Friday 10 July 2020

Cleanliness is next to godliness? I am too late for spring cleaning!

Hello my friends,

Today's topic is somewhat different from the previous ones. I wanted to make some cleaning materials for Huis ter Swinnendael for some time now. Last week I suddenly had the inspiration to do so. But it is begin july so summer has arrived. This means that it is too late for spring cleaning. Oh well, spring will come again next year. ;-)

A house like the one I'm building had a score of servants to run a smooth household. But to succesfuly clean a house they need more than a pair of hands and some elbow grease. They need tools to do the job! So here are a few that I made following several instructions/ tutorials that I gathered from various sources.


The buckets.
In the baby cabinets in the Dutch museums you often see wooden buckets in the attics and brass buckets in the kitchens. The brass buckets @were not used for cleaning the house. The are called "marktemmers" (market buckets) and were used to buy things as fish or meat and such. The metal of the buckets made sure that oils and juices from these items could not get into the bucket itself like with wood or cloth. And the metal was easlily cleaned afterwards. The general image of those periods is one of omnipresent filth and unhygienic circumstances, but that image should be nuanced quite a bit. They did not exactly understand how it worked but they understood more than period movies let us believe. ;-)


Most buckets were made of wood. Some were made of leather. The latter were mostly but not exlusively firebuckets. Filled with sand or water to be on hand when a fire had to be contained. Now I had some leather lying around that was too thick and tough to use for miniature upholstery. When I found an 18th century leather firebucket at an antique store in The Hague, I knew that was something the thicker leather would be ideal for.


So I started sketching, made a few patterns for the different elements out of cardboard and cut them out of the leather. Then I punctured a hole in each flap for attaching the handle for the bucket.


From there it was quite straight forward. I glued the bucket wall together, added the rim along the bottom and the one along the top. These rims have to be a bit larger of course. The seam is quite thick and visible. But that is rather realistic than a problem. The old bucket that I saw, (but was not allowed to make pictures of alas) was nailed together with large hobnails, just like the chairs with stretchers I showed you in january of this year.


To simulate these hobnails I used the same mini stickers I used on the chairs. Finaly I painted the inside of the bucket light blue and added No. 1 and No. 2 on them. (The antique firebucket had the number 4 painted on it in very decorative letters. When talking with the antique dealer I  learned that although firebuckets were more common in the 19th century and were more popular in Great Brittain than on mainland Europe, they existed in the Netherlands in the late 18th century. So I feel confident to use them and add them to the cooking-kitchen of Huis ter Swinnendael.

I also have an idea for wooden buckets. But my first attempt failed. So I will come back to you all with that one as soon as I get the result that I am after. :-)

The carpet beater/rug whip
Is that the right term in english? In dutch we call them "mattenkloppers" and as the name suggests, you beat carpets and rugs to get rid of the dust they have collected while lying on the floor or table. Before the age of the vacume cleaner every household had one. And into the late nineteen eighties they were still common in houses albeit used less and less. Now they have more or less become museum objects.
In the 18th and 19th centuries these objects were a nescessity. And with a house like Swinnendael... one rugbeater will not be enough.

The strength of a "mattenkloppers" is determined by the number of canes used to make them and the amount of interwoven loops that they have. 2 loops are for the light beaters, used for small rugs, 3 loops for the larger rugs and small carpets, and 4 loops for the  large and heavy carpets. those also often had 3 or four strands of cane instead of 2. 


I found a very useful tutorial for two types of mattenkloppers made with two strands and three loops. I made them both. And then  made one more. This time with three strands. Because this one already looks quite 'fat', I will not make more of those with three strands in the future. 


By the way, getting the loops right with every strand lying paralel and not folding over or switching places is at the same time relaxing and frustrating. And with three strands you certainly need a good dose of herbal tea to relax! ;-)
When you have a satisfying result for the beating part, you fixate it with a bit of woodglue diluted with water. When the glue has dried, smear the same mixture on the remaining strands and twist them together to form the handle. Let the glue/water dry to fixate the twisted wires in place. On both ends of the handle you wind some (cotton) thread in a matching colour and presto!

