Janet Kaiser on wed 17 dec 03
things)
You know, it is really funny... The very first task we were given
at college, was to design and make a seal for ourselves. We were
shown what one was and what it was for, as a good 90% of the
class had no idea and had never seen one before in their lives.
It turned out to be vital, not only as a fashion statement as
TC's latter-day students have found (except in our day they were
attached to CAMRA "real ale" hangers NOT feathers :0), but to
distinguish which was which and belonged to whom amongst all the
flat bottomed, ham-fisted, door-stopping, look-alikes that we
proceeded to produce and proudly impress with our lovingly
crafted and glorious seals! LOL! It still makes me smile, just
thinking about it!
I was also thinking about the "seal" thing generally again
today... I call them seals, because we have that ancient
tradition in UK/Europe and it was alive and well and in daily use
up to fairly recently too. The smell of sealing wax is one of
those long forgotten childhood memories. For example, you could
not send a parcel through the post i.e. it would not be accepted
by the Post Office without tying string around and using sealing
wax on at least one of the knots... Usually one blob was
impressed with the family crest or seal, which the pater familias
either wore or had locked up with his personal papers. Hence a
"seal" (noun) was literally something which sealed, but also a
sign of recognition and ownership. This applied to more humble
individuals, as much as kings and officers of the crown...
It was also the origin of the postage stamp... It is my
understanding that until the relatively late introduction of the
"penny post" in the UK during Victorian times, the recipient had
to pay for any letter they received upon delivery, unless it was
"franked" by a person of rank with the authority to do so. It was
one of those little perks the Lords and Members of Parliament
enjoyed, because the Crown paid the cost of each one, which could
be quite considerable, because a messenger was sent out with each
letter dispatched and travelled with it to its ultimate
destination! Then if the recipient was then unable or unwilling
to accept and pay, the letter had to be "returned to sender" the
same way.
Anyway... Seals... Yes, they are not the "new-fangled Asian
influence" some seem to think they are! What IS new in class
conscious Britain and elsewhere, would be the concept that a mere
tradesman or craftsman would own and use a personal seal as
opposed to a simple mark, which in turn had to be approved by his
Guild. A "trade mark" in fact.
As the largest colonial power of all the European countries, it
was England which insisted that this system was adopted for all
manufactured and imported goods. The ubiquitous "made in (insert
country of choice)" had to be adopted if you wanted to send goods
to or from the UK or any of the other countries in the British
Empire. Of course there was one country which took grave
exception to this rule and refused to "obey" or adopt the
practice for themselves... Yes, like with copyrights, the USA was
last on board! LOL!
Now... Who brought this up?? I bet you are sorry you said
anything! HA! HA! Don`t worry though... I am off to bed right
now! The wind is sucking all the heat out of the house and it is
getting very chilly indeed.
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser
*** IN REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING MAIL:
>I like a turned glazed foot ring . Had all my students at
Sheridan make
>chop
>marks. They put them on a leather thong tied to their belt and
adorned the
>thong with feathers, rings and all kinds of stuff. In the
cafeteria you
>could tell the clay students with chops on belt, the furniture
gang with
>their Lufkin tape measures and the glass bunch with the arm
bands. Didn't
>want my gang to have as their only fashion statement- mud.
*** THE MAIL FROM clennell ENDS HERE ***
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