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THE MECHANICK’S ADVISER
December 10, 2021
Apothecary – The Apothecary Shop will be open Tuesday through Saturday.
Armoury:
Blacksmith – The Blacksmith Shop will be open Daily.
Tinsmith – The Christmas rush is upon us as orders for lanterns are coming in fast. Either that, or
people are realizing how dark it gets in the 18th-century buildings. Joel and Jenny are making struck lanterns
to replenish the stock of the few we had, which were sold over the past couple weeks. Orders for chocolate
pots have been coming in, as well, so Steve has been making a few of those. (Muddlers and handles are being
turned by John Peeler at the Cabinetmaker.) Steve is also continuing to work on the gigantic lantern for the
Palmer House, as well as the large order of canteens for Fifes & Drums, Military Programs, and Evening
Military Programs. Jenny finished a second candle box, which is copied from one in the Philadelphia Museum
of Art collections, and coffee pot #69 received a passing grade (one more to go). Joel completed the new
soldering stove, which is now being employed in the Shop, and is continuing to work on researching Armoury
personnel.
The Tin Shop will be open Tuesday through Saturday.
Anthony Hay Shop – The Cabinetmaker and Harpsichord-maker Shop will be open on Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Either the Cabinetmakers or the Harpsichord-makers will be at the Art
Museum Gallery on Wednesday.
Brickmaker – This week in the Carpenter’s Yard, the Brickmakers aided the Carpenters in muscling some
quite hefty wood into its temporary home. The feat would not have been possible without the words of
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�encouragement from Carpenter Bobby Clay. In less strenuous news, the first of many fires to come was
created in the skillfully crafted fire pit – and what a fire it was. We would like to think that a small flame is
ignited in every Carpenter’s heart when they gaze upon it in these chilly weeks to come. The fire pit in
question was created with the bricks that once stood as Apprentice Madeleine’s practice wall. Some of the
bricks appear white because of the mortar left in the wake of the dismantling, not due to any aspect of the
firing process. Now, she can gaze upon the fire pit fondly with the memory of what it once was. On Thursday,
Madeleine participated in a meeting of all the first-year Apprentices, where she was able to socialize with
other members of her Trades cohort. There were many greetings exchanged and even more discussions of
what to expect in the years to come.
Carpenter – The Carpenters have finished up installing the sheathing in the Wheelwright’s Shop, spent
some time shooting video in the attic of Bruton Parish Church and the Booker Tenement for the Woodworking
Conference, and got the site all dressed up for the holidays…
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�The Carpenter’s Yard will be open Daily, weather permitting.
Colonial Garden – The Colonial Garden will be open on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday,
weather permitting.
Cooper – The Cooper Shop is open Sunday through Thursday.
Engraver – This week in the Engraving Shop: the Apprentice was
turned loose creating the Shop’s wreath. And he did a wonderful job
recreating a miniature Copperplate press! Along with mini copperplates
and Engraving tools.
14K wedding rings from our Silversmiths are being worked on as
well as silver trade jewelry and several custom orders being finished, and
we just received several more in the last couple of days. Now, if we
could just get the sunlight to holdout a bit longer each day, we would be
set.
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�Department of Historic Trades and Skills
Volume 7, Issue 37
�The Engraving Shop will be open Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The Engravers will be at the Art Museum
Gallery on Saturday.
Foodways – The Foodways Staff will be at the Palace Kitchen Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
and at the Armoury Kitchen on Thursday.
Foundry – Leanne for her first time did a great job with the shop's door wreath, watch out everyone for
next year’s competition. Plus we are finishing harpsichords brass, bronze wax seals, and bronze nutcrackers.
The Foundry will be open on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Gunsmith – The Gunsmith Shop will be open Tuesday through Saturday.
