The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts - Episode 4

Good morning, we are finishing the Victorian House of Arts and Crafts series today. The run time for this episode is 59:12.

For the past three weeks, the crafters have been working together and decorating the house in the arts and crafts style. It is now the last week for the crafters. Have the ideals of the arts and crafts movement struck a chord with our crafters?
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For this week, the crafters will be paired together in one final push to decorate the house. The first paring is Rod and Stephen and they will be working on a mirror. The mirror was created in the 1920s, so the pair will have to create an interpretation of the mirror. The second pairing is Abdollah and Niamh and they will be publishing a book. They will be publishing a crafting magazine. One popular magazine gave people ideas around the world. The final pairing is Bryony and Elsa. Their task is to create a weather vane. These crafts will test their skills and teach them new skills as well. The crafters go off to work on their tasks.

The crafters head to the library. The library and education were central to the arts and crafts movement. Then the crafters are given one final task: a pergola for the outside of the house. The judges talk about the crafters and talk about how each of the crafters will handle the task. Rod and Stephen realize that they will have to ask for help with this task. Rod is more experienced than Steven. Niamh works on the magazine and is at the typewriter all ready. Abdollah and Niamh will be using 19th Century methods to write and print their magazine. She shares the first draft of the introduction with Abdollah and is thrilled with the start. He calls Niamh a great writer. The magazine is a curveball craft for the week.

The final pairing is Bryony and Elsa. They take a walk in nature to help design the weather vane. Bryony is thrilled with working on a weather vane. She had done some blacksmithing before and would like to get her hand back in it. The crafters are off and working on their projects. At the breakfast table, the crafters talk about the magazine. After breakfast, Bryony and Elsa head to the forge to work on the weather vane. Their design is done and now they have to start to work on crafting the weather vane. Together they will learn how to blacksmith.

Abdollah works on the illustrations for the magazine. He also starts designing the pergola. Niamh works on interviewing the other crafters for the magazine. In the meantime, Rod and Stephen work on the mirror frame. Rod works on the frame while Stephen works on the bowl. The frame is going well, but Stephen is struggling with working on the bowl. He is feeling overwhelmed with the project.

Abdollah works on his pergola experiment and puts together the initial pieces. Niamh continues to work on the magazine. Abdollah also illustrates the crafters and Niamh will type the interviews around the answer. Bryony is working in the metal shed on the weather vane project. The crafters take a break and play croquet.

Abdollah and Niamh work to get the cover printed off and are off to the printers. They go to a lithographer and he will help them with the process. It takes a lot of work to prepare the stone and the drawing for the lithograph. It takes Abdollah five hours to transfer his drawing to the block. The front cover is ready to be printed. Will the cover turn out? Or will Abdollah have to start again?

Stephen and Rod work on the pieces for a mirror and it will take longer than they anticipated. Will this pairing be able to finish the mirror in time? Elsa and Bryony continue to work on the weather vane. Will they be able to install it safely? More importantly, will it be spinning? How will the pergola turn out? Will they get the pergola up in time? Tune into the rest of this episode to discover what finishing touches the crafters will put on the house.

Overall, this is a good series to show in an art classroom. It would prompt some good discussion on the arts and crafts movement and should help students get their creative juices flowing for their art projects.