national trust lyme paper , prints, books

Jonathan Korejko © 2010 T: 01526 378222 E: [email protected] W: www.timberlandand.co.uk 1

Lyme Park, a National Trust property near Manchester, England, is the proud owner of an amazing book which was made for William Caxton in France in 1487.Printed in red and black ink, and with illuminated letters and woodcuts, the Sarum Missal was created with paper made from linen rags.

The book is on display in the recently refurbished library of the house for all to enjoy. This innovative programme taught children how to make paper using the same type of pulp which the papermakers

in Europe would have used for the pages in the Missal. Printing, drawing and writing onto the papers, and then binding them into A5 books, completes the story.This report is about the children from two primary schools in the area, St. Mary's Marple Bridge, and Cheetham Hill Primary Schools, which

came to Lyme Park for 3 days in October 2010, to learn about the house and the treasures within it.

………The Sarum Missal……...

Papermaking , Printmaking and Bookbinding


PAPERMAKING

Linen rags formed the base of the material used to make the

paper. Jonathan brought prepared pulp from his studio

which had been ground up in his hollander beater, a special

machine to break down cloth and render the fibres out of it. The children needed the

assistance of adult helpers to handle the papermaking

equipment, but after a few goes they began to work more

independently.

The programme outline was: 1) To learn about the Sarum Missal in Lyme Park's library, and to make drawings and calligraphy about that experience, working with Caroline in the main house. 2) To learn about how the Missal was made using paper from recycled linen rags, and work with Jonathan in the Boiler House to create handmade papers using this old recipe. 3) To make small relief printblocks under Jonathan's tuition, and print these blocks onto the handmade paper, using techniques related to those employed by the craftsman who made the woodblock prints in the Missal. 4) To collate their drawings, prints, and papers and work with Claire Reed, a bookbinder and employee of Lyme Park, to bind everything into small, personalised books. This project took place over a three day period, spread out over three weeks, and involved numerous adult helpers from Lyme Park's pool of volunteers, and from the teachers and classroom assistants of

the two schools.

The programme was designed by Caroline Heap, Education Officer at Lyme Park, and Jonathan Korejko, Papermaker and

Printmaker. Sixty children aged 11 and 12 years old were involved in the project. Each morning, thirty children joined

Jonathan in the "Boiler House" a delightful building separate from the large stately home on the hill above. At the same time, Caroline worked with the other thirty children in the

library and education room in the main house. After lunch, the two groups swapped places, so that everyone experienced

hands -on work as well as study in the library.


The flax fibres which came from the linen rags were very water retentive, and hence the newly formed paper took a long time to drain on the mould. In order to make it easier for the beginner

papermakers, a “sponge tower” was used.The mould was pressed down onto the tower, and as it was released, a lot of

liquid was sucked out from the flax on the mould.

rose back up again. . The newly formed sheet of paper was then "couched" onto the curved "couching table" in the

normal fashion.

Pressing the papers: everyone in the group covered their newly made flax paper with a

“couching cloth”, building a “post” which was then taken to the press, where more of

the water was squeezed out, giving the paper a chance to set.


The National Trust at Lyme Park has invested time and money into making the Sarum Missal accessible. Not satisfied that this precious manuscript should just sit in a glass case, open on two

pages only, they devised a scheme which heightens the viewer's experience of the book in two ways 1) A facsimile was made by the bookbinders/restorers "Formby's of Ramsbottom", replicating the

exact pages in the Missal, so that visitors to the library could leaf through the book as if it were the real thing 2) A digital version of the best pages of the book was made so that people could turn the

pages of this "virtual" book using clever technology, fun to use by both children and adults alike.

PRINTMAKING Jonathan attempted in his workshops with the children to make the Missal even more relevant, so that they could experience what it might have been like to be the papermaker or printmaker who contributed to the creation of the Missal .The facsimile edition of the Missal was bound in leather. Using brass tools , the cover was embellished with a unique design which had 4, 5 and 6 pointed

"flowers" in it. Having already seen and touched this facsimile edition, Jonathan drew the children's attention to the leather design work. He encouraged the children to examine the shapes and design

something similar for their print blocks.


Jonathan also explained to the kids that the coloured woodcuts in the Missal were printed many years ago using hand-carved woodblocks. This technique of "relief printing" was closely related to the type of printing the children were going to learn about when they made their print blocks. Given more

time, the children would have worked with Jonathan to draw, prepare and cut their printblocks in thick, glossy cardboard. In this case, however, the teachers from the two schools were given

instructions on how to help the children achieve similar results back at school. Everyone was then sent home from day one (the papermaking phase) with "homework". On day two, which took place a week later, all sixty children marched into the Boiler House with their pre-cut cardboard printblocks in perfect condition, ready for the second stage: printing onto handmade linen paper. The relief printing

unit made use of customised, second-hand mangles from old washing machines which allowed everyone to print , in the first instance, onto machine- made paper. After gaining some expertise, the children finished the printmaking session by putting their images onto their precious, handmade linen

paper.Finally, the original brass tool used by Formsby's to make the leather cover on the facsimile book was printed onto the page by Jonathan and his team of helpers, using it like a rubber stamp.


On the job teacher training: running a programme for large numbers of children only works when there is a


RE-INACTING THE PAST

Whilst Jonathan was working with thirty children in the Boiler House, Caroline investigated the history of Lyme Park, which was, after all, a family home. Children were given the opportunity to role play

wearing different period costumes.

drawing AND WRITING

After visiting the Lyme Missal in the library, the children were then asked to reflect on what they had seen and done in the house, and then to write about things important in their own young lives. This they did using traditional quill pens, as well as pencils and paint to create their own illuminated letter, similar to the ones they saw in the Missal. Work was done both on their own linen paper as well as

on machine made paper.


BOOKBINDING

Over the course of three days of work at Lyme Park, the sixty children now had handmade linen paper, machine made paper, prints, and drawings. It became the responsibility of Claire Reed to

take the children through the final phase of the project. Everyone had to decide how to best present their pages, collate them, and then bind them together. Using an ancient "stab and sew" technique,

the loose pages were transformed into proper little books.


and finally…

Caroline celebrated the success of the programme with an invited audience of National Trust Officers, staff, representatives of funding bodies, administrators, and volunteer helpers. This project

was in fact part of a larger scheme in which Lyme Park attracted Heritage Lottery Funds to completely refurbish the library and enhance the presentation of The Sarum Missal. The products created by the children aroused great interest on the day. Afterwards, they were displayed in the

library and enjoyed by the visiting public, too. Sixty books with sixty different printed covers, with sixty unique stories to tell…

This report has been written by Jonathan Korejko, papermaker and printmaker. Special thanks to Lyme Park for permission to reproduce images of the Sarum Missal. Photographs by J. Korejko,

Oona Bisset (National Trust), Lyme Park,+ Google images.

Extending our heritage into the space beyond the glass exhibition case is an important factor in helping children to comprehend traditional techniques and historic documents. Programmes like the one carried out at Lyme Park are to be encouraged, as they allow children to come into contact with contemporary practitioners who have developed special techniques to make these interpretations feasible. Using the past to inspire the present helps the adults of the future have a better understanding of

the objects in our national collections. It is also hoped that, having had direct, hands-on experience of making their own precious books, an indelible mark would have

been made in their memories, so that this visit to Lyme Park will remain with them, and encourage them to explore further afield as they grow older. Appreciating the

intellectual and technical achievements of people from the past can greatly enhance a child's ability to learn and have fun whilst doing so.

national trust lyme paper , prints, books

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