Historic Farming – A breakthrough in the full circle of Trade’s work occurred last month. About fifteen
years ago, Historic Farming gave the renowned heirloom grain preservationist, Glenn Roberts, Red May wheat
that we have been growing since the mid-1980’s. This wheat variety was one of those preferred by 18thDepartment of Historic Trades and Skills
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�century farmers in the Tidewater Region. Glenn gave it to farmers to grow out, and he milled it at his mill
called Anson Mills. He now offers it as Colonial Artisan Whole Wheat. This flour can be purchased by anyone,
so it is back in the food system of America. The breakthrough is that now that it can be ground on a larger
scale and made available to all – Historic Foodways is baking with it, and the CW Inn is experimenting with
making a special flat bread with it. It has come full circle. It follows to the old saying of preserving rare breeds
of livestock and plants: To preserve it, you must eat it.
A delicious little loaf of bread made by Historic Foodways. With a big bite out of it!
The Farmer will be at Prentis Field Tuesday through Saturday.
Joinery – The Joiners are hard at work preparing for the yearly conference. Brian’s round window is taking
shape. He is working on shaping the inside curves for the outermost sections of the window. This work is
done using a compass plane, which has a rounded sole. On the other side of the Shop, Scott has finished his
frieze and is now planing up stock for the horizontal portions of his mantelpiece. This material will be used to
create the backing for the crown moldings. When asked what he was up to, Peter got a strange look in his
eyes and stared off into the distance, quietly mumbling to himself. Another normal winter week at the
Joinery!
The Joinery will be open on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The Joiners will be at the Art
Museum Gallery on Sunday.
Milliner and Mantua-maker – This past Sunday, the Mantua-makers began work on their annual
wedding gown. Day One saw the disassembly of our source gown, so that we could lay out the pieces of fabric
to see how much we had to work with. We're going from a sack style to a fitted gown, with a remake for a
completely different body type, so we've set ourselves quite the challenge to test how well we can utilize all of
the fabric pieces. With the back and fronts ready to be fit together, and the trim and sleeves ready to be
stitched, we're all set to begin Day Two this Sunday. Stay tuned for the progress report!
During the week, we also undertook a last-minute, Shop-wide project to outfit two of our young
friends in children's clothing for a film shoot on Thursday. Young Master Jacky Custis was in desperate need of
a fashionable alternative to the white frock his younger sister, Miss Patsy, was going to wear. We put together
a silk wrapping gown, sash, and matching turban-style cap, all copied from a portrait. It seems to have earned
his approval!
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�The Milliner and Mantua-maker will be open Sunday through Thursday.
Music – Greetings from The Governor’s Musick! We are halfway through our sold-out Christmas Concert
Series at the Governor’s Palace. The music is festive, the audiences are wonderful, and performing again, all
together, has been incredibly gratifying. Our theme of good fellowship couldn’t be more apropos.
The work on a series doesn’t stop at opening night. Like other Trades and Skills, we have meetings to
discuss the flow, the timing, the interpretations that introduce the sets, and make adjustments continuously
to ensure that what the Guests experience is the best we can offer. In this case, we have had some challenges
with rehearsal time, and so our first concert ran a little longer than we thought it would. It was ok this year,
but if we’d had two shows, that would put some serious strain on the attendants who must clear the room
and bring in the next crowd. We have spent the past week moving things, cutting things, and re-arranging
things; and last Tuesday, we came in at exactly the right length of time. (We were helped by the fact that the
audience doesn’t receive programs right now.)
Christmas season is followed, of course, by January, when the Governor’s Palace is closed for a period
for renovations, and we spend our time preparing for the Spring season, for President’s Day, for our Women’s
Month Series in March, and any other programs we may have in the offing. We have already picked tentative
themes and are beginning to explore repertoire and research to be pursued.
Brady and Karol are finally scheduled to receive NAI certification training! First, there was a conflict
with concert scheduling, and then, of course, the pandemic prevented in-person classes, so they have not
been able to participate previously. That will change in February. Huzzah!
This time of the year
Is spent in good cheer
And neighbors together do meet
To sit by the fire
With friendly desire
Each other in love to greet.
Old grudges forgot
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�Are put in the pot,
All sorrows aside they lay,
The old and the young
Doth carol this song,
To drive the cold winter away.
The Musicians will be in the Art Museum on Friday mornings and afternoons as advertised and on
Saturdays, unadvertised and subject to change.
