Hello, My first reaction was that he made the moulds which put an impressed design into the cake of soap.... but then wondered if this could be a full-time occupation, since once a set was made in metal, they would last a very long time .... unless the soap placed in the moulds was corrosive when in its malleable state? I know damp soap eats into the metal-coated soap holders (replaced every 3 years) in my shower, so perhaps they didn't last all that long and needed regular newly engraved designs? Hope that's not a silly answer! My husband, as a lad, worked for Unilever, lots of soap machines there! Regards Ada At 03:19 PM 18/11/2008 +0000, you wrote: >Could it have anything to with soapstone sculpting? > >Ian Fairclough > > >Donald Tomkinson wrote: > > >In 1816 Jospeph Tomkinson of Stoke on Trent was described as a > >"soapwork engraver". The occupation could possibly be the coating a > >sheet of metal with soap and then etching a design into the soap and > >then applying acid to eat the design into the metal. If this is the > >case could Joseph have worked in printing? > > > >I haven't been able to find a complete definition of the occupation > >and would be grateful for assistance. > > > >Don Tomkinson > > > > > > > >==================================== > >WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ > >ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH > > > >------------------------------- > >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OLD-ENGLISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > > > > > >==================================== >WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ >ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >OLD-ENGLISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >quotes in the subject and the body of the message