How To Design A Victorian Era Dining Room | Victorian House | Absolute History

this channel is part of the history hits network stick around to find out more [Music] welcome to the late 1800s the arts and crafts movement is at the height of its fame and a group of men and women are busy rewriting the rule books of design and architecture [Music] they wanted to make everyday objects beautiful and they left an impact on british design we still feel today but make no mistake this was about so much more than pretty wallpaper and embroidered cushions these artists architects and political thinkers were starting a revolution [Music] inspired by art critic john ruskin and socialist designer william morris they hated the drudgery and ugliness of the industrial age they wanted to turn the clock back to an age where a craft workers skills were valued these were principles not just for design but for life bring joy to work share knowledge and make beauty accessible to all from the 1880s to the 1920s they spread their radical message across britain art could help to end social inequality which is a great idea if you can make it work [Music] to find out what we can learn from the arts and crafts movement six 21st century craftspeople are heading back to the world of the 19th the crafters are going back to basics they won't find computer-aided design or power tools here in real life we wouldn't be worried about it just put the machine real now they're spending a month together in a victorian artist's commune we're going to be up early we're going to be in late yeah okay they'll be living the arts and crafts dream [Music] simplicity fellowship [Music] and taking joy in work as they remake this stunning house room by room without tears or tantrums you start off all being very nicey nicey as the pressure builds up it's really hard to hide the real you can they recreate the beautiful objects and high ideals of the arts and crafts movements by hand and will recapturing the spirits of the past bring fresh creativity to the crafts of the present [Applause] [Music] the crafters have been living and working together for two weeks they've begun to relearn the skills of the 1890s artisans rediscovering the tools and techniques at the heart of the arts and crafts movement transforming the parlor with product designer ilsa parry's beautiful william morris inspired wallpaper [Music] and the bedroom where embroiderer niv wimpress created the judge's favorite item an elegant bed spread but with six strong personalities thrown together creative tension is inevitable that's it but at the end of last week they seemed to find a new spirit of harmony but will it last [Applause] this week the crafters are creating objects for a room the victorians saw as the place to make a grand statement the dining room our expert judges keith breimer jones and patch rogers want the crafters to create a space of simple sophistication at the end of the week they'll choose an object that best captures the spirits of the arts and crafts movement its designers kicked out the fussiness of victorian dining rooms in favor of a more minimal approach can our crafters do the same if you love history then you'll love history hit we have tons of exclusive documentaries about the most important people in history that you will not find anywhere else we work with some of the world's best historians like susanna lipscomb mary beard and tony robinson exploring everything from the jobs of tuda england to the diaries of queen victoria not only that but we have a huge podcast network releasing new episodes every day so you'll always have something to listen to sign up now for a 14 day free trial and absolute history fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use the code absolute history at checkout hello everybody isn't this an amazing room so the only solo build this week and the last solo build full stop is going to you rod so rod the first task of this week is to make a beautiful set of fire dogs it's a very complicated piece so it's going to be the elements that you pull from that piece that i'm going to be looking for fire dogs are the iron brackets which hold logs in place as they burn on an open fire designed by ernest jimson this complex piece features detailing inspired by the 17th century jimson was heavily influenced by nature and the brass work is based on a classic english flower the carnation your eyebrows have gone higher higher up your forehead but your eyes have lit up what do you think i think it's um it's a big project but it gives you such a lot of scope for some uh huge amounts of huge amount of creativity and why is that making you emotional no idea it's the idea that you're about to create something that could have such big meaning or um i think it's yeah come on so on to our first pair and that's going to be the girls bryony and neve you're working together this week what have you got boys well it's curtains for you guys no it really is we want you to produce curtains for the entire room with this wonderfully walter crane inspired design walter crane is best known for his beautiful illustrations for children's fairy tales but he considered his political art to be far more important crane viewed art as a tool that could change society for the better he was also passionate about textiles his designs often medieval in style for crane this was a more honest era when artists were craftsmen and craftsmen were artists [Music] if you