lation, purchased from itinerant woodcarvers. Designs, though on occasion unique, were more often interpretations of indigenous motifs, such as tulips and hearts in Pennsylvania German communities, or familiar aspects of country life, such as flowers or farm animals. (Fig. 1). CRAFTSHOP PRINTS AND MOLDS Craftshop prints and molds are generally lathe-turned, with skillfully executed designs which are often repetitively produced. Lathe holes on many early examples have been smoothed with a knife or chisel. Often a pattern was used to repeat the design—a device which was to be the prototype for factory-produced molds.
(Figs. 3 and 4). FACTORY-MADE MOLDS In the last half of the nineteenth century, woodworking factories made butter molds along with other treenware (bowls, measures, scoops, ladles, steak pounders and rolling pins). These factory-made butter molds usually were of the plunger type, consisting of a case, a print and a handle. An important event in the factory-made butter mold business was the patenting by John S. Bullard of Chagrin Falls, Ohio of a process for "making molds of a uniform definite size by one continuous operation ...so as to give exact measurement of weight, which cannot be done with the old
mode of constructing them:" Almost 250,000 of these molds were made by Bullard in the year 1876,3 and, although standardized in their design, as illustrated by this wheat mold (Fig. 5), they were superior to many of the competitive factorymade molds. A related patent for boring butter mold cases had been granted to Mr. Bullard in 1864,'but it is the date of his second patent, April 17, 1866, that is stamped on the molds in many collections. The Bullard factory finally closed in 1895,5 but by that time another innovator, W. C. Freeman of Kalkaska, Michigan, entered the business. The 1892 Freeman
5. Print and case ofBullard butter mold. Print 9.0 cm. diameter. Case 11.9 cm. diameter. Wheat. Collection ofMichigan State University Museum.
3,4. The professionalism of craftshop printmakers is illustrated by these pig and cow prints. The small oval pig print is a delicately detailed representation ofa unique motif; it is the only pig print seen to date, and is complemented by a nicely turned handle. The cow, with distinctive eyes, horns and udder, is to befound in a number of collections. The craftshop that made it probably used a pattern to repeat the design.(Pig)4.0 cm. diameter, 5.0 cm. high. Collection ofMr. and Mrs. William Harleton.(Caw)11.4 cm. diameter, 7.3 cm. high. Collection ofPennsylvania Farm Museum, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 47