The Opelousas courier., 1897-04-10
MAKING MUFFS.
Much Delicate Labor About This
Clumsy Article.
Work Of the Cutter, the Sewer
and the Blocker.

"iihinutlFe elderly lady totlng in q
Dlrdensome way q big c,ota cylinder
fatty covered with East Indian monkey
fur. In fact, it was SO heavy that the
little woman appeared fatigued, and
as she seated herself she threw off
the ribbon, with which her burden was
secured about her neck, as if glad to
get rid of it.
During last summer factories in the
fur line employing hundreds OF oper-
ators, both male and female, rs we'll
as the many dingy little shops where
q few journeymen worked together
for small wages, have been busy turn
ing out these muffs.
The sorting Of the skins is q work
performed by skilled men, who pick
out the thicker hides for maF manu-
facturers, for the thicker the hide the
frmer a muff it makes.
After the selection of the skins has
been made the first hands they fall
into are those Of the cutter. A dex-
ferrous individual is he, with his keen
little knife shaped almost exactly like
the outstretched wing Of a bird, it has
no handle, but is grasped at its widest
end firmly in the palm and fingers Of
the artist.
There he stands at q high hardwood
table as smooth as glass and as level as
a billiard table. Before him are piles
of skins of all sorts, those of the mon
key, the cinnamon bear, black bear,
Russian fox, sable, ermine, beaver,
seal and portions OF the sleek sides of
the leopard, as we'll as the striped ones
OF the tiger and the panther. Among
the smaller skins, like those Of the
musk rat, mink and beaver, scarcely
one in a hundred is perfect. There
arc tears, bullet and shot holes, old
scars, from bites and scratches. Be-
fore the skins pass into the hands of
the cutter they have been wet and only
partially dried and we'll shaken, SO as
TO be pliable. The cutter examines
the skin critically and then puts it fur
side down upon the table; then, after
be decides upon the most economical
way of carving it up, he cuts out all
the defective parts and hard edges.
the defects are many it may be
necessary for Lm TO divide the skin
into as many a. tweBeey strips. A
loss Of about 90 percbetis counted on
the process of Citing, tough the
most minute pieces,,asZsn kbe they as
small as a thumbnai1, ~fe carefully
Formerly all fur sewt was done by
hand, but now specially made sewing
machines are used to o'the work ac-
,urately, securing together the long
trips, which pass about the periphery
If the muf, and never from end to
end. Matching the strips is a delicate
OBJ, as colors must be we'll blended,
md the nap run the same way, SO as
give a nice even surface. Good
linen thread is ordinarily used, and
he seam must be carried SO near the
that it will not show on the
side.
After the W has fastened the
'nds of the big oblong piece together
orming a cylinder, he passes it to the
blocker" 1t is hardly necessary to
tate that the blocker works on a block
he same as a blocker in a hat factory.
The muff block is composed of seven
Iisks which fit together on seven seq
nents of a circle SO arranged by turn
ng q hand screw that will open much
he same as a hat stretcher. The
keleton of the fur portion Of the
huff is pulled over the block,
nd the ends of the fur tackled on
After stretching as tight as
deemed safe, the whole thing is
laced in the sun to dry, as solar heat
5 considered much better for the fur
han the artificial.
When it is partly dried theatacks
re pulled out and the fur is tuhfaHKeI
yer to the fnisher. The latter has
hand many varieties of silk and
attn Innings and facings for mufs.
he fnisher sews in one end of the
ming and then upon a smaller upright
lock proceeds to put in the wadding.
finishing up is then an easy task.
I cord, tassels aud other ornaments
in style, they are quickly put in
lace by an assistant, and then the
huff is subjected to a brisk brushing
nd smoothing process. after which it
placed in a box ready for shipment.
Experienced cutters earn from $15
, sI8 a week and blockers and finish
RS about s. per week less. Expert
omen fnishers earn about the same
, the men. Two men and two women
no are skilled at the business can
AXE aboutthree dozen ordinary muhs
day. or two dozen large onea,