Emily Cockayne
@rummage.bsky.social
Cultural/social/materials historian: Hubbub / Cheek by Jowl / Rummage (reuse & recycling) /Penning Poison. Anonymous letters (OUP, 2023) UEA Associate Prof at UEA History. + embroidery & occasional cats.
Agent: Clare Alexander. Website: www.rummage.work
Agent: Clare Alexander. Website: www.rummage.work
The press used to make from Edward & Eva Pinto, 'Tunbridge and Scottish Souvenir Woodware', 1970, p. 125:
November 13, 2025 at 12:00 PM
The press used to make from Edward & Eva Pinto, 'Tunbridge and Scottish Souvenir Woodware', 1970, p. 125:
Bois Durci plaque, France c.1857 from powdered sawdust (rosewood or ebony) & slaughterhouse blood, steam-heat hydraulically pressed to look like carved hard wood. An ethically complex compound, but my favourite 19thC plastic. These were sometimes stuck onto pianos to make them look more high-end.
November 13, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Bois Durci plaque, France c.1857 from powdered sawdust (rosewood or ebony) & slaughterhouse blood, steam-heat hydraulically pressed to look like carved hard wood. An ethically complex compound, but my favourite 19thC plastic. These were sometimes stuck onto pianos to make them look more high-end.
Context help! I’m trying to fix a possible date on this papier mache snuff box. I *think* the words are “Playing at Hazar”. Anyone got any leads? I suspect the box is e19thc and possibly American.
November 7, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Context help! I’m trying to fix a possible date on this papier mache snuff box. I *think* the words are “Playing at Hazar”. Anyone got any leads? I suspect the box is e19thc and possibly American.
The modern plastics story develops here, with billiard balls. A $10,000 competition in 1863 ramped up experimentation. These English-made 'Crystalate' (cellulose nitrate) balls, sold by Burroughes & Watts, date from the early interwar period. Fears that they could explode were eventually quashed.
November 5, 2025 at 8:28 AM
The modern plastics story develops here, with billiard balls. A $10,000 competition in 1863 ramped up experimentation. These English-made 'Crystalate' (cellulose nitrate) balls, sold by Burroughes & Watts, date from the early interwar period. Fears that they could explode were eventually quashed.
Monix Ivorine Sandwich Flags tell a story about plastics use c. 1930. Monix specialised in printing onto plastic; the company also made tags for garden plants. Possible sandwiches offered: 'cress', ham & tongue, sardine. Reuseable & wipe-cleanable, they straddle the fripperies/utilitarian divide.
November 4, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Monix Ivorine Sandwich Flags tell a story about plastics use c. 1930. Monix specialised in printing onto plastic; the company also made tags for garden plants. Possible sandwiches offered: 'cress', ham & tongue, sardine. Reuseable & wipe-cleanable, they straddle the fripperies/utilitarian divide.
Halex Xylonite 'Cloth Brush', from the late 1930s. Made by the British Xylonite Company, an early plastics manufacturer, based in Hale End, Walthamstow from 1900.
This is one of the objects that forms part of the collection I am using for research for my project at AIAS, Aarhus this year.
This is one of the objects that forms part of the collection I am using for research for my project at AIAS, Aarhus this year.
November 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Halex Xylonite 'Cloth Brush', from the late 1930s. Made by the British Xylonite Company, an early plastics manufacturer, based in Hale End, Walthamstow from 1900.
This is one of the objects that forms part of the collection I am using for research for my project at AIAS, Aarhus this year.
This is one of the objects that forms part of the collection I am using for research for my project at AIAS, Aarhus this year.
Unlike modern plastics, these can be heated and re-moulded. They are formed of natural substances, and classed as semi-synthetics. The brooch was likely made during the early twentieth century.
November 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Unlike modern plastics, these can be heated and re-moulded. They are formed of natural substances, and classed as semi-synthetics. The brooch was likely made during the early twentieth century.
Back to watercolour sketching, after to-ing and fro-ing to collect plastics for my project here in Aarhus. This cameo brooch is made from early thermoplastics, a melted down set of false teeth. The pink (gum) part is vulcanite, the ivory (tooth) cellulose nitrate - two plastics I am researching.
