care of wool before invention of the dryclean

[MacWage]

I know a few buckskinners who do this with their leathers. On the advice of one of them, we tried cleaning out a keyboard that had Coca-Cola spilled in it by letting the ants at it.

It worked. It probably would NOT work with a more modern keyboard, as apparently the "environmentally-friendly" resins are ant-edible.

Darn exology and recycling (eco-friendly computer parts)! :rolleyes:


I remember reading about urine being used to set the natural dyes used on the tartan material that composed plaids. It was part of the process used by weavers in creating the patterns and dying the wool. The weavers would begin the dyting process using small buckets for the dying (one batch at a time) and requiring several batches per color for a plaid. One of the reasons for the cris-crossed lines of tartan was that it would hide the variant colors of the different batches. Thereby, the final product looked prettier and more consistant. Otherwise, they would have a criss-crossed multi-tone monocolor plaid. Thus, a consistant large plaid was a status symbol, showing that one could afford enough dye and pool for a large batch that could create a consistant color.

I am not sure when the urine bath took place-> after the dying itself or after the weaving.

I've read about the dying process in enough refernce books and from reputable sources that it is most likely valid. The later part (status monotone plaids) is more an extrapolation (based on something read somewhere over the years-> I forget the source- SORRY ), but seems to be consistant with the process described and the manner that these monotone plaids are shown in portraits-> as status symbols, along with certain colors that were more rare and expensive. All these showed that the wearer had the means and taste for the finer things.

So crew, what is the best means of cleaning a modern kilt?
1-Dry Cleaning chemicals
2-Woolite
3-Stick and clothing line
4-Freexing it, hitting it with a stick, slowly drying it over sink
5-Ants
6-Peeing on it :rolleyes:
7-Washing machine (on hot water, high trubulence, and hot, long machine tumble drying) :rolleyes:

(That last one is less than serious-> IT IS NOT THE ANSWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!