I have a couple of ivory - yes ivory from legitimate sources - made by
Barry Adams which are 9cm long but of average thickness. I used to
think that they were short because he'd used old piano keys but he said
no, it was because his ex-partner has very small hands and she prefers
the smaller length and as he developed his own style of bobbin turning
it was based on that shorter length.
I guess that historically it's always been the case that the
bobbinmakers made what suited their customers. Bucks thumpers are
shorter than the average midlands bobbin and some may have preferred a
similar length. Also if you've got a lot of bobbins on the pillow very
slim bobbins ('Old Maids') bundle together better.
Brenda
On 28 Oct 2008, at 06:47, Brian Lemin wrote:
Thank you for your contributions. Most interesting. Some folks have
asked me
the size:
They are 8 cm long and 5mm at the largest part (just below the neck)
There is no doubt in my mind that they are old, so travelling
bobbins are
not really an option (I stand to be corrected of course)
I was always under the impression that these were really old bobbins.
From
where I got that idea I have no notion!.
The fact that they are bone bothers me as I would have thought that
wood
would have been the "oldest" material.
I have a couple that "just" breach that description (short and thin)
and are
fully decorated
and from known makers.
Over the years of my bobbin studies I have moved from trying to prove
"Who"
made them, "what were they used for" but I still like to enquire as
not
being a lace maker makes me ask these questions first.
The chances are that they made from small bits of bone that were
available
to the maker. They would not want to waste useful material.
Just as simple as that.
Fashion too seems to play a part in the trends.
There was a time when bobbins were quite thick (say 8mm in dia) but
modern
bobbins have become quite thin again. (This is of course a sweeping
generalization) When I was making bobbins I had a handy little
clientele
that actually asked me to make thicker bobbins so they could handle
them
better. I presume they had issues with arthritis etc.
In the South bucks range of bobbins there are some quite small ones
(Dumps/
bobtails) I think they may be called.
It is just interesting (to me at least)
Thanks again
Brian and Jean
from Cooranbong, Australia
--
I am using the free version of SPAMfighter.
We are a community of 5.5 million users fighting spam.
SPAMfighter has removed 3989 of my spam emails to date.
Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len
The Professional version does not have this message
-
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line:
unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Brenda in Allhallows, Kent
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html
-
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line:
unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