Printer and Bookbinder:
Printing Office – The Printing Office will be open on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and
Saturday.
Bindery – Happy Holidays from the Bookbindery!
For the second year, the Bookbindery and Printing Office have chosen to highlight lesser-known authors of the
18th century. The decorations had many helpers, including Apprentice Joiner Peter Hudson, who built the
boards; Amy Sudduth, who demonstrated the art of cutting quills; Tracy Gulden and Marianne Williamson,
who helped with the portrait work, and the Landscape Department under Joanne Chapman, who supplied the
fruit, garlands, and answers to many questions! Thank you all for making a dream become reality!
Apprentice Barbara Swanson researched and wrote an abbreviated biography about the chosen
author, and perhaps the most impressive of all, Journeyman Printer David Wilson painstakingly typeset the
pages, putting in over twenty-four hours of work on the project.
This year, we decided to focus specifically on Phillis Wheatley, highlighting a short biography of her
exceptional life and an excerpt of her poem, "To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty's
Principal Secretary of State for North America, &c.” For the biography, I chose to focus on Miss Wheatley's
accomplishments outside of the lens of what George Washington and Thomas Jefferson said of her and her
work. Phillis Wheatley's work stands on its own without the need to qualify it with others' praise or criticism.
Department of Historic Trades and Skills
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�I dislike the titles inscribed around her portrait and chose to instead list some of the many titles and qualities
that can be attributed to her throughout her life, found underneath her name on the biography page.
Phillis Wheatley more than prospered in a time when it was nearly impossible to do so, due to her
circumstances. She went on to keep correspondence with national and international religious leaders,
speaking out against slavery at a time when doing so was dangerous. She is fabulous!
As we move forward together, may we all strive to be that beautiful light shining in the darkness, just
as she is. Still.
Michals, Debra. "Phillis Wheatley." National Women's History Museum. 2015. www.womenshistory.org/educationresources/biographies/phillis-wheatley. Accessed 11/11/2021
O’Neale, Sondra, A. “Phillis Wheatley: 1753-1784". Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley
Accessed 11/11/2021
Winkler, Elizabeth. “How Phillis Wheatley Was Recovered Through History: For decades, a white woman’s memoir shaped our
understanding of America’s first Black poet. Does a new book change the story?” The New Yorker, July 30, 2020.
https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/how-phillis-wheatley-was-recovered-through-history . Accessed 11/11/2021
The Bookbindery will be open Tuesday through Saturday.
Public Leather Works – The Public Leather Works will be open Sunday through Thursday.
Shoemaker – The Shoemakers are open on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday at the
Armoury.
Silversmith – Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold ... but this week, we’re working copper so bold! Chris
Custalow of the American Indian Initiative has teamed up with the Silversmiths to learn how to work copper,
which was North America’s precious metal before colonization. It’s been open-pit mined around the Great
Lakes for over 7,000 years, and Chris has brought some of this straight from the earth to work from
scratch. Chris and Chris cast it into ingots and have been drawing the long ingot into wire to replicate a copper
trade bracelet found along the Dan River in North Carolina. Copper comes in third as the most workable
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�metal, and so we become very well acquainted with it in our Trade as a practice material. As we need about
ten feet of continuous wire, Chris (Custalow) has been hand-pulling this through the steel draw plate rather
than continuing to use the draw bench!
Master George has been forging a silver ingot out long and thin in preparation for drawing it also into
wire, and you can see the difference from the 8 ½-inch ingot to the 24 ½-inch bar stock. Bobbie is cutting out
large trade crosses in silver from a copper template, which is used in the production of high-demand trade
silver for the fur trade west of the Treaty line. They’re popular this time of year in the modern day as
Christmas decorations and gifts. Megan is almost done with the most grueling part of Year-one Apprentice
work: sanding and polishing ten stakes (anvils) and hammers! A clean, smooth shine on our tools yields a
clean, smooth surface on the silver; and in addition to catching the tools up on much-needed maintenance, it
teaches you why you never want to let them get to that point in the first place!
