While soot is very messy, once mixed with the very hard wax to form heel ball it is stays quite clean.
> Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 22:29:16 +0000 > To: dmt11h...@aol.com > CC: jean...@hotmail.co.uk; lace@arachne.com > From: jpartri...@pebble.demon.co.uk > Subject: [lace] Heelball > > 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 <6c87.43755fb5.3fc27...@aol.com>, dmt11h...@aol.com writes > > Also > >called blacking > > > >It sounds a little messy to have around lace. > > > >Devon > -- > Jane Partridge > > - > To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: > unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to > arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/ - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
