This lovely contraption has one job. Apply compression. It is made from cast iron, and the rollers are not padded, just covered with cloth. It is not the same as the wringer/mangle on the old wringer washing machines. It is a mangle whose sole purpose is to flatten the cloth.
Primarily used for linen, it can be used for any textile that we want to be flattened.
Why? Why would we want that?
Because it helps add stability to the cloth, which is the unseen benefit. Because it will make a fabric shine, which is the visual benefit.
Linen benefits especially from being mangled in part because it is a very dense fibre /yarn. Linen is stiff and not very pliable. Flax fibre is smooth and therefore tends to be slippery. By compressing the warp and weft yarns into each other, it's a lot like notching the corners of a log building. The threads lock into each other and stay where they are meant to stay, not able to slide around as readily.
We are half way through September and a bunch of deadlines are building up on me. And of course some of those deadlines are proving to be more complex than anticipated. I am therefore grateful I have few appointments this week, and none of the rest of them are outside of the house.
I have a Zoom tomorrow to hammer out details of the Next Big Project. I think I'm ready but wanted to touch base with the team, make sure I'm bringing everything I need to bring, provided all the info they need.
I am still dealing with personal maintenance issues, not just the physical, but the mental/emotional aspects of an aging, injured body.
Bette Davis was so accurate when she observed that getting older wasn't for sissies.
Indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment