A couple of musings - was Yellow Starch simply the name of the stiffening agent; the agent itself was the issue, rather than the yellow colour - given that other *vegetal* products could dye textiles yellow. Did it in fact turn the textile really yellow, or was it a mere tinge of yellow - enough to associate the colour with the product, or was it white anyway, given that 'white' can be many shades (for example, compare the different brands of white threads, some whites aren't as white....etc.) yet beside another 'white' the one would look yellow compared to the other...
Potatoes spoil under frosty conditions, don't they? Did the recipe-*writer* of Yellow Starch ever make the starch, or was just the hired scribe...did the recipe-*maker* have a different root veg. in mind, yet called it a potato? Were they using a yellow turnip? a parsnip? a dandelion root? - the latter gives yellow, red or blue dye depending on the mordant, the dye-set, used. Speaking of the mordant, maybe whatever else was in the Yellow Starch had a poisoning effect (just maundering here). To add to the definition of Purl'd, purl = bump and 'purl' is spelled in cheerful ways including 'pearl' permitting us in the 21st century to imagine a garment covered in 'pearls' to be glittery with that product of the oyster, when it could quite well have been just a bumpy knit fabric. We have used laundry/textile finishing starch since the 16th century, still do, though less so precisely now, than for instance when I remember my mother doing laundry, and melting blue waxy squares of probably wheat starch (or corn) in a tub of hot water. Some who wear white shirts still like to have the collars starched for appearance; some who enjoy ironing like the effect of starch on the fabrics, how it makes ironing easier. We aren't advised to use starch for our laces where we want them stiffened (such as for ornaments), because the starch attracts critturs in storage :) Gum arabic is a water-soluble gum, from the sap of an Acacia tree (which I think is poisonous - the seed pods are, I think, especially so). On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 8:11 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > In message <[email protected]>, [email protected] writes > >In Aileen Ribiero's book about 17th century fashion, and in other books > >there is reference to one Ann Turner who went to her hanging in yellow > >starched > >lace. > > > my library.) Unfortunately, while there is a lot about yellow starch in > it, > it has some kind of academic perspective vis a vis gender identity issues > ..... > > Susan has provided some interesting recipes and I am tempted to someday try > the potato one,since I don't know what gum arabic is. I don't know if I > can successfully frost a potato after buying it at the grocery store, of > > -- Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
