Diane Winters on mon 31 jan 05
A stoneware hot water bottle -=20
something you don't get a lot of customers asking for nowadays...
There's one up on eBay from a dealer in the U.K.:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3D69606&item=3D6=
149952610&tc=3Dphoto
.
Diane Winters
in Oakland/Berkeley fussing over my state sales tax filing in a county =
that seems to like to change tax rates in mid-year
Carol Ross on mon 31 jan 05
Thanks Diane, but eBay cancelled the auction for some reason and now we
may never see a stoneware hot water bottle! =:o
Carol R.
http://homepage.mac.com/portfolio.carolross/Menu4.html
On Jan 31, 2005, at 4:17 AM, Diane Winters wrote:
> A stoneware hot water bottle -=20
> something you don't get a lot of customers asking for nowadays...
>
> There's one up on eBay from a dealer in the U.K.:
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?
> ViewItem&category=3D69606&item=3D6=
> 149952610&tc=3Dphoto
> .
> Diane Winters
David Hendley on mon 31 jan 05
British stoneware hot water bottles are pretty common. They have
been shipped over to the U.S., along with more furniture than I can
imagine ever fitting in the surface area of the British Isles, in "sea
containers", for auction in America.
Most of our furniture is British, bought at auctions in the '70's. It
was "old" then - maybe by now some of the pieces qualify as real
antiques.
Anyway, there were always at least a few stoneware hot water bottles
in every container. I bought a couple, since I have always been interested
in pottery with screw-on lids (the subject of my thesis in the '70's).
One is a hand thrown bottle shape, but with the top completely closed
off, and flattened on one side. A threaded opening was then added
in the middle of the bottle on the still-curved side. The other is slip
cast, in the same general shape, but with harsh angles and a big
flat back.
I think these things should more properly be called "bed warmers", used
to take the chill off the bed linens in the winter.
David Hendley
Working hard to make sure there is no mug left behind
david@farmpots.com
http://www.farmpots.com
Vince Pitelka on mon 31 jan 05
> Thanks Diane, but eBay cancelled the auction for some reason and now we
> may never see a stoneware hot water bottle! =:o
Stoneware hot water bottles are pretty common. I don't know about the one
referred to above, but there is one for auction on eBay at
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=592&item=3778728861&rd=1
Be sure to paste in the whole address with no spaces.
Stoneware hot water bottles were pretty simple, rarely decorated, but they
usually have screw tops, which are pretty neat. (David Hendley does great
screw tops on bottles and jugs)-
The one in the auction above is the standard kind. I have seen some others
that are more of a conventional bottle shape, but flattened at the shoulders
with holes punched for a hanging thong. They are nice looking bottles.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
Janet Kaiser on tue 1 feb 05
Do you want to see one? I can send an image to
anyone who would like to see one... I own a
couple which were still in use up until I went
away to College. Two stone and one "modern"
aluminium one... Come to think of it, they were
probably still going strong until my Grandmother
died in 1988. They would be wrapped in finest
Welsh wool flannel (usually bright red) and
placed one at the top and one at the bottom...
Life savers after the shivering of undressing and
preparing for bed in unheated homes.
The main problem was always the rubber washer
which would perish and although water would not
leak out if they remained upright, that was
rarely to be relied upon. I do not think they
would be exploitable in a "retro" niche market,
because they would be impractical in the age of
the duvet... That is because it took a
hundredweight of tightly tucked-in bedding
(sheets + woollen blankets) to keep them from
rolling out or being kicked out in the night.
And believe me, a stone hottie (or hot water
bottle) landing on the floor in the early hours
really was enough to waken the dead. My mother
often thought it was me falling out of bed or
(her worst fear) me deciding I really could fly
downstairs, something I insisted I could do
especially after bouts of sleep-walking =B0!=B0
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser
*** IN REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING MAIL:
>Thanks Diane, but eBay cancelled the auction for
some reason and now we
>may never see a stoneware hot water bottle!
*** PREVIOUS MAIL ENDS HERE ***
**************************************************
**********
THE CHAPEL OF ART - or - CAPEL CELFYDDYD
8 Marine Crescent : Criccieth : GB-Wales LL52 0EA
Tel: ++44 (01766) 523122
http://www.the-coa.org.uk
Contact: Janet Kaiser: The International Potters
Path
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.296 / Virus Database: 265.8.2 - Release Date: 28/01/2005
Janet Kaiser on wed 2 feb 05
>One is a hand thrown bottle shape, but with the
top completely closed
>off, and flattened on one side. A threaded
opening was then added
>in the middle of the bottle on the still-curved
side. The other is slip
>cast, in the same general shape, but with harsh
angles and a big
>flat back.
They may well have been hot water bottles for
beds, David. But what you are describing could
also apply to what I was surprised to see listed
as "butter coolers" in the Kitchenalia section of
the 1995-6 Millers~ "Collectables"! I was
checking up on my own "hot water bottles" as far
as I could before sending them to anyone.
Effective, because they are such flat bottomed
containers... But why not start out as coolers
and end up a warmers? Necessity is the Mother of
invention and I could see my family joining the
"re-cycling" from the dairy to the bed chamber
trend or fashion of the time... I imagine around
the 1920s during the post WWI decline and up to
the Depression. Sadly there is no one left to ask
as I sit here and ponder...
I do know that the stoppers could be re/used off
some other screw-topped bottles... They were made
of a hard black material and had orange rubber
washers.
