4 designs I printed at BCU Parkside the other day. I put them in some plastic sleeves from Hobbycraft so the folks at the Dovecote can sell them when they are open to the public. I hope they raise some funds for the upkeep of the gardens.

Letterpress at BCU Parkside

I spent the day at BCU's Parkside campus where the letterpress collection is kept. I wanted to combine my latest wood engravings with some simple typography. I decided to produce a small edition of each print that could potentially be sold at Moseley Dovecote to raise some funds for the garden. I used 24 point Baskerville, a typeface designed by Birmingham master printer John Baskerville in 1757. I felt this would be appropriate for the 18th century Dovecote.

Winterbourne House

I have made several visits to Winterbourne House in the last few weeks. Only a few minutes walk from the Barber Institute, this lovely Arts and Crafts House is a hidden gem. The house was built by John and Margaret Nettlefold. He was one of the founders of GKN and she was a Chamberlain (niece of Joseph) having grown up at Highbury Hall. The house was built in 1904 and designed by JL Ball to be a bright, comfortable family home. The sensitive restoration manages to keep the original spirit of the house whilst being informative about both the former occupants and the times in which they lived. I was particularly taken with the carvings on the wooden furniture and the plasterwork details.

 

I was interested to see a book on display that had been produced by William Morris' Kelmscott Press. It appeared to be The Works of Chaucer. This was the epitome of the Arts and Crafts ethos.

Margaret designed the gardens and was influenced by the work of Gertrude Jekyll. In 1944 the house was given to Birmingham University and the garden is still used for botanic study.

There are several small glasshouses with collections of cacti and tropical plants.

In one of the out buildings there was a small print room. The presses and type belonged to the University and had been moved over to Winterbourne. It is run by volunteers.