take it as a design and then bring your own thing to that that will be fantastic never done anything like this before but you can get into the mind of a socialist designer though oh yeah yeah definitely bryony i mean this isn't your area is it no but i would love to do more learning this week and um to actually maybe step away from metal work and actually learn more things myself so it's perfect and so the second pairing that is stephen and elsa let's see what we've got so the third and final task is this wonderful william de morgan plate actually a ton dino that's what it's called steven are you happy absolutely [Laughter] over the last two weeks stevens had to embrace new skills now finally he has a challenge which involves his passion pottery [Music] this new challenge suits product designer ilsa too i know he's going to produce fantastic finished cookery we have a lot of similar ideas and we can bounce things back and forward so i think we'll come up with something special we want you to produce a set of tondinos using white earthenware that he used at the time and creating your own interpretation of design on the plates william de morgan's lusters and glazes broke new ground in pottery his designs invoke the brilliant colours of islamic art and feature fantastical birds and animals giving his plates a rich otherworldly quality [Music] it's more of a symbolic item than an item that you would use for everyday use those elements within that you've got swans you've got fish you've got a starfish in the middle you know it's alluding to the sea it's alluding to travel possibly you know it's those elements that i want you to concentrate on and try and find and interpret for yourself abby you'll be the project leader wow so there you have it you know your tasks for the next week you've only got a week to produce them and of course this is more about your collaborative effort now it's about stepping up your comfort zone and it's about sharing your expertise and learning from each other i cannot wait to see what you produce good luck to all of you at the end of the week keith and patch will choose which creation best represents the arts and crafts movement in the library the crafters can learn from its masters they were meticulous in recording their working practices as well as their political ideology being able to research the writings and designs of jimson crane and de morgan will give our crafters invaluable insights into the tasks that lay ahead whoa that's a thick one hope something is for us over the last two weeks the crafters have gradually become a more collaborative unit they've put in long hours as they strive to live up to the ideals of the arts and crafts pioneers we're all exhausted and we're trying to keep going with the energy but you know you can see in the evenings that people are just flagging and falling asleep where they're sitting so it's been hard work could this be the week we walk into a room with unfinished items it could be i mean that you know the fire dogs worry me a little bit i mean you're a bit worried about the plates and getting them done i'm worried about steven's use of time whether he uses the time correctly in order to get those plates made and let's not forget the curtains there's a lot of material is a lot of material for potter steven winstanley and product designer ilsa parry it's their first time working together as a team wow sink finish what i like most about being around steven is that he's fun he is also keen to convey ideas so i think it would be a really good collaboration i'm excited oh plans now we're getting plans plans the elements of the designs that will william de morgan did that make it instantly recognizable as one of his pieces we can build that into the house a little bit closer yeah and when where he had a starfish we've got something completely different something modern ilsa will come up with a design concept stephen will make the plates using traditional techniques just try to get my head around the kick wheel because i've never used one it's quite different i like it though because it's quiet at home steven's used to an electric potter's wheel so going back to arts and crafts methods is a challenge the odds are stacked against you it's like a rodeo it's like you just kind of get one and you give it a shot and then if you can do it then you just want to go on and do it again [Music] over the last two weeks bladesmith rod hughes has been put in harness with other crafters and at times he's found collaborating with them a frustrating experience this week he's on his own i'm looking forward to the glory of making something as creative as a set of gibson dogs it's nice i've got complete autonomy on my designs and i'm the only person that i have to rely on i've got no one to blame but myself [Music] neve wimpress is an embroiderer briny knox is a silversmith curtains aren't on either of their cvs it's slightly daunting because we don't know the process at all but in a way the good thing is means we're both on exactly the same page we can't go wrong it can only be up from here yeah this project will give them the chance to get to grips with the radical politics of the arts and crafts movement you sort of thinking about design at the moment i think i'm planning on reading some sort of socialist poetry and seeing what images we can pull from that absolutely because they kept on saying you know that he was a socialist so yeah seeing what political