Title: Ibsêk Nekâd
Fandom: The Hobbit
Rating: G
Length: 334
Content notes: N/A
Author notes: Thanks go to Zana, Morgynleri & Icka for encouragement & sanity-checking.

Title is by way of the Dwarrow Scholar, and is meant to mean Laundry. Literally it is 'Washing clothing pieces'. The laundry-soap recipe at the end is the one I use for my own clothes.

Photo taken by et-excrucior. Many more wonderful pics on their tumblr.

Summary: Dwarves and Laundry




Dwarves had better things to do than do laundry, so of course they had a system. There were Dwarves who enjoyed doing maintenance things, and certainly there were Dwarves who enjoyed the challenges of plumbing and piping and heating water and air and putting it all where one wanted it to go. So there were washing-pools and rinsing-pools and drying-rooms and all manner of efficient and elegant scrubbers and smoothers and brushes and steamers and ways to make pile stand back up just so. There was a positive assembly-line for flat linens — sheets and towels and such, where one put the pieces to be cleaned in one end and out it came crisp and clean and even folded at the other.

There were Dwarves whose love and craft was textiles, and the making and maintenance thereof. They positively reveled in steam and suds and the chemistry of dying, cleaning, bleaching, drying and making various fibers do interesting things. But even they were not over-fond of the drudgery parts of the process. And besides, scrubbing and wringing and pounding on rocks was hard on the cloth. Better to encourage the dirt out by gentler means. That was what clever mechanisms and chemistry were for after all.

And only some of dwarven clothing was meant to be washed. Leather and hide, wools and felts and other sturdy materials were aired, brushed, spot-cleaned and treated with special compounds that drew out dirt and oil and unpleasant odor. Metal-thread and silk embroidery was handled with the care and respect the work was owed, not to mention that one could appreciate the craft while making it shine as the maker had intended.

But laundry for laundry's sake? No, Dwarven ingenuity and craftsmanship took care of that.

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A recipe for general laundry soap:

4 parts Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
4 parts Borax
2 parts Soap in flakes or grated (with a minimum of glycerol remaining)
1 part Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate or washing soda)

Mix all together. Use about 2 tablespoons per load, more for dirtier things.

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