THE GLASS MEKING TARN

Fresh raw materials
melted in crucible

Working average 16 hours
a day
Temperature extemes

A chair of five blokes
The gaffer sat in his chair
Out white heat furnace hole
A gatherer takes glass gather
on his blowing iron
molten glass a life in motion,
molten reflection
Glass gob rolled on marver
smooth iron or stone slab
roll removes air bubbles
passed to blower
either free blows
or blows into mould
bottle body shape
shapes a life in motion,
shapes reflection

third bloke attaches pontil
an Iron bar
onto bottle base
uses wetter off
a soaked strip of wood
applies a drop of water
snaps glass off
blowing iron

soft glass on pontil
Passed to gaffer
Gaffer keeps bottle turning
turns reflection
on his chairs flat arms
stops glass collapse

Gaffer trims, finishes neck
adds string rim
adds any seal
Assistant boy
Inserts iron rod
in bottle mouth
Gaffer applies flash of water
snaps off pontil
that leaves pontil mark
on bottle base.

Finished bottle taken to lehr
for annealing

Boys dip end blowing irons
and pontils in water tank
remove moils
waste glass
working ends of irons
placed in furnace gathering hole
heat up for next gather
next life mirroring

Bosses expected team
produce 150 bottles
an hour

Boys get colds, nausea, vomiting, sore eyes, bloodshot
adult glaucomas common, breast pains,
dizziness, skin disease, fine silica dust lung disease
stamina, commitment

Famous black glass bottles
furnace fumes made black glass colour

Heraldic glass blower, a life in motion,
molten reflection

The Linen Town

March/April

In well drained soil sow flax seeds
watch blue bloom, then die

30 Days
seed bolls ripen, warm sun packed day
harvest, hand pull plants
bundle, stack root side down
Side a fence, turn by turn

 ensures even dry

Leave
Till firm stemmed, boll rattle

Rippling comb
dry plant pull

Chuck seeds
 
For 3 days retting
Water drowns plants
swells inner core
tautens fibre

Total rinse
spread out in fields to dry

Flax brake plants
for breaking
quick blows remove
inner bloom

Scutch
remove last boon
traces
chuck boon

Hackle bed comb
long fibres from shorter tow

Chuck tow

Total card
draws out fibres

Draw fibres
to even slivers

Rove
adds first twist to yarn

Spin
Sow, pull, dry,
ret, break, scutch, hackle,
card, draw, rove,
spin

bleach, weave, mend,
crop, mangle, wash
calender

Pack warehouse
Plain weave,
three/four leaf twill
huckabacks, dobby,
Jacquards, sheetings,
ticks, damasks,
towelling, ducks,
fancy Hollands.

Clean river Sough,
Clean air
Bright sun.

Two heraldic shuttle memory

The Wire Making Town

Wadsley and Attercliffe forges

bundle Iron/steel rods
arrive on cart

to Jumble Lane, near

May Day Green

Heat under charcoal pit
till red hot

Hammer
Take away angles,
lengthen,
round it

Wire Drawer gets paid
‘for meking oyles’

Draw
wire through largest
tapering hole
in Wortle plate

Make it finer
by a Dog
heavy tool
via wheels and cranks

Watch speed of pull
Wortle plate held by tongs

Anneal
heat rod then cool
remove scaling

to fit through wortle plates
smaller, smaller holes

finer, finer, finer

fine wire fish hooks, watch springs
needles

hard wire for cotton/woolcard teeth,
riddles, sieves