elements we can we can put into it [Music] i'm really excited to be working with neve secretly i was hoping to do something that wasn't metal at all and to learn something so my wishes have come true brian is going to be on the kind of technical side working out what things are i'm going to be having a look through political poems from the time to try and draw some imagery the creative juices are flowing the hard graft of actually making will start tomorrow [Music] good morning and how are you good morning for wealthy victorian families breakfast was a substantial hearty affair our crafters certainly aren't going to go hungry now this is a different recipe it's actually called florence nightingale's kedgeree right bread i've known that since i was a kid [Music] in previous weeks abby has completed two huge projects in this third one he's not making anything himself but supporting the others so it should be an easier gig so i'm the team leader this week so i've been thinking about how my role should be applied there is a huge amount of talent between us that i was feeling that we can get much more benefit out of by hopefully being able to teach each other good idea the idea behind all the various collaborations is that the crafters will learn new techniques and understand creativity in a new way but time is tight i can't believe it's been two weeks the first week seems like a month ago that seems like a lifetime ago trying to think about what other things i really want to get from this experience what other things can we learn from each other and what else can this wonderful house give for stephen replicating arts and crafts decorative plates using traditional methods is a real education into the true nature of pottery but throwing plates on a kick wheel is not easy [Music] i'm really trying to get the form and it works out in my head and see if i can get one that looks good might take however many attempts until i'm happy with it and then once that's set then that's me ready to kind of produce the plates [Music] the technical side of it is going to be as much of an issue and as much as a challenge as actually the design as well see i don't want to just see a design i want to see the technique coming through also i've never done a plate before if i can make enough of them fingers crossed we can test different things out on a couple and then hopefully pick three that work really well because a lot of the time things don't work out so backups are going to be pretty handy [Music] the first hurdle stephen needs to get over is creating the lip of the plate it's a steep learning curve let's have to do the rim thicker let's do that one again ilsa's been thinking of design ideas and she's come up with a suggestion she hopes might help stephen overcome the tricky technical challenges he's facing i've got an idea that might make your life a bit easier what if we made smaller plates smaller portions healthier lifestyles when you're saying having it smaller do you mean that not the plate's smaller but what if we make the actual serving part of it smaller that's even better and we make the border bigger so then we can fit more more inventory yeah but then will not make your life harder from a making perspective because you've got like overhang issues okay [Music] rod's come back to the library to begin sketching ideas for his fire dogs one of the most striking aspects of jimson's intricate design is the beautiful decorative pierced brass work it would have taken two people a highly experienced blacksmith and a very skilled metalworker to craft this piece and there's only one rod that's the downside to working on your own [Music] i have to rein in some of my slightly more exuberant ideas but at the same time this is a showcase and we want to show some good things so there will be some there'll be some sparks in there there will be some interesting things i hope i think rod was really blown away by these absolutely i mean you can't slavishly copy this it would take months to reproduce this they are absolutely magnificent they are like the holy grail of fire dogs briony and neve are working on their ideas next to the very windows where their curtains will hang that just seems really big their first task is to consider the scale of their pattern and they've turned to the masters for inspiration so basically what i've been doing is looking through lots of the crane and morris wallpapers and tapestries and weavings we've seen just trying to work out how pattern is made up the crucial challenge is to imbue the curtains with the spirits of walter crane not just a pleasing design but one with a deeper social meaning and neve knows what she wants to do as soon as i saw the curtains and heard about crane's sort of political activism i immediately knew what i wanted to go on the curtains there's this poem that i've always known called bread and roses which is essentially a socialist poem and it's the idea that workers need bread but they also need roses too so you know you need art and love and something extra than just surviving to be happy there's a line in it which is heart starve as well as bodies give us bread but give us roses and obviously this is the dining room so that that whole idea it just immediately popped out and and it just immediately sort of fitted in with it with neve taking the lead on the concept it's bryony's job to make sure their design fits when we've worked out our design i'm going to actually