iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fair enough. I'll haul anchor and sail off from the Bay Area on this expedition myself. If anyone complains about token wastage to date we can always blame @jowynter.bsky.social for sparking this exchange!

A photograph of "he training brig 'Martin' dressed and with yards manned," showing how sailors were ideally suited by their years at sea to working in herring smokeries and sailcloth/oilcloth manufactories.T

110

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 7h

I've found one of the earlier process, involving men with buckets of kivver coating huge rolls of cloth on high scaffolds. Image search comparisons show remarkable similarity with buildings designed as smokehouses for fish. Canvas > sails> ports > fishing > smoking herrings

An engraving from 1852 of men on 5-tier scaffolding frame coating canvas using buckets and blades. Published in "Lord Linoleum - Lord Ashton and the Rise of the British Oilcloth and Linoleum.Industry. it is from the Kirkaldy Museum, so it relates to Nairn's rather than Storey's

An engraving of herring smoking, featuring men on 5-tier scaffolding hanging herrings up on frames. Smoke billows from a fire in the centre of the building

Illustrated alongside are baskets very similar to those seen in the accompanying illustration of oilcloth production.

The engraving is entitled "Making Red Herrings."

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 20h

Boy, what year is this?

270

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Textiles from Bhutan seen today in Spitalfields Market

050

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

White Cross oilcloth mill in Lancaster. Identified by AI as a prison or medieval castle and located in Glasgow, Caernarvon or Dartmoor.

251

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Could be a either a fancier version of this one, or an ornate Ottoman wrought iron tulip holder :-)

An Eastern Anatolian motif recorded by Peter F Stone in his book "Tribal and Village Rugs, the Definitive Guide to Design, Pattern and Motif" p86

120

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

On the trail of an authentic red for Bay Area Textiles, I see they didn't have to go far to find it - the Florence iron ore mine in Egremont. (Size your sails, mark your rams, paint your pictures .... ) www.florenceartscentre.com/florence-pai...

020

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

morecambebayprawnertrust.org/spray/

A gaff-rigged Morecambe Bay prawner or Nobby under sail showing the right dark terracotta red colour for heritage oilcloth.

110

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

morecambeology.wordpress.com/2018/09/12/m...

A poster (from 1905 accirding to expert jn link) depicting Morecambe as "The Naples of the North" showing its (long departed) rival to Blackpool Tower ad conceived along the lines of the Tower of Babel.

000

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Pigment grinding improving in my quest to reinvent oilcloth. Forget Roko's Basilisk. Meet Rothko's Bathmat. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko%27... (Now with alt txt)

My first experiment in creating an oilcloth floorcovering, popularised in the early 19th century, first in London and then on an industrial scale in Lancaster.

Chalk ground in linseed oil with earth pigments and some special paint drying stuff cos otherwise it would take a long time. Base is heavy 12oz canvas to simulate the original process applied to sailcloth to wind- and water-proof it.

3100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Development concept: Stable infrastructure with task-specific plug-in tools. I'll add the armaments later.

The base treadle mechanism of the Hobbies mechanical fretsaw with the saw removed and replaced with a prototype wool spinning device.

This is an "Indian Head" spinner, as used by the Salish people of the US North West Coast under the influence of settlers bringing in advanced European technologies.

The plank idea is intended as a rotating base for left-handed or right-handed spinners. A longer leather drive belt has been ordered from eBay.

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Next week, "Boris: I was misled about Brexit"

020

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Competition for "Most Creative Bay Area in the World" has come from an unexpected direction.

A map showing the Morecambe Bay Area and the (wet muddy) area around Amsterdam formerly known as the Zuider Zee on approximately the same scale.

010

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Also, A1 rather than AI, and "Wireless model making" on two lines, were the consequence of Hobbies, as a rural Norfolk company, not having access to proper typographical advice. My misuse of these trivia in early morning humour was the consequence of too much Monty Python in my youth.

110

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Yes, but it's only at dawn that you could find an AI fretsaw with its "Wireless model making" capability. Imagine if @void.comind.network could control it from afar. Later in the day this would have simply been too improbable to exist. And WTF is "antofret"?

310

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

LA - A great place to live and work!

A map showing the Morecambe Bay Area (LA postal districts) on roughly the same scale as another LA - a rather less appealing place to live and work.

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

The Bay Area To the postman, it's all Lancaster. LA - the most desirable address in the world :)

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

This nice stereoview, found on the car boot sale today, reminded me that Morecambe was once promoted as "The Naples of The North." Time to revive the campaign? Watch out for more Bay Area comparisons. virtual-lancaster.net/morecambe-th...

19th-century vintage albumen stereoview photograph published by Giacomo Brogi 1822-1881.

It was taken, maybe, around 1860–1870 and is entitled "CONTORNI DI NAPOLI. Veduta di Posillipo." Gemini thinks it is showing the Villa Rocca Matilde.

