2025 Quick Daily Posts

[richardandtracy]

<Groan>
Never going to live that down, am I?

Regards,

Richard

[Serinde]

Not for a while anyway, shouldn't have thought so.

[richardandtracy]

Hot, hot, hot!

Think it's getting up to 30C (86F) in North Kent today. Got a little bit of cloud cover so it won't be as bad as further north, but it's ridiculous.

My Brother on Monday was in Madrid when I spoke to him. At 10pm, the temperature had DROPPED to 36C (97F) from a high of 42C (108F) during the day. He must be part lizard to like it, and he was loving it. Hrrumph.

Regards,

Richard

[Steam.Jo]

My Air Conditioning is on, (powered for free from the solar panels) who would want to go outside when it is a nice 20 degrees inside and I can stay comfortable by doing some sewing?

Jo

[Mabel Figworthy]

Anything over 25 degrees is too hot for me - yes, "part lizard" is probably a good description if he enjoys those temperatures! I try to stay in the shade and wear something well-ventilated, but as I have two house groups today plus the weekly shop, I can't get too well-ventilated....

[Mabel Figworthy]

I don't think I've posted about this but if I have just blame my failing memory - I was reminded of it because of a FoF about tarnishing.
A friend who came to the Lent embroidery session and stitched a heart brooch unfortunately left it on her jumper when doing the laundry. Remarkably, although she and her husband had to hunt the drum for the two magnets and the leather backing had come loose, the embroidery was fine!

[richardandtracy]

That is good. Possibly the copper wire had some form of lacquer on it to allow its use in electrical equipment.

I am at the moment wondering what I can do about my father's dress uniform. The peaked cap has the regimental crest in silver wire stumpwork (or at least that's the closest description I can cope up with for it). The wire is now close to black after the 35+ years since he retired.

Can you recommend anything that might be good for it? I was thinking of something like 'Silvo Silver cleaning wadding', but I don't know if it's harmful for fabrics. I'd like to get the uniform looking pristine before sending it on to my brother who wants it.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

Cleaning old metalwork embroidery is a bit of a minefield - the experts on the Repair Shop have had to fall back on gold and silver paint for some of their projects, and although it looks quite good when seen from a normal viewing distance I will admit it goes against the grain.

Having just written about tarnishing as an inevitable part of metalwork, I ought to tell you to tell your brother c'est la vie but there is something you can try in this case as it's silver. Get a jar of liquid silver dip, and using cotton buds gently go over the metal; make sure the bud is good and saturated but not dripping. It won't restore it to the original colour (it can lead to a slightly yellowish tinge), and it won't last indefinitely, but it will spruce it up.

[richardandtracy]

I'll look it up. It's definitely silver & has gone black.
I may try the silvo wadding anyway, it isn't wet & can be wrapped round a cocktail stick - the stumpwork sticks up from the cap by up to 6mm (1/4") and I'd have to be pretty poor to touch the fabric.

However, for safety sake, I will try on the fabric somewhere out of sight first.

Regards,

Richard

[Steam.Jo]

My friend is into WW1 uniforms and the like. This was his recommendations:

Here's what you need:

2 soft bristle tooth brushes
Cream of tartar (the powder not the sauce)

1. Dry brush the bullion and try to clean any dust, dirt or debris off the item before you try and clean it.

2. Get the tooth brush wet and then sprinkle the cream of tartar powder on the item to be cleaned. You want to gently scrub with the tooth brush until you create a paste with the cream of tartar and the water.

3. Keep adding equal amounts of water and the tartar and keep scrubbing in either a circular motion or with the grain of the bullion. Don't scrub too hard. remember the bullion thread is delicate. Go through it patiently and take your time.

4. Rinse the tartar off the bullion to evaluate your work. Repeat the process as needed.

5. When you get the desired luster or brilliance back, rinse the bullion to get as much of the tartar off. When you are done rinsing then blot to bullion with a paper towel until you soak up the excess water and let it air dry. Do not blow dry it, dry in the direct sun. In a day or two the insidnia will be dry and you will have brought back the original luster in your insignia.

