Crafts – Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm https://quietvalley.org Tue, 29 Jun 2021 04:50:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://quietvalley.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-cropped-maroon-rooster-32x32.png Crafts – Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm https://quietvalley.org 32 32 Summer Highlights: Heritage Skills Demonstrations https://quietvalley.org/summer-highlights-bonus-heritage-skills-demonstrations/ Mon, 24 Jun 2019 04:41:00 +0000 http://www.qvu.ycq.mybluehost.me/?p=9242

Hello Folks,

Aunt Eunice here. This past weekend summer officially began. Long days will slowly fade into shorter ones and by fall darkness will begin to come far too early for me. The yearly cycle of days and sunlight have always guided the farmer in his round of chores and tasks. Making hay while the sun shines is an example.

Processing Hay into Bales

This Sunday, the staff was not only giving historic tours, but also out bringing in the hay. What a wonderful smell is freshly dried hay, I suppose unless you get hay fever! As a child, I would gather with the other neighborhood kids and help the farmer during hay season with the baling. We rode in the wagon and when a bale came flying up, you quickly stacked it before the next one came. Don’t turn your back on the baler though or you were just asking to get walloped by a heavy 40 pounder. We also helped throw bales on the conveyor belt that took the bales up into the barn’s hay mow to be neatly stacked, all ready to feed to the horses. By the time you were done, the fun had started to wear a little thin as you were hot, sweaty and itchy. It was a smart time to head for the creek and cool off. It was a bit different in the early years of the 1800s when the farmer cut the hay by hand, let it dry and then pitchforked the loose hay onto horse drawn wagons to be taken to the barn. Intensive manual labor. No wonder the farm family was always a large one and neighbors helped each other out.

Corn Husk Crafts

This coming week on Tuesday June 25th we have a special highlight on cork husk crafts. Jeanna Trezza will demonstrate how to make various items out of the corn husks saved from field corn. This is an old craft and many things were made such as dolls, flowers and the settlers even made door mats for wiping their feet off. On Thursday June 27th the highlight is cheese making. Brenda Massie and Carol Carpenetti will demonstrate how to make a soft herb cheese. I hear samples will be shared. Both of these highlights are part of a program that brings special demonstrations to the farm for visitors to enjoy and as a way to teach about specific heritage crafts, trade or farm skills. There is no additional charge to see these highlights. Under the Calendar of Events you can see the current list of highlight offerings.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and enjoys the long days while they last. We would love you to make Quiet Valley part of your summer days. That’s all for now. Take care and hope to see you soon. Aunt Eunice

]]> Bandboxes, a Historic Craft of the Victorian Era https://quietvalley.org/bandboxes-a-historic-craft-of-the-victorian-era/ Fri, 24 Mar 2017 00:28:53 +0000 http://www.qvu.ycq.mybluehost.me/?p=8757

Reenactors, historians, and the general public often marvel at the creativity of our historic counterparts. They were able to make from simple tools and equipment ingenious solutions to everyday problems. Imagine us trying to do the same things without Google! Recently, I learned about bandboxes during a training activity.

Bandboxes are a catch-all term for decorative boxes constructed primarily from pasteboard with wallpaper on the outside and newspaper on the inside. For an example, think of hat boxes. (Pasteboard is a thin board made from gluing multiple sheets together. It has the thickness of thin cardboard or watercolor paper.) Wallpaper went on the outside because it is a bit more durable than regular paper to protect against usage and wear. Inside, the newsprint helps protect the contents from insects.

Bandboxes started in the 1500s as a way to keep men and women’s ruffled collars from getting squished. Pretty soon it wasn’t just for collars but for gloves, combs, hats, pins, ribbons, etc. At the beginning, people often made the boxes themselves. Historically, for some women this was their only creative outlet. Bandboxes seemed to reach their height of popularity during the 17th through the 19th century. The Victorians particularly liked having a box for every purpose.

In America, perhaps the best known bandboxes were made by Hannah Davis. She began making bandboxes after her parents died in 1818. She used wood instead of pasteboard. Davis sold her boxes to the girls who worked in the fabric factories along the Merrimack River, including the famous Lowell Mill fabric factory. Small boxes tended to be about 5 cents while large ones that could be used as suitcases for clothing cost about 50 cents. Peddlers would often sell them on the street as seen in this print by William Marshall Craig from 1808. 

Right now I’m trying to make my own bandbox. Thus far the trickiest part seems to be trying to sew the base to the sides evenly. I’ve got a lot of lopsided boxes if anyone is interested.

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