Simply Thimbles

These two thimbles are decorated by an enamel technique known as Cloisonne. Little compartments are formed by soldering wire or thin strips of gold, silver or even copper to the metal base. This is called filligree welding and can be a teensy bit fiddly.  Its the little compartments that give the technique its name. It comes from the French word "cloison" which means cell.   Its a technique which has been around for centuries. Examples can be found in the jewellery of ancient Egyptians, ancient Greeks and of course the vases and ornaments of the Chinese Ming dynasty.   Its a fairly involved process. Enamel paste is used to fill in the patterns formed by the soldered wires.  It then needs to be fired in a kiln. More enamel is added to fill in any areas where the original layer has shrunk and then it is fired again.  This stage can be repeated four or five times unti...

Way back in the post war UK of the 1950's, a new music trend was beginning to sweep the nation.  It was called Skiffle and made use of a multitude of household items to make music such as jugs, combs wrapped in paper, spoons and tea-chests. The UK's biggest Skiffler was Lonnie Donegan, famous for "My Old Man's a Dustman". He didn't invent it though.  The origins of skiffle go back to the early 20th century in the southern states of America.  Probably the most well known item is the washboard.  Originally designed for rubbing washing up and down to get it clean, the washboard has become synonymous with Skiffle.   It was not much good on its own though.  To make the distinctive sound the washboard needed something metal to rub against the metal of the board.  This is where the humble thimble comes in.      With a metal thimble on each finger of each hand, the ...

  Did you know that before the 1880’s silver thimbles did not need to be hallmarked? No? Well, although the silver used was the correct grade to be classified as sterling, the amount used per thimble was too small making the duty payable for the hallmark more than the thimble was worth. This changed in 1884 when applying for a hallmark became mandatory. Hallmarks or any other kind of marking on a thimble helps to date it. Even the little dimples can help you tell how old it is.   This thimble is hallmarked. They are a bit tricky to read sometimes as they are incredibly small and sometimes are worn, especially when the thimble has been well used like this one. I inherited this one from my mother-in-law, who probably inherited it from her mother. This hallmark gives the makers mark, CH for Charles Horner; the Lion symbol, indicating that it is sterling silver, the mark for Chester Assay office and the date letter. The date letter is for 1897. I mentioned in an ear...

Now this is something you don't see every day.  A group of James Bonds all in the same place.  I wonder what you call a group of Bonds? A gaggle? A set? A pride? What about a Hunk?  A Hunk of Bonds.  Umm. That'll do me, unless you can think of something better? From left to right we have Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.   Did you know that Roger Moore made 7 Bond films?  Neither did I until I read the back of the thimble.  I was also a bit surprised to see that Sean Connery's thimble says he only made 6.  That's odd I thought, so I did a google search and sure enough, Sean made 6 official Bond films and 1 that wasn't official.  It was called "Never Say Never Again" and was made in 1983 - but not by the people that own the Bond franchise. So it doesn't count.  It's also the only Bond film (or rather non-Bond)  that I have...

Not all thimbles can be used to sew with. Some are purely decorative. These are a couple of the decorative ones that I have. Technically, the well isn’t really a thimble but it’s thimble sized, has a cute little cat in a bucket and so is therefore, in my opinion, thimble-esque (ish). These three are made out of pewter and are an incredibly small snapshot of decorative thimbles available specifically for today’s collectors market. You can’t sew with these as the decoration gets in the way and they don’t have enough dimples. If using a thimble then dimples are fairly crucial to its success as a sewing aid. Ideally, a usable thimble should have dimples on top and on the sides. It’s amazing how many times it’s useful to be able to alter the angle of the thimble to suit the stitch you are doing. This is why I have never used any of my china thimbles as they don’t have dimples on the sides. Different people like different types of thimbles. Leather thimbles are a popular choice with h...

Santa, bless him, gave my girls some Sequin Art kits for Christmas. They love arts and crafts and pretty much sat down all day on Christmas Day, pushing pins through the sequins and into the polystyrene bases. It’s amazing what can keep them occupied. After a while, my youngest began to complain that the tips of her fingers were getting sore. The pins used are normal fabric pins so do tend to leave little dents in delicate little digits. Umm. I said. You know what you need …. Quick as a flash they both cried out “Thimbles!” and dashed to the thimble display units. These are the thimbles they came back with. My eldest picked the red plastic one for its cool colour and lightness. My youngest picked the little silver one because it was just the right size. Good choice I said. It fits so well because it’s a child’s sterling silver thimble and judging from the dints, it’s had a fair bit of use already. The fact that it is silver is probably the main reason why it is so badly d...

Some of the thimbles play a central role in our Christmas Decorations! These are all new additions to the collection. All of them except one were part of a job lot of 63 that I picked up on - yes you guessed it - eBay. £3.98 for the lot. The best bargain yet. The one second in from the right saying "Happy Holiday" was a freebee from one of my regular suppliers. It came with a purchase of Mr Men and Little Misses thimbles from - I bet you can't guess where. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.