Feeling blue? Come on out to a QBO sale! You’ll find some odd little things, particularly in households where items stashed in the back of cupboards were forgotten for decades. So it is with these two very vintage versions of the same humble product known as “bluing”. What is bluing, you ask? An old-fashioned formula that keeps your senior-citizens’ white hairdos and your white pets’ coat sparkling bright, and makes a cool science-experiment magic crystal garden project to do with the kids or grandkids. As you might guess, the “Prussian Blue” pigment used in bluing is non-toxic and is even sometimes ingested as a component of medications, but bluing’s primary application is in creating an optical illusion for your laundry.
When you repeatedly launder white clothing and sheets, over time the minerals in hard water tint those whites dingy yellow or gray. Bluing is actually a dye, so a small amount added to wash water tints those whites very faintly blue. However, to our eyes, that infinitely pale blue fabric now appears white again, like magic! And bluing is much gentler on fiber than damaging whitening bleaches. As a rinse for white hair, bluing does the same thing, and in higher concentrations bluing can also be used to freshen up the blue of your blue jeans.
The damaged cardboard box here is well over 100 years old. Bluing sold as solid balls, pellets or powders went extinct long ago due to the superior ease of its liquid form. The molded glass bottle here with the red wooden cork is also an antique, made only from 1907 through the 1920s on a mechanized glass blowing machine. Earlier bluing bottles were individually mouth-blown. During the Great Depression economical 1/3 sized “dime” bottles were also made. The bottles are embossed “This contains Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing” to prevent competitors from reusing them. When new, the bottle had a paper label featuring a dour older woman – an actual portrait of the original inventor’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Stewart! Yes, she was a real person. Only one U.S. company, Jefco, Inc. still makes bluing today and it is the same Mrs. Stewart’s, sporting the same old-fashioned ‘cranky granny’ on the label. The company did at one time try to update to a younger, friendlier-looking ‘spokesmodel’ but their customers weren’t having it so cranky granny was reinstated. If you’d done as much laundry as that lady, you’d be cranky, too.
The Prussian Blue pigment used in bluing is believed to have first been synthesized by German paint maker Johann Jacob Diesbach around 1706. It was a substitute for Lapis Blue, which was made from the semi-precious stone beloved of Egyptian pharaohs, lapis lazuli. Prussian Blue is made of an oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts, (primarily iron) so, much cheaper. Prussian Blue became popular in Japan with 19th-century aizuri-e Japanese printmakers, and was used to great effect by Japanese artist Hokusai in his famous painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Prussian Blue is also the blue ink traditionally used for technical blueprints, and was the dye used to color 18th Century Prussian military uniforms, hence the name.
Last, one of the odder uses of bluing is the fun ‘science’ project of growing crystals over a substrate of charcoal. First popularized in the 1930s and called a crystal garden, coal garden, poor man’s flower, chemical flower garden or Depression flower, there are several formulas, all using bluing. Mrs. Stewart’s manufacturer was one of the first companies to popularize it, so here is the link to their contemporary directions. It takes several days but the soft, fuzzy crystals DO grow. Amazing! Try it out! https://mrsstewart.com/pages/salt-crystal-garden
Tuesday Treasures was started by our staff member, Jeanne Lusignan. Each week she will be featuring items that have been found at our estate sales. If you would like to submit a treasure for Jeanne to feature in a future installment of “Tuesday’s Treasures”, please follow the button below and send us an email! Please attach a few photos of your treasure in a beautiful setting as well as any details you have about your item such as manufacturer, use, age, region of origin. If you don’t know about the piece, that’s okay! We still might be able to research it for you! Don’t forget to tell us what makes this item such a treasure to you!