Civilians began their Trench Art trade by creating souvenirs for soldiers during the war, which flourished into a booming cottage industry between World Wars I and II. The more elaborate pieces that soldiers made were completed behind the lines in relative safety and with access to more tools and machinery. Soldiers close to the fight were able to make pieces of Trench Art, but they would be simpler items such as rings made out of aluminum, wood/chalk/stone carvings, embroidery/textile paintings/beadwork, or simple designs pinned or scratched into their mess kits or artillery shells. Simpler designs could be free hand pinned into shells without templates, and would sometimes be completed with lines drawn to connect the dots.ĭuring World War I soldiers were rotated in and out of the trenches, usually staying a maximum of two weeks before being sent behind the lines. To get the perfect designs on the shells, templates would be tied onto them using twine so the creator would know where to hammer. After the work was completed, the lead could be reheated, poured out, and reused again and again. The heat of liquid lead poured into a shell casing made it more malleable, and once cooled the resistance was perfect for even the most intricate designs to be punched in. Though there were a couple of options, the one that worked best was lead. Next, something was used to fill the shell to provide resistance for the artist to hammer against. To create a decorated shell, the first step was to select the canvas by testing the shells resonance – a faulty shell could break and the work would have to be abandoned. The most frequently encountered item is the decorated artillery shell, but other common pieces include ashtrays, matchbox holders, lighters, inkwells, letter openers, and jewelry. This close association with World War I, and its iconic trenches along the western front, made “Trench Art” a natural name, and one which would then be applied to all such items. The industrialized nature of World War I, and the amount of people directly impacted as both soldiers and civilians, allowed an explosion in the number of pieces created out of material that will last lifetimes. Soldiers have probably always created some form of object to pass the time or to have some sort of souvenir, but due to the materials they used and the amount of time passed since creation, not many of these older items were able to survive into modern times or are unable to be recognized for what they are. Saunders defines Trench Art as: “…Any object made by soldiers, prisoners of war and civilians, as long as object and maker are associated in time and space with armed conflict or its consequences.” As a concept, Trench Art has existed throughout history. In his book titled Trench Art (second edition), Nicholas J.
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