Brooms and Brushes
Could I forget these? Ofcourse not. Brooms and brushes exist since the first ancient civilisations. So we need several here too. I just made a few types. No conscientious choice or reason. I just made these as was my fancy, combined with the materials at hand. I used pictures of the museum dollshouses and several tutorials as a guide. The result is a nice start. But more will be needed. There used to be different (types of) brooms and brushes for floors, hearths, tables, upholstery, carpets et cetera. So there is still a lot to play with.


The long handled brushes are made of thootpicks and hemptwine. Here the twine is 'forked out' with a needle to seperate the strands. The tutorial for this one I found on facebook. The white twine could be soaked in strong cold tea to give it a used look.


The twig brush is copied from the babycabinet of Petronella Oortman in the Rijksmuseum. This type of tough brush seems to be used to clean out the hearths or cleaning pavements. So we definately need one in the cooking kitchen for sure! The 'twigs' are dried stalks bound together with some twine and ruffled a bit to make it look used instead of new. In the Petronella Oortman babycabinet there are also twig brooms in the cellar. These brooms are for a next post though.

Well that is it for now. I hope that you enjoyed reading this post and hopefully until next time. 

Huibrecht



19 comments:

  1. Buenos elementos de limpieza e interesantes lo comentarios. Yo tengo en casa un sacudidor de alfombras que compré no hace mucho. Llevaba mucho tiempo buscándolo y al final lo encontré en un viaje por Extremadura.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hola isabel. Sí, los batidores de alfombras todavía están hechos y usados, pero debes esforzarte por encontrarlos. Aquí en los países bajos ya no se hacen a gran escala. Solo puedo usar viejos batidores de alfombras como ejemplo.

      Delete
  2. I love the leather buckets you've made to recreate the originals! It looks like a fun endeavor, and along with the spiffy rug beaters, will add a nice touch of realism to the rooms of Huis ter Swinnendael! Getting the brooms just right will take some practice, but I know you will prevail! Thank you for sharing the history of the items, as well! That is always one of the highlights of popping over to see what you've been up to!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Jodi, It was fun to make these items. And I think they are important because, like you said, they add to the realism. A house like the one I'm building is not just about the fine furniture and the rich interiors of the upstairs rooms. In real life they can only exist in those conditions because of the hard wordk of the servants. And I like to tell the whole story in my house. And not just the pretty side of things. :-)

      Delete
  3. Gaaf idee om van het iets dikkere leer brandemmers te maken, Huibrecht, ze zien er prima uit! Ik kende deze emmers wel, maar heb er nog nooit eentje in 't echie gezien.
    Het boen- en klopmateriaal is goed gelukt, boenders en kloppers waren er toen inderdaad in meerdere vormen en voor allerlei doeleinden, zoals in een groot huis als Swinnendael, aanwezig.
    Goed gelukt en zeker om er mee door te gaan totdat je er genoeg van hebt ;O)!
    Fijne zondag toegewenst.
    Blijf veilig, zorg goed voor elkaar!
    Groetjes, Ilona

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dank je wel Ilona. Voorlopig heb ik er nog niet genoeg van.
      Zowel qua voorwerpen als qua zin om ze te maken.;-O En er zijn nog veel meer zaken die erbij moeten komen. Bezems voor binnen en buiten bijvoorbeeld. Houten emmers, en dweilen en lappen. Noem maar op. Ik ben nog wel even bezig! :-)

      Delete
  4. How kind of you to give the houseworkers the tools they need... ;O) But without anymore joking - your household tools and necessesities turned out awesome. It's things like these that add to the realism of a project and make it vivid. The results are stunning and I am impressed with the amount of research you're doing even for this kind of stuff. Nothing goes into your house without a reason - and I think this is just the right attitude for such a project. And what great use for the thick leather - the fire buckets turned out awesome.

