\nStill, interesting leads come forth.
\nAn Antimacassar<\/a>, is an embroidered\/ crocheted\/ stitched piece that covers the head and often the arms of a chair. I knew that. What I didn\u2019t know was that Macassar was a blokes\u2019 gooey hair gel from the turn of the century.
\nAny cluey lass back then knew how to decoratively protect her chairs and save a load of cleaning – make a doily in disguise.
\nANTI-Macassar is now a very self explanatory word. Lovely.<\/p>\n
Not long after delving into this gooey substance, by way of a lovely Wiki line \u2026.. a Jack the Ripper victim, Annie Chapman, \u201cearned some income from crochet work, making antimacassars and selling flowers, supplemented by casual prostitution\u201d\u2026.. YIKES\u2026.but following that curiously gruesome link started me on the right track. My mums glory box was, to me, a beautiful, exotic and mysterious item. There was also the incongruity of this old-fashioned piece of furniture amongst the more modern taste of my parents. In Warncliffe Road, basically my primary school days, the ‘glory box’ was in my brothers’ bedroom. Finally I have THE link and the elements are coming together. With a bit more vigour now I also worked on, and completed, the conversion of Pencilz and Planez now both on Patternspot<\/a>. Another two down..and another two up.<\/p>\n
\nIt lead me to a Museums Victoria link to a little Greek side mat<\/a>, circa 1950s, made for Irene Soumilas’ dowry. It wasn’t the doily that excited me, it was the handy \u2018Tag\u2019 section that awarded me the prize….
\nGLORY BOX
\nThe Australian version of a hope chest.
\nThey faded out of favour about the time Laminex was coming into fashion.
\nBINGO!<\/p>\n
\nThe varnished two-doored little cabinet was carved and it had a lockable \u2018secret\u2019 top compartment accessed by lifting the lid.
\nThere is also the ‘idea’ of a Glory Box and its contents, often hand-worked – not something that my generation needed to consider.<\/p>\n
\nOur interiors were undoubtedly moulded by my father the builder. We lived with open spaces, clean lines, lots of teak and natural colours.
\nMum\u2019s taste was a mix of what she grew up with and inherited, by then of course considered old fashioned, and a modern, easy care aesthetic. She was sporty and social gal and didn\u2019t aim to excel at the domestic duties. There was no constant frou-frouing or even moving things around. Where it was put it stayed\u2026.forever.<\/p>\n
\nAt Carlsberg Road, in my high school days, it was in dad\u2019s \u2018cubby\u2019, (his backyard office), where it co-incidently<\/strong> held the precious Laminex samples!<\/p>\n
\nThis really is feathering the nest….and to think that Jack the Ripper got me there.<\/p>\n![\"pencilz\"](\"http:\/\/janmullen.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/week-fifteen-799x1024.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"planez\"](\"http:\/\/janmullen.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/week-fifteen-2-864x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>And my half-hearted progress downstairs with machine-stitched feathers on paint chips was combined on and off with sorting some laminex ‘doilies’.<\/p>\n
![\"making](\"http:\/\/janmullen.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/week-fifteen-4-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n