[by Sophie Main]
A collection of electrotypes in the V&A collection. © Sophie Main
Tucked away within the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) lies a collection that has remained almost untouched for over one hundred years. It is a collection of type-patterns, used in the nineteenth century by the Birmingham-based silver manufacturers Elkington & Co. to create copies of ornate metal objects for study at art and design colleges across the country. During my final year as a student in the MA Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery (GSM&J) department at the Royal College of Art, I have been researching this collection under the guidance of Angus Patterson, Curator of Base Metals and Armour at the V&A. For my final SHOW project, I have chosen to re-enact the process of electrotyping. The collection of objects I will be exhibiting at SHOW RCA 2013 illustrates and catalogues this yearlong project.
The electrotyping process begins by rendering a type-pattern, which would have been created from a mould taken of an original object. In this instance, the original object was a key. However, I skipped the initial step in which the original object is first replicated, and instead worked from a mould of an original type-pattern in the storage at the V&A.
An original un-catalogued type-pattern in the V&A collection. Used by the designer in making her own gutta percha mould. © Sophie Main
In the nineteenth century, before plastics and synthetic rubbers were invented, a substance called gutta percha was used to create electrotyping moulds. Gutta percha is a natural Indonesian tree resin. With the help of a team at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in Hertfordshire, I was able to source a piece of it directly from the only remaining gutta percha plantation in the world, which is found in Indonesia.
A gutta percha mould, Sophie Main, 2012 – 2013. © Sophie Main
I took an imprint of the V&A type-pattern, a trace of which can be seen in the above image. In the historic process, the imprinted gutta percha mould would then be coated with a conductive solution, connected to a power supply, and placed in a tank of copper sulphate. Working as faithfully to the original process as possible, I used the electroforming tank situated in the GSM&J department at the RCA’s Kensington campus to do likewise. When the gutta percha mould was removed from the tank, a layer of copper would have been deposited on the parts coated with the conductive solution, thus giving the maker an electrotype. You can see my results below.
A gutta percha mould imbedded with the cast of the new copper electrotype, Sophie Main, 2012 – 2013. © Sophie Main
The electrotype would then be cleaned with chemicals and emery paper and pierced with a jeweller’s saw. The following steps would see the two halves conjoined through soldering and then cleaned again. In order to imitate the material and aesthetic qualities of the silver original object – here the key – but to spare superfluous expense, nineteenth-century electrotype copies would usually have been finished with silver-plating, which is the case for many of the Elkington & Co. electrotypes at the V&A.
Further to this article, at SHOW RCA 2013, I will exhibit a series of objects that investigate the stages of the electrotyping process. I invite you to visit the GSM&J SHOW at the RCA’s Battersea campus and learn about how I was able to re-enact this historical process and see the resulting objects.
Sophie Main – Focusing on her interest in archiving, cataloguing and classifying objects, Sophie is fascinated by the contextual history of things. She hopes to encourage curiosity in the concepts and subjects behind the objects she creates. By referencing the past in her work, Sophie endeavours to understand the role of objects and adornment within systems of value, to order and explain the world – past and present.
SHOW RCA 2013 runs from 20 – 30 June (closed 28 June), 12pm – 8pm. The GSM&J students’ work will be exhibited in the Dyson Building, RCA Battersea Campus, 1 Hester Road, London, SW11 4AN
GSM&J SHOW tours will be led by their Head of Programme, Professor Hans Stofer, on 22 June from 1 – 2 pm, and on 29 June from 6 -8 pm. The tour on 29 June will be followed by drinks with the designers.
© Sophie Main, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