November 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Back to watercolour sketching, after to-ing and fro-ing to collect plastics for my project here in Aarhus. This cameo brooch is made from early thermoplastics, a melted down set of false teeth. The pink (gum) part is vulcanite, the ivory (tooth) cellulose nitrate - two plastics I am researching.
I live in Denmark at the moment, so haven’t been able to see my new paperback. Back for a flying visit, here she is at Waterstones, on the shelf two books away from PV Glob’s book on bog bodies — which I read as a (morbid) child, sparking my interests in history and Denmark!
October 16, 2025 at 7:42 AM
I live in Denmark at the moment, so haven’t been able to see my new paperback. Back for a flying visit, here she is at Waterstones, on the shelf two books away from PV Glob’s book on bog bodies — which I read as a (morbid) child, sparking my interests in history and Denmark!
Handwriting help needed! What is this place or institution in Lambeth in 1862?
October 13, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Handwriting help needed! What is this place or institution in Lambeth in 1862?
Daily Telegraph today:
September 27, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Daily Telegraph today:
Paperback publication day!
September 25, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Paperback publication day!
Penning Poison is out in paperback soon! Exciting!
September 17, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Penning Poison is out in paperback soon! Exciting!
Danish morning walk:
September 11, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Danish morning walk:
One more in the series 'is this the same person many years apart?'
What do we reckon?
What do we reckon?
August 20, 2025 at 7:53 AM
One more in the series 'is this the same person many years apart?'
What do we reckon?
What do we reckon?
Another is this the same person a few years apart. Is he even wearing the same suit? This one is from Swansea, taken in the same photography studio:
August 12, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Another is this the same person a few years apart. Is he even wearing the same suit? This one is from Swansea, taken in the same photography studio:
Does anyone think these photos could be of the same woman, a few years apart?
August 9, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Does anyone think these photos could be of the same woman, a few years apart?
Objects of Poverty edited by @joeharleyhistory.bsky.social & Vicky Holmes, is out in just over a month. It includes a chapter by me about cobbled together whistles. The cover features one of my whistles plus a bonkers barometer.
Pre-order your copy!
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/objects-o...
Pre-order your copy!
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/objects-o...
July 17, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Objects of Poverty edited by @joeharleyhistory.bsky.social & Vicky Holmes, is out in just over a month. It includes a chapter by me about cobbled together whistles. The cover features one of my whistles plus a bonkers barometer.
Pre-order your copy!
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/objects-o...
Pre-order your copy!
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/objects-o...
I last had time to sew in November. I'm trying to get back into it. I'm bad at faces, so apologies to @arifa.bsky.social for my version of the cover of your amazing book (which I loved so much).
Rules : I reuse materials I already own / I can't spend longer sewing than reading
Rules : I reuse materials I already own / I can't spend longer sewing than reading
July 1, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I last had time to sew in November. I'm trying to get back into it. I'm bad at faces, so apologies to @arifa.bsky.social for my version of the cover of your amazing book (which I loved so much).
Rules : I reuse materials I already own / I can't spend longer sewing than reading
Rules : I reuse materials I already own / I can't spend longer sewing than reading
Handwriting gang, help me! Annie what? Liverpool 1875:
May 29, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Handwriting gang, help me! Annie what? Liverpool 1875:
Quote skeet with a picture of the airplane you'll accept as a bribe
May 15, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Quote skeet with a picture of the airplane you'll accept as a bribe
Can anyone help me with these three signatures from 1882, please!
May 7, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Can anyone help me with these three signatures from 1882, please!
Trying to read the excellent Victorian Female Detectives by @victoriandetective.bsky.social — but Kevin wants to draw my attention away. I want to get back to a great case study of Clara Layt in 1897!
February 7, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Trying to read the excellent Victorian Female Detectives by @victoriandetective.bsky.social — but Kevin wants to draw my attention away. I want to get back to a great case study of Clara Layt in 1897!
On the day that history's biggest troll again takes power, listen to this podcast about trolling, by @lizfraser1.bsky.social
and featuring me!
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...
and featuring me!
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...
January 20, 2025 at 12:11 PM
On the day that history's biggest troll again takes power, listen to this podcast about trolling, by @lizfraser1.bsky.social
and featuring me!
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...
and featuring me!
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...
It is time again to get the palaeography packs ready for the new students:
January 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM
It is time again to get the palaeography packs ready for the new students: