66/278/1-2

A shave is used to shave and reduce the thickness of a willow skein after it has been split with the cleave to prepare it for weaving. This upright shave consists of an oblong bock of boxwood with a brass plate and two steel blades, with two wing nuts for adjustment. It was used by Emily Mullins, a Reading basketmaker.

Miss Emily E. Mullins (1906–1967) was a basketmaker in Reading. Her family were basketmakers for at least five generations. Her father, William Mullins, had no sons and Emily chose to become a basketmaker and carry on the tradition. She ran a basketmaking business in Bath circa 1926–1939, and moved to London in 1940 where she made baskets for the war effort. Later, she moved to Reading where she took over her father’s job on his death at Cook’s Dairy and Farm Equipment Ltd., a basketmaking firm founded in 1760 by John Cook. Cook’s had premises at Market Place, Reading, and the workshop was at Silver Street, Reading. The Museum has an extensive collection of baskets and basketmaking tools (approximately 200) given to the Museum by Emily Mullins. No correspondence between the Museum and Emily Mullins was found in July 2012, and it is assumed from scraps of information (e.g. a note on the Adlib record for 63/61 which said that the 63/ baskets were made by Emily Mullins for the Museum and were therefore never used, and a note on the Adlib record for 64/147 which said that Emily Mullins made numerous baskets for the Museum in 1964) that the baskets were made by Emily Mullins at Cook’s Silver Street workshop and the tools were used by Emily Mullins at the same workshop., MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: UPRIGHT // Acc. No.: 66/278 // Group: CRAFTS. WOOD BASKETS // Neg. no.: 60/8277 // Place of origin: Reading // Period in use: pre-1966. // DESCRIPTION // Materials: Wood metal/Steel and Brass // User: Emily Mullins // Shape and construction: Block of boxwood. Brass plate on front 2 joined steel blades protrude through hole in centre. Width apart is controlled by a wing nut at the end. “EM” & 1952 stamped on plate. // Dimensions: 5 1/2” long. 1 3/4” wide. D. [depth] 1 1/4” // Use: For making willow skeins. After splitting willow into Cleave it is given constant width through the upright then paired to even thickness in the Shave. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes: '

Cook's Dairy and Farm Equipment Ltd. ()
Wright, Dorothy (Recorder)