My father amongst other things painted stage sets, in the fifties and sixties, the paint was made with size, a fish or bone glue that comes in small amber pellets it has to be mixed with water and heated on gas ring, before the pigment was added. This was done in paint kettles for smaller quantities and buckets for lager ones. One day he came home saying "you can't buy galvanised buckets at the Iron mungers" (hardware shop in the UK, before DIY shops!)any more. That was the beginning of plastic! Later the only place you could get "galvanised" bucket was the farmers co-op. I remember when the only plastics was "Bakelite", school desks had ink wells and there weren't many cars about, and, I'm only sixty next week!
Regards, Matthew