be drawing it up on a more technical on on tracing paper so it is exactly all matching up on all the corners and that it all is proportionately right to make sure they keep on schedule they have their very own personal alarm clock [Music] [Music] [Laughter] oh it's so nice to have an injection of sunshine and a bit of giggle [Music] the crafters have now hit their stride stephen is finding his rhythm at the potter's wheel prize it off that that that lump of clay that's it see how nice it is when you use it yeah it does [Music] steven's plan is to make nine plates so he and ilsa have spares to practice their designs on [Music] having done the design for his fire dogs rod is beginning work a nearby anvil forge as a bladesmith he's experienced at making swords but he lacks blacksmithing skills so he'll be working with the guidance of ross smith i'd say you're probably not far off right it's pretty good just wants a bit of chewing up and uh the fire dogs need to withstand the intense heat of burning logs so they'll be made out of wrought iron to shape them rod will forge the iron bars at temperatures of over a thousand degrees celsius and we're using traditional blacksmithing techniques we now need to put a bend in it so right angle bend if we literally just heated it up and bent it round it would be fine it would work but all of the back of the material be squeezed down and it wouldn't look good so what we are doing is we're adding some more material in and then we are doing a right angle bend so the thing is nice and square the simple iron skeleton will then be connected to the more ornate and decorative front panels i think what's special about the fire dogs is the quality of the design work it's the intricacy of the chasing on the front and it's also it's it's wrought iron as well and wrought is particularly difficult to work the metal work that ernest jimson produced was not only beautiful it breathed new life into the traditional skills of blacksmithing and helped to save what was at the time a dying craft just need a crisp outside corner up a little bit yep right there yes you can see you've got an extra bit of width there oh yeah yeah yeah you can use that to yeah scratch out just to sharpen it that way okay tidy that up looking good right yeah that looks like a half decent start yeah i'm very happy with that i think it's a good start i'm hopeful that as we do each joint then we'll we'll get them right and yeah that's a good foundation [Music] it's been just over two weeks since our crafters arrived at the victorian house of arts and crafts they've fast-tracked friendships and adjusted to living and working together for all of them their craft defines who they think they are so what really drives you to do what you do perfectionism um ambition um focus right that i sort of apply the reason that i started doing it was because i used to suffer from panic attacks oh okay and so i use embroidery as a therapeutic tool i feel like the group dynamics definitely changed i think that we just now are finally understanding that we're all people we've all come here you know with our own backstories in life and and everything and i think everybody is now finally understanding that they all came to the house as individual crafters they found that working together can be hard but rewarding yeah i find collaboration such a great tool for pushing yourself and your art forward even us we've been talk starting to talk about collaborating together yeah i've had an idea for you and me abby so here's to creativity [Music] [Laughter] with their own projects taking priority the crafters have had little time to share their knowledge and skills but having been inspired by the other stories abby is now making it his mission to ensure that they're all able to experience something new during their stay in the house they end up very tired at the end of the night i'm wide awake yeah you look super awake and they won't do something different but there's not much energy left so i'm trying to create that space abby's plan is for the crafters to all share their expertise with one another stephen is the first plucky volunteer stephen is going to give us at 8 a.m a yoga course so all of us gonna bring our our blankets into the oak room and we hopefully going to be doing a really nice yoga course [Music] the arts and crafts movement championed the importance of stretching the body as well as the mind many of its leading lights including walter crane promoted the health benefits of loose-fitting clothing especially for women he hated victorian stiffness and tightness and to prove it illustrated a pamphlet called how to dress without the corset take your hand back behind you so we can stretch out the neck and then just breathe into it then keep that right shoulder twisted in the chest pointing up straight through the neck body and soul back in sync enthusiasm is renewed arms up roger okay you're good man i think i feel more relaxed definitely i'm ready for the day spending these past few weeks in these beautiful surroundings has been a source of inspiration in itself the creative impulse is one thing but battling the welsh elements is another as steven has just found out once i finished throwing them i took the pots outside to actually have a look at them and then what i did was i chose the best three and i took them inside to trim them and i got so kind of caught up with them that i forgot that all my spares and backup pieces were