( Guest post from my sister, Barb )
It's Barb here and I wanted to show some of my collection of Xylonite dressing table items.
Xylonite was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is one of the firsts forms of plastic and is made from natural components. Not everybody liked Xylonite pieces in the bedroom because the ingredients include formaldahyde and campher used in embalming. Xylonite looks like ivory or bone and was used for cutlery handles. I think this is facinating.
As the use of plastics increased Xylonite became known as Bakerlite and was coloured and used for household products,jewellery and in industry. Old telephones were often bakerlite. Now synthetic plastic is used for everything.
Enough waffleing on.......
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| Hand mirror and hat / clothes brush |
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| Dressing table tray and trinket boxes |
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| Collar stud box...you removed the lid centre to put studs in ...and took the whole lid off to get studs out |
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| Man's trinket box |
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| curved lady's trinket box with shaped legs |
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| Pretty detail on mirror back |
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| I found out that to clean the pieces I needed extra fine steel wool and soap , then a good furniture polish to restore the lustre. I cleaned the bowl on the right as you can see I'm happy with the results ..now to do the rest!! |
linking with Hope in every season
5 comments:
Wow Barb! That was so interesting!
I can understand the fear of formaldehyde :-(
I love the gentle simplicity of your vintage pieces.
The colour and design is so pretty!
The lustre on the one you cleaned is really good - shows it off beautifully!
love and hugs..Trish
Neat stuff!! Thanks for the educational post, and God bless!
Laurie
Interesting about these trinket boxes and an early plastic. I have the celluloid top and glass bottom boxes from my grandmother's dresser - she had them from the 1920's all her life! Even the hair keeper!
Joy!
Kathy
Thanks Barb.. This is so enlightening... I've always wondered about these lovely pieces in the antique stores...Love learning new and interesting things... You have some gorgeous pieces there... Thanks for sharing...Hugs
Thanks for the tips on cleaning these, Barb!
I'd love for you to come and link up your post with my Homemaking Link-up Weekend beginning early Friday morning! (US Pacific time)
Have a great day!
Sarah
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