    Hugs
    Birgit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Birgit. Yes well, what can I say? I am an enleightened and benevolent man... ;-)

      I am glad that you like them. For me the research and reading up on historic houses, the period around 1800 and miniatures is part of the fun.

      Delete
  5. Lange droge dennenaalden zijn ook goed voor schoonmaakborstels of bezems. Ze worden hier wel gebruikt voor miniatuur heksebezems in Hallowe'en kijkkasten. Nu moet ik een spinnebol maken, je hebt me geinspireerd! En ik ga meteen mijn mooie schone zwabber vuilmaken met thee....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wat een goede tip Marijke, dank je wel. Die ga ik zeker onthouden. Ik heb gekeken naar de steeltjes van kersen maar die bleken niet geschikt. Dat zag er heel gek uit.
      Wat leuk dat dit blogbericht jou heeft geïnspireerd om ook schoonmaakspullen te maken. Ik kijk uit naar het resultaat!
      Succes emt het bijkleuren van de zwabber. Zorg wel dat je watervaste lijm hebt gebruikt. Dat had ik de eerste keer neit gedaan...

      Delete
  6. Cleaning may not be anybody's favorite job, but good tools make the job so much easier. The leather fire buckets are just fabulous. It had never crossed my mind that of course fire buckets would have been important in households with fires burning everywhere for cooking and keeping warm. I wonder why they were numbered?
    The carpet beaters too are wonderful, I can only imagine the trickery in getting the cords to all loop correctly at the same time.
    Fabulously detailed work and getting a bit of history behind your mini items is just a wonderful added bonus.
    Thank you.
    Anna

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree Anna, I do not like cleaning myself, but I detest an unclean house even more, so we make sure that our house is always clean and fresh.

      Why were they numbered? That is a good question to which I do not know the answer. Perhaps so that they were directly recognisable? Or that it was easy to check that all buckets were accounted for? Who knows. With Covid I do not travel much but when I have some time to spare, the next time that I am in The Hague, I will pop in by the Antique dealer who sells them and ask. He may know. Antique dealers are usualy quite knowledgeable about the items they sell. I will let you know when I find the answer!

      Delete
  7. OH BOY but you ARE CLEVER!
    I LOVE your leather buckets and the woven carpet beaters are FAB!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elisabethm you make me blush.:-)
      I am glad that you love the cleaning items. Somewhere in the future there will be more items to show.

      Delete
  8. I love the buckets! Absolutely perfect, I shall be trying that out soon, thank you. The carpet beaters are a great touch, though I'm glad we don't have to use them in real life anymore, such dusty work! Where did you find the tutorial? It looks like a good source book. It may not be spring, but you are well prepared for a good clean!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dank je wel Linda. De mattenkloppers waren inderdaad een gepriegel. Maar des te mooier is het dan als het uiteindelijk lukt. In feite zijn het losse lussen die pas met de laatste lus door en aan elkaar vastgeweven worden. Maar de uitdaging smaakt naar meer, Ik heb een goede foto gevonden van een mattenklopper met 5 lussen. Eens kijken of mij dat ook gaat lukken. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you Jonquil, I think that I was 10 years old the last time that I used a carpet beater, while helping my mother with cleaning the house. That is 30 odd years ago. And I agree with you that I do not miss them. :-)

    I have the tutorial only on paper and it is written in dutch. But check this link out. It is a blog of a lady who wrote a tutorial on a carpet beater in another dutch magazine. http://liduina88.blogspot.com/

    It is the same model as my first one but made out of wicker. The process is exactly the same as with hemp twine apart from the use of diluted glue. Perhaps this tutorial helps you?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have a few old carpet beaters somewhere amongst my mess of moving, your minis are wonderful ! I can't wait to try this and the pails are great ! Huggss

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am glad that you like them. And speaking of the pails, I actualy used some of the thicker leather you gave me for them. A lovely material to work with.

    Huibrecht

    ReplyDelete