History Of Floor Cloths

Oktober 28, 2022

Floorcloths

The ability to imitate different kinds of surfaces would have been particularly valuable; a 1760 Maryland advertisement for fugitive condemned servant John Winter describes him as "a very complete house painter: he can imitate marble or mahogany very exactly, and can paint floor linens as neat as those imported from Britain".

How to Clean a Mop

“After sweeping your mop well, wipe it thoroughly with a flannel, and when all dust and stains are removed, rub it first with a lightly waxed flannel, then with a dry flannel.

Flooring And Carpets

The effectiveness of this method of air freshening was, as with all housekeeping, only as good as the housekeeper, as noted by the great scholar, humanist and reformer Erasmus (1466-1536) who wrote to a friend describing the state of medieval soils. in the middle Ages :

"The floors are, in general, laid with white clay, and are covered with rushes, sometimes renewed, but so imperfectly that the lower layer is left intact, sometimes for twenty years, harboring sputum, vomiting, leakage of dogs and men, beer droppings, fish remains and other abominations not worth mentioning.Houses owned by prosperous Victorians would have had rugs in the main living areas, rugs of passage along hallways and on stairways and planks or quarry/encaustic tiles on floors which In the late 18th century, stair rods appeared for practical purposes in Victorian homes in the lower to upper middle class which featured wooden stairwells covered with stair tread carpets.

About me and the process

I've always loved the durability and look of mops, so much so that I started making them for my own home. The process I use is very similar to the historical method, but with better, more modern tools and water-based paints and finishes. Just as in the past, drying time between coats of product is vital, so mops take time to create properly. At Designs By Grace, I use heavyweight canvas, which comes in widths as wide as 10 feet and as many yards long as I want. Finally, five coats of a clear, protective water-based polycrylic are applied to the top of the fabric.