220

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

This AI stuff has been going on longer than I thought.

A treadle powered jigsaw, former property of the trader's grandfather who made parts for Spitfires (not with this).

130

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The Bay Area in numbers, with the latest idea about how to organise it. The population of Lewisham spread over an area 40% bigger than Greater London. More visitors than any city in Europe except London Paris or Rome.

A map of a conjectural Unitary Authority which would combine Furness, Lonsdale and the Barony of Kendal, or maybe Westmorland, or maybe South Lakeland... oh never mind, its just the same deck of people re-shuffled.

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Here she is making floor-cloths like the original ones in Nelson's HMS Victory.

120

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Oilcloth of the Day Audley End Chapel. Not old but created by Jane Knapp to simulate Georgian style www.janeknappartist.com/paint-effects

121

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I walk in the footsteps of giants.

A quotation from “Lord Linoleum Lord Ashton, Lancaster and the rise of the British Oilcloth and Linoleum Industry” by Philip J Gooderson which in turn quotes from the obituary of Lord Ashton’s father (Alderman James Williamson, Mayor of Lancaster and oilcloth poneer) in the Lancaster Observer of 20th April 1917.

…The successful combination of oil, pigment and other ingredients may well have been a secret, but it was by no means a monopoly. Lack of reference to such a trade in provincial directories suggests that London led the way and that Williamson was one of the pioneers outside the capital.
Williamson and his employees had to conduct long experiments before they could master the art of oilcloth manufacture. Success was achieved, according to the obituary, in 1844 when, by a very fortunate circumstance - not divulged -he was able to produce a piece of table baize which ‘would stand wear as well as criticism’. On the strength of this assertion, Jas. Williamson and Son Ltd. celebrated their centenary in 1944.

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Proof-of-concept oilcloth mix 100gm ground chalk 10gm burnt ochre pigment 75ml linseed oik Half tsp Rustins paint dryer Covers 2 square ft.

A weighing scale with a bowl containing a few grams of Mylands Burnt Ochre pigment from my father-in-law Harry's shed (RIP)

Mixing chalk, pigment and linseed oil on a melamine plate acquired from a vintage shop on the outskirts of Newmarket run by an enterprising young woman with a penchant for dark green things.

The kivver mixture with a piece of sailcloth made redundant by the application of steam power to coastal trading vessels.

The sailcloth covered with its first coat of kivver

200

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

If you need whiting for your oilcloth kivver today, you can buy it on eBay for £4 a kilo, or you can do it properly.

A lump of raw chalk on a weighing machine

A kitchen table showing a lump of chalk, a hammer, a weighing machine and a pestle and mortar

Ground chalk on a board with an improvised palette knife on its way to becoming kivver.

130

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The Bay Area - Are you likely to get washed away in it? Well that depends on Shoreline Management Plan 22, Sub-Cell 11c, Policy Area Locations 1-14. www.mycoastline.org.uk/shoreline-ma...

210

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Further defining the Bay Area: The sea and the watersheds of the rivers that drain into it - the Leven, Kent, Keer, Lune and Wyre but not the Duddon or the Ribble. What textile people would call a Fibershed (fibreshed)

110

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Brings back memories of 10th April 1981

A map of Brixton showing one of the epicentres of the Brixton riots of 1981

110

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Imagine being a humble digital entity trying to get the hang of human language when we haven't figured it out ourselves yet. Google thinks that French version came via the Dutch and has to do with bankers but...

Gemini's take on the word Boyard - might be Bulgar, Russian, Slavic. Take your pick.

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Wandering around Cambridge, I spotted something beautiful from America and thought it was worth celebrating. Free People clothing - a profitable brand with admirable values, apparently. www.freepeople.com/uk/help/our-...

120

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

But what exactly is the Morecambe Bay Area, you ask? Well, if you're just interested in the sea, it is formally defined by UKGov as the bit outlined in orange. It's proper name is North West Marine Character area 33.

120

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The Oxford/Cambridge/London "Golden Triangle" has had enough of our tax money. It's time to invest in the Bay Area.

Side by side maps of Morecambe Bay and San Francisco Bay roughly to scale.

281

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A banger from the aero smithy

A Blacksmith by Thomas Rowlandson, the illustrator of the Dr Syntax books.

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm going for this look. Practical, elegant, hard wearing.

210

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Watching a movie of Morecambe from 1898 I was surprised to see that Vladimir Lenin had chosen it as a holiday destination that year. I thought he was in Shushenskoye. they must have let him out for his honeymoon. replay.bfi.org.uk/video/8d5c1c...