Come by and see us at work during this second installment of Grand Illumination.
Department of Historic Trades and Skills
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�The Silversmith Shop will be open on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The Silversmiths will be
at the Art Museum Gallery on Friday.
Tailor – This last week, our customer picked up his new suit! The entire Shop worked together to outfit him
with a new shirt, neckstock, breeches, waistcoat, and coat. Journeyman Mike made his hat.
Mr. Arland is all set for the balls this Christmas season! A suit of contrasting, but coordinated, pieces were
very trendy and fashionable in the 1770s. Much like the modern suit, 18th-century business suits would
consist of the three pieces in the same fabric (also known as a ditto suit or suit in ditto). More formal suits for
fashionable occasions often had matching coat and breeches with a contrasting waistcoat.
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�We very much hope Mr. Arland enjoys the suit. Now, onto the next project: a coat and waistcoat in a
sporting style out of corduroy.
The Tailor Shop will be open on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. They will be closed on Tuesday.
The Tailors will be at the Art Museum Gallery on Thursday.
Weaving, Spinning, and Dyeing – The days keep getting shorter, and the nights keep getting colder.
It is high time we put something made of wool on our looms! If you come and visit our Shop, you will see an
exceptionally heavy project on our countermarch loom. This has found its way onto the loom as the last of
over sixty yards of Edinburgh Check has finally come off! HUZZAH! This yarn is thicker, and this warp is wider
than anything else we have worked on in a while, so it has been a nice change of pace.
Please come visit as we dive into the winter season head first. We can't wait to see you soon.
The Weaver Shop will be open on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Wheelwright – The Wheelwright Shop will be open Sunday through Thursday.
Wigmaker – Last week, Edith finished her second flax wig and delivered it to a very ecstatic Joe at the
Weaver. She could not have done it without the support of Debbie, Benton, and Ed in Historic Farming.
Pictured below is the flax that was grown by Ed, processed by the Wigmakers, and made into a wig to be worn
by Joe while he is weaving. Talk about farm to table! While we have plenty of evidence of these tow/flax wigs
being produced in England, sadly, there is no documentation of them being produced in Virginia. However, it
is a marvelous interpretive piece, and Joe looks great as a blonde! The work continues on Dave Cat's wig. As
always, if you get stuck in a hairy situation, please reach out to us! And as a friendly reminder, if you find that
your modern hair elastic is visible, please stop by the Shop, and we can get you some plain black ribbon to
cover it!
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�The Wig Shop will be open on Sunday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The Wigmakers will be in the Art
Museum Gallery on Monday.
The Mechanick’s Adviser is a publication of the Colonial Williamsburg Department of Historic Trades & Skills.
Editor: Shari Monaco
Contributors: Armoury – Jenny Lynn (Tinsmith), Brickmaker – Madeleine Bolton, Carpenter – Garland Wood,
Engraver – Lynn Zelesnikar, Foundry – Mike Noftsger, Historic Farming – Ed Schultz, Joiner – Peter Hudson,
Milliner and Mantua-maker – Rebecca Godzik, Music – Karol Steadman, Silversmith – Chris Strum, Tailor –
Michael McCarty, Weaving, Spinning, and Dyeing – Joe Wixted, Wigmaker – Edith Broward Edds
Department of Historic Trades and Skills
Volume 7, Issue 37
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Mechanick's Adviser
Description
An account of the resource
The Mechanick’s Adviser is a weekly newsletter produced by the Colonial Williamsburg Department of Historic Trades and Skills beginning in September 2015 and continuing to the present. The word “mechanick” is an alternative spelling of “mechanic” and is used here in the more archaic sense meaning a skilled tradesperson or artisan. Some weeks the newsletter was not produced and there is a significant months-long gap in the 2020 newsletters reflecting the pandemic-related limitations and closures of the department. The newsletter relates employee news and the current work projects and research of the various trades’ shops belonging to the department as well as other groups described as “skills” including military, music, and dance programs.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Mechanick's Adviser. Volume 7, number 37, December 10, 2021
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Department of Historic Trades and Skills
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-12-10