A rubber tooth brush. In 1899 this was likely quite an amazing item to find at your local shop. it is easy to forget how our ordinary day to day items were once considered new fangled contraptions. The descriptions in these old ads often result in raised eyebrows. In this one, the line “Bailey’s celebrated bath and flesh brushes” seems like an odd choice of words. Wouldn’t it be presupposed that with bathing you would use a bath brush on you flesh? They surely can have meant to imply the brushes were flesh. And the word “celebrated” denotes a certain touch of renown was attached to the Bailey line, even if just as ad copy.
As I work my way through the tinkerlab monthly challenge I am having fun going through my paper stash and finding gems like the ad I used in this piece. It is both fun and frustrating to try and winkle out what the word each day will bring to mind. But that is the point of a challenge, to push the boundaries we enclose ourselves behind.
Wild Bird Creative 