Filed under: Handkerchiefs, Laundry Instructions and tips | Tags: Handkerchiefs, Laundry Instructions
Some of my drawings for the HonestyBox (a project with Gail Burton) at Camberwell Arts Festival (26th and 27th June 2009) use imagery and texts from my launderette research.
The exhibition opens tomorrow at the English Folk Dance and Song Society’s Cecil Sharp House in Camden. The catalogue of works is online at: http://flashcompanyexhibition.blogspot.com
My contribution is inspired by ongoing research at The Women’s Library,
drawing on text, type and imagery from the scrapbooks of
Ruth Homan (1890s) and the notebooks of Ethel Robson (1910s).
pencil on cotton handkerchief, view a larger image here
The test and trial handkerchiefs for the Flash Company exhibition, laid out in my studio.
Filed under: Handkerchiefs, Laundry Instructions and tips | Tags: Flash Company, Handkerchief, Laundry Instructions
First trials of laser cutting and etching onto cloth handkerchiefs, using the patterns and texts from the Women’s Library again, with the Flash Company exhibition in mind.
Filed under: Handkerchiefs, Laundry Instructions and tips | Tags: Handkerchief, Handkerchiefs, Laundry Instructions
This book (1946) includes instructions for washing Handkerchiefs p.104:
“These should be put to steep for at least 2 hours in salt water before washing, as this facilitates the removal of the mucous. They should then be washed and rinsed thoroughly, and then boiled for 20 minutes. If there has been an infection in the house the handkerchiefs may be disinfected by soaking in a weak solution of any of the many disinfectants on the market”.
Filed under: Handkerchiefs, Uncategorized | Tags: Flash Company, Handkerchief, Laundry Instructions
Filed under: Handkerchiefs | Tags: Flash Company, Handkerchief, sketchbook pages
I’ve been experimenting with some of the texts from the women’s library about laundry work – especially the instructions for washing and ironing handkerchiefs, and combining these with some of the decorative patterns from the Suffragette souvenir printed handkerchiefs/napkins and collections of embroidered signatures.
Filed under: Handkerchiefs, Laundry Instructions and tips | Tags: Flash Company, Handkerchief, Laser cut
I’ve been doing some tests and trials on Kleenex paper tissues with the Flash Company show in mind, using some of the laundry instruction texts and some of the decorative patterns from the Women’s Library.
Filed under: Handkerchiefs | Tags: English Folk Dance and Song Society, Handkerchief, Matthew Cowan
Matthew Cowan, artist in residence at the English Folk Dance and Song Society, has invited me to take part in an exhibition he is organising entitled ‘Flash Company’. The brief is open – simply to make work on a cotton handkerchief provided by him.
Filed under: Handkerchiefs, Laundry Instructions and tips | Tags: Laundry Instructions
‘The Home of To-day’ published by the Daily Express (1930-1950) includes a section on home laundry work, and the following on Handkerchiefs:
“These should be ironed when quite wet as this gives them a slight stiffness. The handkerchief should be laid flat on the table and ironed all over. It should then be folded in two, with the edges even, ironed again all over, and folded in four, ironing as before. Small fancy handkerchiefs can be folded in the same way as square traycloths.” p.199