>I think these things should more properly be
called "bed warmers", used
>to take the chill off the bed linens in the
winter.
Well, I am not THAT OLD, but no... I believe that
what we call "bed warmers" were normally metal
with a lid, most famously with long handles,
which the maid/housewife would fill with hot
ashes or brick and then run with it up the stairs
to pass it up and down between the sheets to
pre-warm/air the beds. Water bottles, on the
other hand, were popped into the bed and left
there. In very cold weather there would be one at
the top and one at the bottom. Yes, they would
sometimes be taken out because the household
could not afford to replace ceramic bottles which
had broken when kicked out of bed.
We even had an electric bed warmer! Roundish,
pink painted aluminium or soft, easily dented
metal with a light bulb inside. Manufactured by
Pfico, if I remember rightly and far too
dangerous to be allowed by regulators these days!
I gave two away following a very unhappy
incident... Coming home from abroad one winter,
the central heating failed and my mother had left
this contraption on to at least warm the bed. I
was tired, shivering and miserable, but it does
not excuse me for breaking the rules, by leaving
it in bed when I got in. Also... Yes, you
guessed... it was switched on! I ended up with a
3rd degree burn about a centimetre wide right
across my backside... Exactly matched the rolled
metal seam where the top met the bottom and which
was doubly hot... Yes, all that damage, just from
the heat of a single electric light bulb! NOT
something I wished to repeat. Painful. Very. And
embarrassing telling the doctor exactly how it
was done!
Now... Shall go and see if we have any more books
which could be considered definitive. I would be
shocked to find my old hottie is actually a
"butter cooler". On the other hand, we have a
surprising number of "artifacts" which definitely
have come from a dairy, so why not this? The main
problem, is that I do not quite see how it would
work as this would have been in days prior to
refrigeration and a long time before ice became
available. Will let you know if I find anything
further!
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser
**************************************************
**********
THE CHAPEL OF ART - or - CAPEL CELFYDDYD
8 Marine Crescent : Criccieth : GB-Wales LL52 0EA
Tel: ++44 (01766) 523122
http://www.the-coa.org.uk
Contact: Janet Kaiser: The International Potters
Path
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.296 / Virus Database: 265.8.2 - Release Date: 28/01/2005
Lee Love on wed 2 feb 05
Janet Kaiser wrote:
>aluminium one... Come to think of it, they were
>probably still going strong until my Grandmother
>died in 1988.
>
I believe the gandpaw and gandmaw farmers still use them around
here. Mostly, what you find at the fleamarkets, antique/junk shops
are ones without their lids. They keep the ones that work.
You can see several photos of one that we own here:
http://claycraft.blogspot.com/
--
lEE in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/ WEB LOG
http://public.fotki.com/togeika/ Photos!
Janet Kaiser on thu 3 feb 05
Buy up all those aluminium bottles and make
ceramic screw tops for them, Lee! Old people
would appreciate getting their beloved bottles
back in a fully functional state! Believe me!
Why so fond of the aluminium? (A) It is
lightweight (B) It is stable, neither flopping
around or being temperamental when filling with
hot water like the rubber/plastic bottles often
do (C) It does not smell horrible when cuddling
to your chest on very cold nights. (D) You can
put boiling water without ill effect (although
that may help perish the seal).
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser
*** IN REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING MAIL:
>I believe the gandpaw and gandmaw farmers still
use them around
>here. Mostly, what you find at the fleamarkets,
antique/junk shops
>are ones without their lids. They keep the ones
that work.
*** PREVIOUS MAIL ENDS HERE ***
**************************************************
**********
THE CHAPEL OF ART - or - CAPEL CELFYDDYD
8 Marine Crescent : Criccieth : GB-Wales LL52 0EA
Tel: ++44 (01766) 523122
http://www.the-coa.org.uk
Contact: Janet Kaiser: The International Potters
Path
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.296 / Virus Database: 265.8.2 - Release Date: 28/01/2005
Lee Love on sat 5 feb 05
Janet Kaiser wrote:
>Buy up all those aluminium bottles and make
>ceramic screw tops for them, Lee! Old people
>would appreciate getting their beloved bottles
>back in a fully functional state! Believe me!
>
>
>
They may have aluminum ones, but I haven't seen them. Like I said, you
can buy the plastic ones in the drug store. For five years, Jean used a
rubber "ice bag" as a hot water bottle. When she told her thursday night
ladies English conversation class, that meets in our living room, about
this rubber hot water bottle, they told her in no uncertain terms that
it was only supposed to be used with ice! (Japanese can make Prussians
look like N. Californians!) But it was nice, because the mouth was large
(I suppose so ice would fit in) and had a nice stainless steel clip that
reminded me of a girl's hair barret, to close it up. But, it finally
sprung a leak. After she lost her rubber "hot water bottle", she
switched over to what me and the cats use (me for foot warmers and the
cats for cold nights in the studio when I don't make a night fire): 1.5
liter plastic bottles that cold tea comes in.
Something cool I found at the 100 yen shop are funnels that screw onto
the top of "soft drink" bottles. They are called PET bottles here, and
are recycled. These screw-on funnels turn PET bottles into great
containers for test glazes. They make mixing easy: you just screw the
cap on and shake. And the funnel makes it easy to put the glaze in the
bottle.
--
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/ WEB LOG
http://public.fotki.com/togeika/ Photos!
| |
|