sitting outside in the ring now i've just got the three main ones and there's absolutely no a room for error right now instead of having several plates to practice on ilsa will now need to get her design work right first time does mean that i have to be super careful in doing the glaze in case i make a mistake and there's no space admirably steven and ilsa are taking this setback on the chin but keith doesn't share their lack of concern what's going on what's going on i'll put them out in a lane to pick the three best ones right so pick the three best ones and then i got kind of carried away with that rain water and i forgot it's not great yeah yeah so what have you got then what how many have you got you've got three okay yeah good luck steve i don't know i don't know what to say i mean he's really up against it now um he's only got three plates left and they're in the kiln now i really want to see ilsa be able to to decorate these plates that's if there's something to decorate [Music] spares or not the next stage is to mix the glazes it's the same recipe that william de morgan has it's this colored glazed finish that makes de morgan's ceramics so vibrant and so distinctive the the colors in here are really nice because you can see the red iron getting broken up and a it's almost like when you're mixing paint william de morgan spent her lifetime perfecting the techniques of his craft he studied the chemistry of glazes experimenting with different methods of firing knowledge that's come down to us today he had famously high standards if he didn't like the look of one of his creations he'd simply smash it into pieces steven doesn't have that luxury he only has three plates to play with he really needs to get the glaze right first time round [Music] neve and briny have nearly finished the design work for the curtains now they have the painstaking task of transferring it to graph paper [Music] we've got a long stretch of turning all our design into painting all these tiny tiny tiny squares one by one this technical drawing must be absolutely exact as it's what the mill will use to scale the design up and make the correct amount of fabric [Music] and even bryony they just seem very calm cool and collected and i just love the fact that they're taking their inspiration from this poem it's that wonderful concept that man or woman does not live by bread alone i'm really glad that they're working in the oak room because they're being constantly reminded of the sheer scale of the project and i think you know they're quietly confident but but boy is there a lot of work still to do [Music] day number 20 begins and it's a beauty [Music] how was breakfast lovely thank you mrs staker has a momentous message for team leader abby drums the aircrafters poetry and literature was an important part of the creation now life of the arts and craft movements however it wasn't all serious they had a sense of the absurd and liked a bit of silliness one of their favorite authors was edward known for his nonsense poems and perhaps most famous for the wonderful the owl and the pussycats [Music] edward lear's best-known creation was hugely popular with the victorians who love to stage their own do-it-yourself dramas based on poems and stories [Music] there's some lovely characters in there there's a turkey that lives on the hill and there's all sorts of pigs and all sorts of things so there's definitely enough characters for us to play with in what is already shaping up to be a very busy week the crafters will need to make time to rehearse their own production of the poem [Music] abby is working on the soundtrack [Music] but for now it's back to the day job [Music] stephen and elsa's plates have been glazed with a cobalt blue that's just right for the period but there's been a gremlin in the works again steve okay you all right good man all right okay i must say had like greasy stuff on my fingers because when i glazed them the glaze didn't really that's called crawling no that was before it even went in the kiln oh okay yeah i must feel like touch with like dirty fingers right okay well i'll tell you one thing um you'll definitely need to be aware of greasy fingers yeah when you come to do the lustre work yeah um so tell your answer that okay yeah with so much work still to be done the only person with time to rehearse for the upcoming owl and the pussycat stage extravaganza is abby lucky it's a one-man band [Music] [Applause] [Music] so i made a song for it last night it has a sense of romanticism and quite a rhythmic so if you can you like you can't clap with it and and it's a really good rhythm to it so it's very exciting and everybody likes the song so to the point that everyone was whispering i said okay that's a successful song one of the aims of the arts and crafts movement was to remove the boundaries between high and low art [Music] the others aren't quite sure abby succeeded in the same but at least he's giving it a go lovely [ __ ] [ __ ] my love what a beautiful [ __ ] you are we were practicing last night abby of course has to be the owl because he has a guitar he came up with a version of it and then he repeated it i don't know 300 times something like that i was actually trying to do some design work at the time and after the first 50 times it was okay and then after that i'm thinking do you know what i'm gonna go find something quiet so it's gone bizarre [Music] [Music] ilsa is now ready to transfer her design