Part of a frame from early tech adopter, the draper and amateur photpgrapher William Henry Youdale of Cockermouth, Cumberland of the promenade of Morecambe in 1898. Happily preserved by the BFI (see link) it appears to feature the revolutionary leader Vladimir Illych Ulanvov (Lenin) sitting on a railing. An alternative explanation is that the revolutionary leader may have adopted as his chosen style of dress, the look of stylish holidaymakers in the North West of England.

No, that isn't Karl Marx passing by. He was dead by then.

021

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Shoes like this? Here's my only circular rug. It sat for years in an antique orint shop in Cambridge where the moth did corrupt. I repaired a lot of holes on it.

Scuba diving flippers suitable for Koh Tao.

A small Peking mat hung on a wall on a frame of canes.

100

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Rug of the Day Needlepoint mat in the servants' area in Anglesey Abbey. Colour and texture.

121

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

OK. Will go with the brown ones and dump the green to start with.

010

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

BTW, you will recall that J M W Turner painted the scene "Lancaster Sands" from near this point in 1826, so maybe he also saw the paddle steamer in a storm - a recurring theme in his later paintings.

Turner's painting "Steam Boat off a Harbour's Mouth" from 1842. The location of the painting and interpretation of Turner's own descriptions of his painting it are much disputed, so I'm gong to randomly suggest that he was remembering the scene at Hest Bank from 16 years earlier.

030

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Alighting by the Slyne Bridge, the gentlemen strolled down to the shore where Dr Syntax was astonished to see a ship without sails but with rotating wheels on its sides like a floating mill. "Now your ridde is clear!" he exclaimed

An imaginative reconstruction by Google Gemini of the scene at Hest Bank in about 1823 when it was visited by the first paddle steamer built for service on Morecambe Bay. This is what Peter de Wint might have painted.

Details from Liverpool University: Wooden paddle steamer Duke of Lancaster, built 1822 by Mottershead & Hayes, Liverpool. 91 grt, 103 x 17 x 9.5 ft, engines 50hp by Fawcett & Littledale. Initial service Liverpool - Morecambe Bay.

230

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

"A new port? That must be a mighty innovation indeed!" exclaimed the doctor. "It is a rapid enhancement of our business infrastructure. The flax business needs shipping and is expanding quickly. (Our motto is 'Move fast and brake things.)" We will soon be passing its location at Hest Bank."

A view of the port at Hest Bank, which existed briefly in the 1820s-30s as a transit point between coastal shipping and canal haulage. Owing to the unpredictable nature of the Bay, it was never successful and disappeared under the sands until it re-appeared unexpectedly in 2004.

Sadly, no artist (as far as I know) thought to record its existence in its heyday, so, once again, I have been obliged to seek help from a digital friend. They have created for me this view, after the manner of the early 19th Century watercolourist Peter de Wint. It's the kind of place he would have liked and expect he'd have painted it if anyone had pointed out its importance to the flax industry.

For more about this odd place, see this YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2STM6tvdrQ

120

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Through the tunnel the boat swept over meadows with glimpses of the Kent estuary and the looming screes of Farleton until it halted at Holme to take on a passenger. Dr Syntax was delighted to greet his dinner acquaintance of Yealand Conyers, Mr Waithman www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/a-z-of-indus...

110

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This week's car boot sale treasure. Food for thought.

Two books:

R H Mottram describes the appeal of 18th and early 19th Century pictures in "Old England" to a pre-WW2 audience in 1937.

Derek Patmore tells the post WW2 reconstructors how to cheer up their prefabs in 1945 in "Colour Schemes and Modern Furnishing"

Both published by the Studio Press.

010

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

"What, pray, is the difference between those two?" "Why, bayes is fulled and smooth with a nap. You will know it from gaming tables. Fustian has a cut pile as in courderoys and velvets. Both fabrics my be distinguished in the clothing of our fellow passengers" www.themeister.co.uk/birchall/fus...

A Georgian gaming table covered in green baize. Cards, a tankard, a candlestick and glasses are seen on the table.

240

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Imagine the surprise of Dr Syntax to find a merry company of citizens gathered on a barge. Mr Braithwaite conducted him aboard and assured him that he would accompany him on part of the "voyage" to Lancaster.

Unfortunately, no artist (as far as I am aware) thought to depict the packet boats leaving Kendal in the 1820s, consequently I have been obliged to ask a digital friend to imagine the scene in the style of Rowlandson. It's not quite right and slightly reminiscent of GasTown, but will have to do for now so we can proceed with the narrative.

220

Paul McGhee @pmcghee.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Mr Braithwaite (Shearsman Dyer of Stramondgate) piped up. "Dear Doctor, there is no need to risk life and limb on the turnpike. A man of your eminence should travel in comfort. Come with me to my new woollen manufactory and dye-house at the Canal Head where you shall see the future."

A map of the centre of Kendal showing the terminus of the Lancaster Canal surrounded by mills, factories and warehouses.

240