Caveat! This will not work on all bullion insignia! Do your research, some bullion thread was electroplated silver on brass or copper, if the oxidation is too far gone, you may not want to use this method since the silver may have already oxidized off the insignia.

Try this method on a test piece first till you get the hang of the process then move your way up to a piece that you would like to clean.

A good way to determine if you are willing to try this method is to look at the bullion thread with a 10x jeweler's loop. you may be able to see if the thread has any copper or brass in it. If it does, it may not shine up as you may think.

Personally I use the same soft soap on my antique silver to clean it as I use to wash my cross stitch pieces. I would not use acids like silver dip or metal abrasives like brasso/silvo wadding and don't forget the wadding will snag into the threads.

Jo

[Mabel Figworthy]

That's very useful to know Jo, thanks!

[richardandtracy]

Thank you Jo. I will try that. Feels less invasive, I must admit.

Regards,

Richard

[Serinde]

I have followed my mother's example and use Haggerty Silver Foam on my silver that can get wet. Mr S uses Brasso on the.. er... brass, even the antique candlesticks. No harm done. Although they are very careful not to show brand names, it's clear that these are used on The Repair Shop, too.

I wouldn't try to play with anything that is fixed to fabric. Time decays all things eventually. Can't remember which museum it was, but on display was a huge coat of arms for one of the early Georges. The silver was black, inevitably. If their conservationists felt it unwise or unsafe to intervene, I think there must have been a good reason for it. I'd send the uniform to your brother as it is.

[richardandtracy]

I use 'Brasso' on the brass. Having a house with Victorian features (ie door fingerplates, brass doorknobs & brass fender) I tend to have black fingers from using 'Brasso' on the runup to Christmas when everything looks that much better for being shiny and goldish.

The salt/pepper/mustard cruets and silver plate place mats also get polished to an inch of their silver plating before being used with 'Silvo'.

Then, I use grate black on the - yes, you guessed it - cast iron fireplace grates, so it all looks as posh as possible once a year at least. We can no-longer get 'Zebo' for this as the only shop that stocked it closed 15 years ago. Have to buy something similar online these days.

Irrelevant thought: It's strange how all the oldest brand names end in 'O'. Brillo, Omo, Bisto..

Regards,

Richard

[Serinde]

Your pre-holiday routine sounds strangely familiar! We have a deadline for Thanksgiving, though, so a bit of a head start!

It is odd, brand names.

[Roland]

Irrelevant thought: It's strange how all the oldest brand names end in 'O'. Brillo, Omo, Bisto..

Regards,

Richard

Made me google.

The "o" in Brasso, Silvo, and other similar polish names isn't a specific English word or feature but is likely an archaic, Latin-derived suffix used in brand names during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to suggest efficacy or perfection. The suffix was used by manufacturers to give products an air of superiority and quality, with words like "-o" or "the-o" connoting the best or ultimate solution, as seen in "Brasso" for brass, which was once known as the best way to polish brass.

Latin Influence:
The use of suffixes like "-o" can be traced back to Latin-based words, where it can indicate an adjective or a superlative. For example, in Italian, words ending in "-o" are typically masculine nouns or adjectives.

[richardandtracy]

Wow. An idle thought, I really hadn't anticipated so much to be behind it. Thank you, Roland, I feel I've learnt something. Fascinating.

Regards

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

I'm trying to think of recent brand names to see if they follow this pattern, but I think it may have been abandoned :think:

[richardandtracy]

It has ended. Only the older brands, some reaching back into Victorian times, seem to have these sorts of names.

I wonder if it's due to the death of Latin as a language taught at school.
Though, I have to admit that I was taught Latin for 5 years at school & had no idea of the Latin link until Roland said about it.

Regards,

Richard

[Serinde]

I suspect it has as much to do with appeals to authority -- it doesn't hurt that only the expensively educated would generally be taught Latin in school, so it's possibly also a class thing. If it has a latin base (Volvo) it must be sound.