onto the tondino plates they're blemished and chipped but she's using the best of her creative skills to salvage the project the imagery that i've got for this one the fact that the place is broken will fit with the story okay this one on the far left yeah is the factory workers so i'm kind of thinking now can you see the the dogs are biting their own tails right so i might adapt the design so it looks like the dogs have eaten this oh okay with this one obviously it doesn't have the bump in the middle i've got a bit of a reason for why that might be in terms of the concept i've just got to work with what's here rather noise yeah yeah yeah it's just a shame the others were in the rain because we could have had the backups in yeah but there's very little you can do when you're down to three and things like this happen don't get me started on that the rain [Music] neither ilsa nor steven have painted plates before and china painting is a skill that takes years to master they only have an afternoon they're hoping some clever design tricks might still save the day try and position it so the dog is there but then hang on let me see and then that dog there these two yeah or just leave them as they are and just bring their heads up here okay to be biting the chunk out to the side see what i mean yes it's a bit of humor okay in keeping with the style of william de morgan's ceramics steven and ilsa are adding luster to their design literally these fine films of gold silver and red should give the plates a beautiful shimmering quality with their design work done bryony and neve are finding out more about the arts and crafts emphasis on nature and sustainability many craftspeople were self-sufficient their milk and honey on tap but living in the countryside wasn't just a lifestyle choice it was also an ideal the idea of moving out to the country for the arts and crafts people the countryside gave them the cleanliness the clean air it gave them the inspiration with flowers and trees and it was a great place to apply your craft and it was a great source of inspiration [Music] briny and neve are getting their own taste of the good life local beekeeper gareth baker has come along to harvest the honey the one thing about this it's pretty exciting time for beekeeping is this this era in that we were sort of on the transition from skept basket beekeeping to frame hives so in victorian terms that was the latest technology look at their little faces with the combs gathered from the hives it's time to try their hands at extracting the honey using traditional methods of course [Music] that's it that'll do [Music] good afternoon so how's your day good so far thank you it's been a really good day that's our honey yes that's your honey so thank you very much there's also pound cake bread and potted shrimps and the larger dish is potted chicken wow so enjoy your afternoon tea thank you very much victorians loved their afternoon tea for ordinary families it was often just bread and butter and tea but for the wealthy it was an elaborate culinary ritual that was not posh at all we've not had the tank an important ingredient in any tea party was gossip on today's agenda is final casting for the owl and the i'm the owl stephen is the pussycat it's going to hilarious be the storyteller yeah i think and so we need a pig piggy and a turkey and a turkey rod is far too busy for afternoon tea he's finished the first leg of his fire dogs and keith has come along to inspect the fruits of his labors these are the docks so that's the back i see yeah and this is the big ah important ladies wow okay and that goes in there so that is the main structure of the fire dock as you see i've done a little bit of interpretation yeah um fantastic rod's next challenge is to begin work on the decorative design it's this pierce work which gives jimson's fire dogs their distinctive look it's this that rod's trying to emulate well pierce work is basically just cutting holes in things but it's using a very very fine blade it's so thin you can hardly see the teeth [Music] the aspiration of the arts and crafts people was to find joy in their labour but at the fiddleston stage of the process rod can't find it for love nor money oh i've done it again [Music] so that's the third blade i've broken in the same place same time without making any cuts at all [Applause] because there's so much decorative work to do rod's trying to speed up the process by cutting two layers of brass at the same time but his piercing saw is struggling to cope and so is he what concerns me though is that i'm rapidly running out of blades and i'm getting through so many blades per inch there's going to be a point when i'm physically going to have to stop and can't do any more work because i've got no more plates i'm literally going to run out in an hour i think [Music] the crafters are all finding out how tough making objects by hand really is the arts and crafts pioneers did too and in fact many items especially textiles ended up being manufactured on a larger more precise scale briony and neve have come to see for themselves just how much machinery is involved in making their curtains a reality oh my god [Music] it's the fact it's so exciting seeing it come around it's also quite nerve-wracking because we know it so well but i was saying has the wheat come out as we'd expected and yeah like the bees are there and then it rolls a bit more and there's that there and i can't wait to