Before the Age of Machinery, textile materials were made by hand. Fibers of linen or wool were twisted together on a spinning wheel to make long threads. The threads of yarn were then woven to and fro on looms. One of the last steps in the long and tedious process was done by the fuller. His job was to steam, press, clean and full, or thicken, the finished fabric.

In olden days, fuller's earth was used by the fuller who took the newly woven fabric as it came from the hand looms. The fabric tended to be irregular with loose and bumpy patches and woolen fabrics were tacky with oily grease. Steaming and pressing stretched some of the threads and shrank others to make the fabric flat and even in texture. The grease and stains were removed by a special powdery clay which came to be knoyin as the fuller's earth.

In the modern textile industry, fabrics are woven perfectly by machines and cleaning and bleaching are done in great vats of up to date chemicals. The fuller and his earth are no longer needed to make cloth. But we still use fuller's earth in certain preparations to remove greasy spots from wall paper, clothing and furniture.

 With the invention of machinery, fuller’s earth lost its ancient job, but in return it was given several new ones. The strange clay tends to bleach out colors and absorb greasy impurities. Large quantities are used every year to bleach and refine mineral and vegetable oils. Certain chemical industries use it as a filter and it is an ingredient in certain insecticides. Its most glamorous job is in the oil business where it is used by drillers seeking petroleum buried deep in the earths crust.

Like all clays, fuller’s earth is a sedimentary rock made by water from tiny fragments of weathered stone. Most clays., however, have a plastic quality. They can be molded into shapes. But this cannot be done with fuller’s earth. We cannot use it to make pottery and ceramics.

Fuller’s earth is made from tiny suspended fragments of the minerals calcium, magnesium and aluminum and at least half of the mixture is silica. The limy minerals make it useless as a potters clay. The silica content makes it valuable as a grease absorbant.

Clays are very common minerals occurring in the soil. Almost every deposit was laid down under slightly different conditions  . by muddy streams or shallow seas, by swamps or silty floods. Our deposits of fuller's earth are mainly in Florida, Georgia and Texas. Modern industry uses about half a million tons of it every year.