Images below from private collections, Queensferry History Group
After printing the scrap sheets they went through two other processes. The first, embossing, gave the sheet a raised 3D appearance and coated with a gelatine and gum film to enable the paper to stretch without cracking or tearing and this gave a glazed sheen. Then the punching stamping process was used to cut away all the surplus area of paper from the design. After this the sheets were separated into 1000 sheet swags ready for wholesale distribution. The most expensive scraps were finished with gold leaf.
Images below from private collections, Queensferry History Group
They soon found their way to family albums and personal journals, as people used them to decorate the chronicles of their travels, visitors, their daily lives and important events of the day.
From the 1880’s it was common for children and adults to use small reliefs to decorate personal greetings cards and gifts. This led to Valentines and reliefs were used to add colour to their lacy embossed surface of the cards.
Colourful paper scraps and Dresden foil die cuts were also used to embellish greeting cards, valentines, and ornaments to celebrate important holidays, such as Christmas and Easter.
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One British based manufacturer is Mamelok who originate from Breslau, now known as Wroclaw, in Poland, and was launched in the first half of the 19th century. One of the first commercial colour printing companies, Mamelok developed as a publisher by selling religious pictures (also known as oleographs) and embossed scrap reliefs. The company came to London in 1940 and moved to Bury St Edmunds in 1968 before buying a German company called Heilbronn und Pinner (known as H&P Decorations). They are now based just outside Cambridge. Their website, for anyone who wishes to continue or start their collection is -www.mamelok.com
Below are some inexpensive scraps recently produced by Mamelok.
A selection of Vintage Scraps (not those below) can be purchased at ..............
SweetScrapsTreasures on Etsy