see it on a grand scale this traditional mill in suffolk dates back to the arts and crafts era and produced some of william morris's most famous designs many of which are still in their archives looked after by textile historian dominique kaplan this is actually an original artwork similar to the first process that you did this is all hand painted and this is how they started to get a sense for the design that they were going to do a really lovely example of arts and crafts they've got this dark background and then they're keeping the pattern but also the colors very organic and at the time gainesville was weaving all sorts of qualities as well as cotton silk and wool it's the end of the fifth day and the crafters are making progress [Music] rod is pushing forward with his piercing work and steven has delivered the plates to the kiln to go through the final firing process we've done the best job we can under the time that we've been given hopefully folk who appreciate the work that went into it [Music] it's our crafters final full day well this is sort of the calm before the storm we've got up relatively early i made everyone breakfast to try and get them prepared for what's going to be a crazy day so how are we going to work this today because there is so much that needs to be done today yeah yeah can i possibly pick bryony i kind of need brian emile so if you can 15 minutes rod began this week excited to be working on his own but with so much still to be done on his fire dogs he's had to turn to his fellow crafters for help i feel happy that rod has asked me to help him with this project and in fact we had a heart-to-heart last night for a few hours and we've learned a lot about each other from that we've had time to maybe talk and get to know each other a little better and i i think genuinely any any of our friends would help any any of the other friends in making their piece there is actually a joy in sharing it right i think i'm gonna need to get the forge guys have fun okay thank you very much i'll get back as quickly as i possibly can as rod's team of helpers settle down to work on the brass piercing neve is back in the library trying to finish the curtains on her own these have to be hemmed lined completely up and hanging by tomorrow morning which is great and i'm doing it by myself [Music] back at the forge rod is completing the iron framework for his fire dogs this is the second dog and what we've got to do is attach the tree branches to the second dog and what we'll do is we'll cut that short we'll shape it and then we'll do a scarf joint there ross will help me with that because fire welding is his speciality this blacksmithing technique has been used since the middle ages okay fast work by heating two pieces of iron until they're molten hot rod is able to hammer them into one piece [Music] with the decorative twist now forged to the main framework all that remains to do is to attach it to the feet [Music] you go rod bon doggie the stands it stands so yeah it's nice okay next one rods fire dogs are certainly coming together but they're a long way from being finished briony is working on the detailed chasing of the metal work while ilsa is still cutting out the patterns [Music] these corners are crazy [Music] ilsa is trying a shortcut rod went for delicacy with a tiny saw elsa is employing brute force with a bigger saw at the expense of flexibility with the fiddly bits turning the corners is particularly difficult with these bigger blades to be so patient with it and gentle with only a few hours to go bryony has come back to the dining room to help neve hem the curtains yay when you're doing 10 feet of fabric it gets a little bit tiring but not on the turning wrist for some reason just a pushing wrist but they're on the home stretch [Music] they could be part of the outfits found in the pussycats they actually could we we're gonna have quite a lot left over now [Music] that's not bad nice [Music] darkness falls and there's still an awful lot yet to be done [Music] after a week of hard work the crafters have risen early we were up fairly late last night finishing them off there is a lot more that goes into curtain making than any of us realize there's less than an hour left to get the room looking like an arts and crafts dining room four days ago they you know were just an idea in our head like nothing about these curtains existed four days ago and now and now they're being hung up like that's amazing and slightly mad ilsa and steven's plates have come back from their final firing at the kiln [Music] the best laid plans not the actual hell it doesn't sound like does it i don't know it hasn't stuck the gold is there but i can't see the red are you sure you mix the red properly 100 it's a gold one that i'm sure i didn't mix properly well the gold ones were the red ones disappeared yeah that's nuts they've been relying on the lustre finish to provide that distinctive arts and crafts look it hasn't well the judges are going to be here shortly and we're just trying to get the plates clean at least so maybe the gold can show some of the design and therefore the meaning but to be honest the way they look i'm not pleased to show them [Music] thanks to the help of his fellow crafters rods fire dogs are finished and ready to be moved into the house okay mate can you say would you mind giving me and brian in hand the dog's ready then all right let's take for a walk ah i'm happy as i can be but it's