Thread: Scuttle Users: Soap to Fit?

Originally Posted by Big_E

Used my scuttle for the first time these last two mornings in a row. It don't allow me to be as sloppy as I was with my shaving mugs but it was fun to use anyway. Since the hot water cup and soap cup are on the same vessel, it clears up my bathroom sink slightly. I just mash the brush into the soap to pick up some of it and brush the soap in the direction of the water holder so any loose lather will pour in there and not on the countertop. Then I build the lather on my face. The thick ceramic keeps the water hot and I can either rest the shaving brush ontop the soap while I shave or gently push the brush back into the hot water holder. I shake any loose lather off the brush and push the brush into the scuttle at an angle, useing a twisting motion to avoid bending the bristles back. Not bad really.
Ernest

The smaller and stiffer the brush the better for use with a traditional scuttle. FWIW I find the small Rooney Style 3 to fit well in all my scuttles.

I know this thread is several years old, but anyway...
...got my first scuttle today marked 'Blakeney IRONSTONE STAFFORDSHIRE ENGLAND'. I don't think it's that old, maybe '70s? The picture seems to be printed; not hand painted. I've no idea about this; dating ceramics. However, I like it and it MAY just bump Überlather (Body Shop Macca Root, Evelyn and Crabtree, Glycerin) off my 'normal' shave cream spot... I'll be using my old supermarket brush with this; I think the badger brush will be too soft.
Sooooo, about the thread, how DOES one make a soap fit? I've got Windsor soap, a 'natural vegetable' soap; I'm about to either zap it in the microwave or do a kind of double boiler scenario with a couple of saucepans; either that or squish some Proraso in the top bit, (my Proraso (my first) seems mid way between a soap and a cream) another option might be to soak it??? I don't want to lose the scent; though it's not anything to write home about SO far...
It'll be interesting shaving with the scuttle tomorrow (Sunday) morning; plus the older son's coming 'round for lunch at my new (old) Tasmanian Blackwood kitchen table and chairs, all newly polished...(had to polish every stick of furniture today; an OCD thing I get when I get something new). I'm looking forward to tomorrow for the first time in a long time...

Can't help on the soap, but the scuttle is far older than you imagine. Most of the Ironstone pottery dates from 1870s to as late as the 1930s. From the looks of yours, I'd say it's 1880s to 90s. That's true particularly if the scuttle bottom isn't marked "Made in...", a requirement after 1910... Regardless, nice!

Oh, serious? The bottom says exactly as I said, no "made in". When did they start 'printing' designs? I'm sure it's not painted...It'd be cool if it were old, I paid 40 bucks for it...
Anyway, here's the 'documentary' of fitting the soap in..

First I cut it into 8ths (this is only 4 of the 8ths):



Then I put four of the eighths in a mortar dish, in a saucepan, with the water coming most of the way up the side and 'cooked it' until a knife slid in easily:



Then I took the soap out and mashed it up in my hands:



Then moulded it into the mortar bowl, which is about the same size as the scuttle:



Then I mashed it around in my hands a bit more (cause it hadn't 'melded'):



Squished it into the scuttle and cut the top off:



And 'Bob's your Uncle' (or there abouts):



Clearly, not a good job. Next time I think I'll 'cook it' longer...

They'd invented the use of decals in the late 19th century, so--!

Great solution on cooking the soap. Theory turned to fact.

Oh, right! Interesting; I for some reason thought later! This is a picture of the 'maker's mark'...
The pieces didn't really meld, but I'm sure I could easily get them to next time with this soap...
Just ANOTHER aspect to this 'hobby' with the scuttle and stuff...

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Oh, right! Interesting; I for some reason thought later! This is a picture of the 'maker's mark'...

From the picture I would guess that that is printed/stamped on. It does look much too detailed to be hand painted. Most transfers you can see a faint clear border around the design, and if you pick at it (the border, not the design) with your thumbnail you can chip off a piece. I have a Seaforth mug that the transfer was so old or poorly applied that when I washed it with warm water and dish soap some of the design came off.

Oh it's definitly printed; I really didn't know they had printed decals that early! One lives and learns...

Originally Posted by KimFella

...Most transfers you can see a faint clear border around the design, and if you pick at it (the border, not the design) with your thumbnail you can chip off a piece....

I take it back. I just happened to look at another mug that has to have had a decal and I can't see any sign of the clear border.

I'll have to ask my wife, as she did some coffee mugs a while back with decals, and I'm pretty sure she applied the decal over the raw glaze colours on the bisque fired mugs and then went on to the glaze firing. That would burn off any plastic/gel/whatever-the-decal-backing-is, leaving only the design.

Yup, on most of the older mugs (pre-1940s) you rarely see evidence of a decal edge. I'm not sure what the technology was then, but it's different than what is commonly used today (no surprise). The higher quality pottery of the late 19th and early 20th cen. was initialed or stamped with some maker ID (or even painted with initials or company name in a glaze). The production stuff was decal-ed or sometimes just stamped on the bottom.