Description:
Teasel with cross-shaped pine strips held together with a nail in the center and string at the ends, with 6 dried teasel heads stuck between the two-strip arm. Teasels (or teazels) were devices used for napping, a process whereby fibers were brushed to the surface of woolen cloth so that they could be sheared evenly for a soft yet strong, uniform surface appearance and hand. Shears were then employed to make the raised nap a uniform height. Mechanization of this napping process occured in the early 19th century. The teasel is a member of the Dipsacaceae genus native to Europe, known botanically as Dipsacus sylvestris. Common teasel or Fuller's teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, in which the bracts are hooked, is probably a cultivated form of the wild species; the dried, bristly heads are used for 'fleecing', 'teasing'' 'fulling' or 'brushing', or raising the nap on fabrics, particularly wool. Teasels were purposely cultivated to provide the stiff egg-shaped cluster of spiked bracts used for combing and brushing textiles; the dried heads were drawn across the material by hand, or split in half and mounted on spindles, wheels, belts or rollers that revolved against the surface of the cloth to be 'fleeced,' which were sometimes called teasel frames. Since Teasel combines rigidity and elasticity, its' greatest utility is that while raising the nap, it will break at any serious obstruction where metallic tools will catch and tear the cloth. The English Clothworkers' Company still uses a Teasel head on its' coat of arms, reflecting the historical importance to the industry of the teasel throughout the centuries. By 1956, commercial steel carding had largely replaced the teasel, which could be made uniform and did not require constant replacement of carefully chosen teasels; however, some individuals who weave wool still use teasels for raising the nap, claiming that the result is far better. Introduced into the U.S., teasel was an important crop in central New York for 100 years from the early 1800's, and, later, in Oregon. It escaped and has become established as a weed from Maine to North Carolina and westward to Missouri and a few far western states.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+0366 |