been a long couple of days [Music] the judge's approach the dining room has been transformed the crafters have added period furniture to complement their creations rods fire dogs are guarding the hearth the table is laid with elsa and stephen's plates [Music] and briony and neve's curtains frame the windows [Music] it's now down to keith and patch to decide which best captures the spirits of the arts and crafts movement oh wow where should we begin wow the dogs crepes hey fantastic rod has come up with his own modern take on jimson's design you know i like the interpretation of what what he's done interesting it's incredible isn't it it is the pierce work really i mean obviously you know to try to bring what jimson had done in that complicated design he's simplified it and i think that's lovely it's that proportion that really really works well on them i think [Music] so curtains wow look at that i love the color i love that green the background green there's a bit of metallic in there isn't there it's got a bit of a you know it's very modern with a you know their take on some craft so shall we look at the plates yeah let's have a look [Music] well i have to say with the silver luster on they're looking a hell of a lot better than they did during the week this one obviously has had a bit of accident okay so we have to decide i think it's hard this week it is difficult i mean i'm not set yet no me neither what are we judging this on well we're judging it on and the arts and crafts ethos sure but we're also judging it on the craftsmanship that they've had to extol during that week it's a tough one isn't it it is a tough one it's really difficult the objects are the result of the crafters creativity determination and hard work all that now hangs in the balance i think we've made a decision i think so yeah should we get them in yeah okay [Music] hello gang hiya come and join us oh smiles on their faces that's good i don't know why [Laughter] first up are rods fire dogs [Music] i think that you've really captured a spirit within that i mean i think they've got great proportion i think the the raw time work is superb i love the way it comes through what lets it down for me is the finish there's little elements within there that when you touch it it's very sharp it's not beautifully beveled i know it's a touch task we could have spent another week or two weeks on it and we still wouldn't have had it finished to be honest it's just very very laborious and who helped oh elsa helped and steve helped and brian very much helps and abby kept us all um amused they have power thank you yeah yeah they really do have power yeah elsa and stephen you're ton dino bowls elsa's grimacing a bit come on nelson come on yeah well for me the week was a lot of fun working with stephen was lovely it was difficult at times we had a few accidents didn't we along the way it hasn't worked out the way we wanted it to design work is great and the concept is good um you know and obviously you know it's a shame that it didn't come to fruition stephen and i generated that together yeah well done well done well done excellent nathan bryony little girl gang um uh tell us about these gorgeous curtains i mean it's it's worth saying that briony and i have never done anything like this not the designing not the making of the curtains absolutely none of it but we did it but we did it yeah i think that you know the proportion of of of the curtains is fantastic you know you've met the brief brilliantly and i think they sit in this room like they've been here forever right so we had a really tough decision this week and to pick the item that we thought would best reflect the arts and crafts ethos the item of the week this week rod you're fire dogs [Applause] [Music] and so as the sun sets on the final day of week three the crafters can swap their souls for song sheets ready for the world premiere of their spectacular no expense spared rendition of that much-loved victorian classic the owl and the pussycat [Music] [Music] i don't think we're disappointed at all that we didn't win you know they said some brilliant things about our curtains about our design and that's what important you know that's what matters i'm glad that we just had the chance to work together had the chance to do something that we'd never done before that was ace it was brilliant what a wonderful [ __ ] [Music] what a wonderful i wanted my piece to be appreciated which it was so yes that was very emotional that was very good but but no probably more so i think would be um the friendships that we've created [Music] next week the crafters will have to work in teams to build a pergola a mirror and a weathervane as they complete their month in the country embracing the spirit of the arts and crafts movement amazing that is amazing

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 56,969

Keywords: 19th century design, 19th-century elegance, Absolute History, Handcrafted home decor, Heritage home decor, Historical design elements, Nostalgic home decor, Opulent Victorian decor, Period drama decor, Traditional home decor, Vintage design inspiration, classic home decoration, historic home interiors, historical craftsmanship, historical home renovation, historical interior design, traditional house decor, vintage design inspiration, vintage home design, vintage room design

Id: YMGE8JOmGkc

Length: 59min 14sec (3554 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 05 2022