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engraving on glass

engraving on glass

The Lost Language of Industry

By Julian Walker - 6th May, 2011

 

One of the areas of interest for me is that when an industry closes, or a new technology replaces old methods of operating, what gets lost as part of the cultures of making is the language of making.  As soon as I started looking at the census returns and the correspondence from 100 years ago I found there was a whole vocabulary that was completely new to me, an archaeology of words that will be merely preserved on paper and website when the generation that last performed these actions is no longer around.

One way of making these more real is to engrave the words on the scrap of the industries.  It’s not difficult – all you need is a drill with diamond bits (very cheap actually, though it sounds expensive), eye-protection and a mask, a steady hand and a magnifying glass or, in my case, desperately short sight (there had to be an advantage eventually).

Some of the workshop participants have been having a go on found fragments of glass and metal and also on some Chances Glass plates that are my latest car boot finds.

The results have been great and I think we will include these in our mini exhibitions that we are putting into local GP Surgeries/Health Centres across the Borough during July for the Arts Festival

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