Blacking would have been used in the household anyway, I can remember my
grandmother having a range (combination of fireplace and about three
ovens) which was blacked, and fire grates were blacked as a matter of
course, especially in larger households where it was the job of the
lower housemaids.
To take a rubbing they would have rubbed the image onto paper, or
similar material, as you cannot rub straight onto card (or vellum). This
would give a mirror image of the pattern, as you rub the wrong side of
the pricking, so the image would have had to have been turned over to
prick onto new card - maybe this explains the difference in right and
left footsides between regions when patterns were copied - so whatever
was used for the rubbing would have had to be on something thin enough
for the image to show through. The blacking may have transferred to the
card when the pricker was pushed through, so they may have used
something between the card and the rubbing to stop this happening?
Dirty lace was more likely to have been rejected by a dealer - who was
under no obligation to buy from the cottage workers s/he employed - so
the lacemakers would have done everything possible to keep the lace
clean.
In message <[email protected]>, [email protected] writes
Also
called blacking
It sounds a little messy to have around lace.
Devon
--
Jane Partridge
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