|
 Attendance
at the Autumn meeting held at Carrs Lane church in Birmingham
was very poor. This was sad because absent members missed an
excellent talk on Papier Mache.
Those who had booked tables brought along some lovely buttons
for sale at extremely reasonable prices, although there were
no traders in military or uniform buttons, which are collected
by the majority of our members.
The group discussion on enamel buttons, led by Jan Farrow, proved
most helpful, particularly because some very knowledgeable members
were present to interpret phrases, backmarks and the history
behind some of the examples on show. Those whose questions were
answered are urged to send details to Button Lines to aid other
members.
Yvonne Jones, our speaker, told us about the papier mache industry,
one of the staple trades based in Wolverhampton and Birmingham
from 1750 to the late 19th century.
Japanned ware was extremely fashionable, started by John Taylor
in 1738. Henry Clay then produced papier mache buttons using
the same tar based varnish as for wood, slate, tin and leather
this produced a smooth lustre which had to be rubbed down and
polished between each coat, prior to baking.
Once the pasted strips of paper had dried to a board, the best
being from layers, others from pulp, the button shapes were
cut and a shank, or piece of cat gut inserted. A cover would
hide the shank, prior to being turned on a lathe. In the 19th
Century, shanks were screwed in to the buttons, which may explain
why some of the later ones have survived.
Angela Clark, Secretary
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