Wow! This ironing thing... all I can say is OUCH! My ironing day went quite well considering I thought it would be a nightmare. It really was not. Yes, I did burn myself quite a few times but that was something I expected. The actual ironing was what I thought would be trying. I expected scorching and burning, neither happened!
I toyed with the idea of a fireplace log but as silly as it sounds, I wanted to smell the wood burning and hear the fire popping. I guess I wanted an authentic experience as possible. I knew I'd enjoy it tremendously.
I started off gathering wood. For easy access, I piled it on the deck, right outside the family room slider facing the back yard. I have a flat skillet or griddle, as some may call it, that I use to set the irons on in the fire. Try as I might, I couldn't find it. Not a happy laundress... I ended up using a cast iron pot my brother Rick found in his chicken coop when he moved into a 100 year old farmhouse 30 years ago. I plan on using it under the fly on rainy days when my large outdoor fire isn't possible because of the weather. It worked for me so well today I may end up using it permanently. Also, think it really helped with keeping the ashes off the irons better. I have a big problem with that at events.
Remember in previous blogs how I mentioned that in growing my laundress gear for my impression, I've started collecting old and antique laundry equipment? Well, I dragged out this really nice wooden ironing board I recently bought and set it up to iron. I started ironing but then felt oh so guilty because I know ironing boards probably weren't used. Mass produced ironing boards were really just in their infancy about then. So, I put away the ironing board and set up the proper way, two wooden chairs.
I have a lot of stuff I haul to the events. I'm trying to downsize my gear but everything I have I pretty much use so I've recently vowed that if I add any new elements to my impression I can not add new items to haul with me unless I take away something else. Up to now I mentioned ironing and showed the spectators the irons in the fire but that was about it for ironing.
Luckily for me (and my solomn vow) my gear includes beaucoup wooden boards and wooden folding chairs, basically everything I needed to set up an ironing presentation. Yay me! and since a major part of my gear is laundry, I also have a lot of sheets, blankets and other things I can use for my ironing board pad and cover. Life is good! Okay with my newly correct ironing space complete, it was time to start ironing. Using a rag to protect my hands, I pulled the first, and heaviest iron from the fire and sat it down on a trivet.
It took about an hour for the irons to heat up completely. I was shocked at how easily the iron flowed across the fabric, how crisp the fabric looked. As I said before I expected to burn or scorch the fabric on my first few tries. It was almost as if I was using a regular iron. But soon, I did notice that in using the irons, as opposed to contemporary irons, that it mattered which way the iron moved. Being right handed I went from left to right, but if I then came back, left to right, my fabric would wrinkle or crease. Going up and down was fine but I just couldn't go backward. My iron was cooling down. It was still hot, as I learned when I flicked water on it and it sizzled, but I guess it wasn't hot enough!
I mentioned how irons cooling down fast in my presentations but I thought cool meant cool not less than blistering hot! And blistering hot it was as I can tell you by experience! I frequently grabbed the handle of the iron without the rag without thinking!
I guess its not really off the beaten path since I also have a habit of poking about the fire and for some reason thinking certain logs wouldn't be hot. Again........OUCH! Figures my daughter got the shot of me burning my hand on the handle!
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