Chapter 481 Cotton Fluffing Technique
A while ago, Cheng Wanwan asked Old Zhao to help her make a simple tool for fluffing cotton.
A large slingshot made of cedar wood and a handy small hammer—these are the two most basic tools.
Zhao Dashan was in charge of demonstrating the process. He tied a sturdy belt around his waist, tied a bamboo strip behind his waist, about two and a half feet above his head, and then hung the slingshot on the top of the bamboo strip. This caused the bamboo strip to bend forward, which was perfect for fluffing cotton.
He holds a slingshot in his left hand and a small hammer in his right. By striking the slingshot with the hammer, he can fluff up the cotton.
Before that, the dried cotton needs to be neatly laid out on a large table that is two meters long and two meters wide. The cotton clumps need to be torn into wadding by hand to make the quilt softer.
The beds in the village are generally about 1.8 meters wide, so a quilt that is 2 meters wide and 2.2 meters long is about right.
If it's a quilt for heavy snow in winter, it should weigh about eight pounds for two people. If it's an autumn quilt, three or four pounds will be enough. It all depends on personal choice.
After Cheng Wanwan finished her introduction, Zhao Dashan finally began his official work.
The wooden hammer struck, vibrating the bowstring. The bowstring bounced left and right, up and down on the soft cotton, making the cotton fly up and down. The cotton, like fluffy tufts, recombine. With each twang of the bowstring, fluffy tufts filled the room. Before long, the cotton was finally finished being fluffed.
"This cotton is very well fluffed." Cheng Wanwan said with admiration. "It's very fluffy and comfortable. It will definitely be very warm to cover yourself with in winter. Next, we need to press the fluffed cotton neatly to make it a qualified quilt."
Zhao Dashan changed his tools, taking a round winnowing basket with a flat bottom. He used this to press all the cotton down, and after pressing it neatly, he needed to use cotton mesh to fix the cotton in place. This required two people to work together.
One person uses a bamboo strip to pull the cotton, while another person holds a cotton thread to fix the thread to the cotton. This step is a delicate task and needs to be repeated four times to ensure it is completely fixed.
The final step is to flatten the quilt again, smooth the edges with a wooden round millstone, and place it inside the quilt cover. A thick quilt is now complete.
The women watching were all dumbfounded.
"My goodness, if I hadn't come here to learn today, I would have thought that all I had to do was stuff cotton into the duvet cover."
"This way, the quilt is very sturdy, the cotton inside won't clump together, and you won't wake up from the cold at night."
“In the past, we would stuff catkins, willow fluff, chicken feathers, and duck feathers into our quilts. We would sew the quilts into small compartments and stuff some into each compartment. After a winter, the contents of each compartment would become a clump. It was not only troublesome, but it also didn’t keep us warm.”
"Grandma, how did you get such a brilliant mind? From now on, I'll plant whatever your family grows."
"By the way, I think Da Shan recently planted two hundred acres of something, I think it was chili peppers?"
"Are there any seeds left? My family happens to have two acres of land..."
The women's conversations always ranged widely. One minute they were talking about quilts, and the next they were discussing planting chili peppers. In rural areas, people often borrow seeds from each other. These seeds are very cheap in the mall, and Cheng Wanwan wasn't stingy, so she shared some with each household.
However, it's already autumn, so planting can only wait until next year.
The village women put aside this matter for the time being and began preparing to fluff cotton. Since the tools were simple, it didn't seem too difficult to do. So, one by one, they went back to make their own tools. If they had any questions, they would come to ask Zhao Dashan. Zhao Dashan was very generous in sharing his experience and taught everyone earnestly.
However, while the tools are simple to make, the process of fluffing cotton actually requires a lot of skill. Otherwise, why would someone say that fluffing half a pound of cotton into eight ounces and eight ounces doesn't mean increasing the weight, but rather making it look fluffy and soft? That's what makes it truly fluffed successfully. In the end, only three or four women and men in the village learned how to fluff it.
The women who hadn't had a chance to learn gave up when they saw how difficult it was, and decided to pay someone who had learned to help them fluff cotton.
And so, a new profession emerged in the village—cotton carder.
While the villagers were fluffing cotton, Cheng Wanwan and Kong Xiuniang finalized the design of cotton clothing, specifically making undergarments for autumn and winter.
The ladies of this era were accustomed to wearing silk clothes, and before they accepted cotton, making cotton-lined jackets, coats, and capes was somewhat risky.
However, it has a great advantage if it is made into an undergarment, because silk is not skin-friendly and does not retain heat. In the cold winter, wearing a cotton undergarment close to the skin is comfortable and warm, which is likely to be easily accepted.
The Huzhou market is only so big right now. Cheng Wanwan plans to use 10,000 jin of cotton to make clothes, and use the rest of the cotton to make quilts and cotton-padded jackets.
She still feels lingering fear from the snowstorm that killed countless people last year and hopes to use her meager strength to help ordinary people get through the harsh winter.
She decided to make two sizes of cotton quilts, a four-jin quilt and a six-jin quilt, and to make more winter clothes. The price would not exceed two hundred coins. This was not for making money, but rather "to help others when one is successful".
"Madam, this price is too low!" Kong Xiuniang exclaimed. "The Cao family also sells silk quilts. A quilt weighing one jin costs at least two taels of silver. This cotton quilt is no worse than a silk quilt. Even if it sells for three or four taels of silver, there are plenty of people scrambling to buy it."
Cheng Wanwan shook her head: "Does Kong Xiuniang know how much this cotton quilt costs? More than 100 acres of land, more than 10 people, and a yield of more than 60,000 catties. Even if all the costs are included, it won't exceed 100 taels of silver. Even if I make all of it into cotton quilts and sell them, I can earn close to 10,000 taels of silver. Not to mention, some of it was made into undergarments. All things considered, this cotton field can bring me a profit of 20,000 taels of silver."
"But your silkworm farming is different. With two hundred acres of mulberry orchards, you can only raise about two hundred silkworms this year. How many cocoons can you get? Of the silkworm cocoons that become silk, only half can be used to make silk quilts. The cost is so high, so it is indeed worth selling for two taels of silver."
Kong Xiuniang immediately did the math in her head and couldn't help but click her tongue in amazement.
Cotton is planted in the ground, and watering and fertilizing are enough. It can be a little more work when there are serious pests, but it is still easier than raising silkworms.
Silkworm farming requires certain skills, and if not handled carefully, large numbers of silkworms can die. Poor management will reduce production, so workers need to take meticulous care of the silkworms and cannot stop for a moment.
On the same nearly 200 mu of land, cotton can yield more than 60,000 jin, while silkworm silk will ultimately yield less than 10,000 jin.
On the surface, Sui Ruren's pricing seems like a loss, but in reality, she made a fortune. This money was much easier to earn than raising silkworms.
“Once cotton is widely available and every household has it, there won’t be much profit to be made from cotton quilts. I never intended to make money from that. We should focus on clothing design,” Cheng Wanwan said with a smile. “When others don’t even know what cotton fabric is, we’ll be producing cotton linings, taking the lead in the market. How can we worry about not making money later…”
As the two were talking, a figure stood outside the door. Fearing being discovered, the figure turned and quickly left.
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