Fulling, also known astucking orwalking (Scots:waukin, hence often speltwaulking inScottish English), is a step inwoollenclothmaking which involves the cleansing of wovencloth (particularlywool) to eliminate (lanolin) oils, dirt, and other impurities, and to make it shrink by friction and pressure. The work delivers a smooth, tightly finished fabric that is insulating and water-repellent. Well-known examples areduffel cloth, first produced inFlanders in the 14th century, andloden, produced inAustria from the 16th century on.
Waulking could be done with the hands and feet. In medieval Europe, it was done inwater-powered fulling mills. After theIndustrial Revolution, coal and electric power were used.
Felting refers more generally to the interlocking of loose wool fibers; they need not be spun and woven first.
Fulling involves two processes:scouring (cleaning) and milling (thickening). Removing the oils encourages felting, and the cloth is pounded to clean it and to encourage the fibers to felt, so in practice the processes overlap.
Urine was so important to the fulling business that it wastaxed inAncient Rome.[1] Stale urine, known as wash orlant, was a source ofammonium salts and assisted in cleansing and whitening the cloth and having its fibers intertwined.
By the medieval period,fuller's earth had been introduced for use in the process. This is a soft clay-like material occurring naturally as an impurehydrousaluminium silicate. Worked through the cloth, it absorbs oils and dirt. It was used in conjunction with wash. More recently, soap has been used.
The second function of fulling was to thicken cloth by matting the fibres together to give it strength and increase waterproofing (felting). This was vital in the case ofwoollens, made fromcardedwool, but not forworsted materials made fromcombed wool. After this stage, water was used to rinse out the foul-smelling liquor used during cleansing. Felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation because the microscopic scales on the surface of wool fibres hook together, somewhat like hook and loop fixings.
.jpg)
Originally, fulling was carried out by the pounding of the woollen cloth with a club, or the fuller's feet or hands.
In Roman times, fulling was conducted by slaves working the cloth while ankle deep in tubs of humanurine.[citation needed]
There are several Biblical references to fulling (2 Kings 18:17;Isaiah 7:3 and36:2;Malachi 3:2;Mark 9:3). In addition to this, at least one reference appears in the speeches ofLysias, written in Athens during the 5th century BC.[2]
Scotland, then a rather remote and un-industrialized region, retained manual methods into the 1700s. InScottish Gaelic tradition, this process was accompanied bywaulking songs, which women sang to set the pace.
From the medieval period, the fulling of cloth was often done in awater mill, known as a fulling mill, a walk mill, or a tuck mill, and inWales, a pandy. They appear to have originated in the 9th or 10th century in Europe. The earliest known reference to a fulling mill in France, which dates from about 1086, was discovered inNormandy.[3] There was a fulling mill established atTemple Guiting, Gloucestershire which was documented in theDomesday Book (also 1086).[4] E. A. Lewis (possibly Welsh historianEdward Arthur Lewis)[5] observed:
By the time of theCrusades in the late eleventh century, fulling mills were active throughout the medieval world.[2]
The mills beat the cloth with wooden hammers, known as fulling stocks or fulling hammers. Fulling stocks were of two kinds, falling stocks (operating vertically) that were used only for scouring, and driving or hanging stocks. In both cases the machinery was operated bycams on the shaft of awaterwheel or on atappet wheel, which lifted the hammer.
Driving stocks were pivoted so that the foot (the head of the hammer) struck the cloth almost horizontally. The stock had a tub holding the liquor and cloth. This was somewhat rounded on the side away from the hammer, so that the cloth gradually turned, ensuring that all parts of it were milled evenly. However, the cloth was taken out about every two hours to undo plaits and wrinkles. The 'foot' was approximately triangular in shape, with notches to assist the turning of the cloth.
.jpg)
After fulling, cloth was stretched on great frames known as tenters, to which it is attached bytenterhooks (whence the phrasebeingon tenterhooks). The area where the tenters were erected was known as atenterground.
Cloth would also have thenap raised by napping orgigging. The surface would then besheared smooth. The process might be repeated for a smoother finish.
The names for workers who performed these tasks (fuller,tucker, andwalker[7]) have become commonsurnames.
TheWelsh word for a fulling mill ispandy,[8] which appears in many place-names, for exampleTonypandy ("fulling mill lea").
Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
