Actually, that was a wonderful post, one that I enjoyed reading from beginning to end! Ha ha, besides loving the results of your research, I also struggle to relearn violin and learn flute! Good luck with everything! Glad to here your health is good!
Cearbhael (aka Angel) Sent from my iPhone > On Jul 13, 2020, at 12:10 AM, Brian Lemin <brid...@bigpond.com> wrote: > > Covid has a lot to answer for and this letter is one of them. I am often > asked about where my bobbin interest came from etc. The simple answer is I > started to make bobbins as result of seeing a church member's pillow at tea > one week end. Now here the rest of it. I hope the arachne editor will be > Covid-like lenient on me for this mostly off topic post. > > When i started all this bobbin stuff, some 25 years ago after i retired, I > had no idea this is where it would take me. I was just asking questions > about antique bobbins that few people could answer, so i started to research > the answers myself. > > Arachne has always been my greatest source of interest and help, and we (as a > group ) did 3 or 4 little bits of research ourselves which I wrote up and put > on my Angel-fire web page (now more or less defunct). I then started to find > books on bobbins or lace, that were very helpful. > > The of course then there was the Springetts revolution and that seemed to > change everything. More people began collecting, their work revealed the > importance of local history contained in or around bobbins. More importantly > it opened my eyes to what appeared to me was a whole field of investigation > of bobbins. > > I had a few mentors and one special bobbin friend, without whose help and > access to her wonderful collection of bobbins, very little of what is > published under my name could have been achieved. > > Even today she remains reluctant for her name to be mentioned, however I have > tried very hard to acknowledge her help as a knowledgeable collector, > restorer and curator. She is also a valued writer of local history on > bobbins and her work has appeared in many magazines local to her area of > living. However i am certain that her collection is the most complete and > best quality bobbin collection in private hands that is current in the UK. I > think it is fair to say that for different reasons, we are both slowing down, > but what a huge amount we have achieved. (and we are both fabulously rich as > the result of it! smile.) > > East midland bobbins took a long time for me (us) to get our heads around, > but that has culminated in the web publication of a bobbin dictionary > (shorthand title) ( www.brianlemin.com) together with a collectors guide for > East Midland bobbins which was an excellent showcase for her bobbins. > > It would be wrong for me to say that we then went our separate ways, far from > it, she is still trying to help me get my head around S Bucks bobbins, but it > is true that my East Devon and Downton project was a bit left field from her > collection. > > The East Devon part of that project has resulted in a Collectors Guide that > is in the hands of a volunteer arachne person editor. I feel desperate for > her! She told me of a typo in one of my webdocs publications and said that > she was an editor in her other life, "then" she received from me a 100 page > manuscript to edit! (Beware of what you write to me about!) > > The Downton part of that project is of necessity a long range project. Those > genres are hard to come by and a kind volunteer and museum curator are > working hard on my behalf to extend my Downton Bobbin database and "teach me" > about them. That is now a slow project because of Covid, but I hope there > will eventually be a "Collectors Guide to Downton lace-making bobbins" They > are fascinating, just you wait and see. [if you know why a number of then are > sequentially numbered please tell me!) > > I do not intend to "do" 20th century bobbins (see Springett) > > But there remains the Malmsbury bobbins, plain bobbins to almost boredom. > Then the "job" I started all that time ago will be complete. Sure there are > still pockets of research and sharing to do but I aim to slow down. Do a bit > more art patch-working, become a better guitar player (I am a wanna-be jazz > guitarist( which will never happen, I don't do the practice!) I am making a > clavichord and that will make me relearn to art of reading music. ( Love > classical music and Jazz and very little in between!)So I have plenty to do. > My heath is pretty good but i have few struggles resulting from cancer, but I > enjoy life with those minor handicaps. > > Help please? > > I am always asking you for something, this is to ask you if any of you can > tell me anything about Malmsbury bobbins that will help me fill up a couple > of paragraphs or it will be a very short "Collectors Guide". My apologies to > the Malmsbury lace makers and their museum staff who were very nice to me > about 20 years ago but i will cover their bobbins in three paras and a > picture ____ and that is not fair. > > Thanks to you all take care, stay indoors, write long letters to arachne!!!! > > Bye > > Brian > Cooranbong. Australia > > - > To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: > unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to > arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/ - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
