Re: [lace] Lace tells
Correction: The following article is by David Hopkin and is in The Cowper and Newton Journal. 2) Lacemakers and Old Songs, in Olney and Elsewhere https://tinyurl.com/ybwtsz7a (This article is available on ResearchGate which you can join for free.) The journal is associated with the Cowper and Newton museum (in Olney, midway between Northampton and Bedford) which also has a lace collection: http://www.cowperandnewtonmuseum.org.uk/lace-making/ Veronika Irvine - 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/
Re: [lace] Lace tells
Thank you Beth for that very interesting link to the work by David Hopkin . (Here it is again in short form: https://tinyurl.com/ycpxtoa3) Looking into some of David's research, I came across some related work: 1) David Hopkin is also involved in another project on lace history: By the poor, for the rich: Lace in Context https://laceincontext.com/ 2) Lacemakers and Old Songs, in Olney and Elsewhere, by Cowper and Newton https://tinyurl.com/ybwtsz7a (This article is available on ResearchGate which you can join for free.) 3) "Work the Old Lady out of the Ditch": Singing at Work by English Lacemakers, by Gerald Porter Journal of Folklore Research Vol. 31, No. 1/3, Triple Issue: Ballad Redux (Jan. - Dec., 1994), pp. 35-55 http://www.jstor.org/stable/3814509 (This link requires a login. If you attended any university or college (even if you did not graduate), I recommend you ask your alma mater about free access to online resources for alumni. You probably are eligible to access these resources.) Kind regards, Veronika Irvine ... in Waterloo, which is living up to its name today - 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/
Re: [lace] Construction foam pillows
I needed to make a bunch of large pillows for a workshop just a few months ago. I went to a local store that sells hot tubs. Every hot tub is shipped with a Styrofoam cover on top. I was able to get the foam for free because it was just destined for the dump. If you choose this route, be aware that some hot tub brands use a very nice thick piece of Styrofoam while others are a bit thin, so ask to look through all the available pieces. My husband used a table saw to cut down the large sheets. The edges came out very straight and clean - I of course had to vacuum up the shop afterwards but it was not much worse than cleaning up sawdust. I am very glad to hear that you are teaching a group of Girl scouts about lace making. I have long thought that it would be nice to have a badge for lace making added to the Girl Scout curriculum. All the best, Veronika - 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/
Re: [lace] Lace grounds with symmetry
Hi Beth, You raise a very good point. Any pattern that can be reflected in two mirrors at right angles can also be rotated 180 degrees and still look the same. The type of patterns that I am looking for can be rotated and look the same but do not have any mirror reflections - like a pinwheel. Thank you for making this observation and helping me clarify what I am looking for. Kind regards, Veronika - 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/
Re: [lace] Lace grounds with symmetry
Thank you Brenda for your detailed and comprehensive reply. It is very much appreciated. In my description of what I am looking for, I left out an important detail. I am ignoring the over and under crossing of the threads when looking for symmetry. You can think of it as looking for symmetry in the shadow of the lace ground (a very crisp shadow) or looking at the lace from a little bit of a distance, not with a magnifying glass (or for me when I take off my reading glasses). You are quite correct that at the level of twists and crosses the over and under position of threads in CTC has rotational symmetry. I found this level of detail a bit too restrictive when classifying patterns by symmetry. I want to think of the pattern more from a high level view and the impression of symmetry it gives to a viewer. In this light, I would say the pattern Gauze Shape on page 8 of Cook and Stott's "Book of Bobbin Lace Stitches" has four fold rotation symmetry (pattern can be turned a quarter turn and still look the same). The pattern Braided Leaves 2 on page 125 of C has two fold rotation symmetry (can be turned a half turn and still look the same). Another pattern that I would say has with two fold rotation symmetry is A82 from Viele Gute Grunde Volume 1, a very lovely Le Puy pattern. Patterns like Rose Ground 1 on page 65 of C I would classify, using this shadow criteria, as having only reflection symmetry. (To be precise, in Rose Ground 1 there are two different places where 4 intersecting mirrors can be placed and one place where two mirrors can intersect.) Many thanks for your help, Veronika - 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/
[lace] Lace grounds with symmetry
Dear Arachnids, I am very proud to belong to a community that was such an early adopter of the internet. I don't post very often by I greatly appreciate the ideas and information shared by other members. Please keep it up. Today I have a question that I am hoping, with your collective wealth of knowledge, you can help me out with. I am studying lace grounds patterns that have symmetry. I have been able to find many examples with mirror reflection in them. Roseground is a good example which can be reflected in four mirrors that meet in the center of a square (see the following picture: https://tesselace.com/symmetry/). What I am looking for is grounds that have rotation symmetry - like a pinwheel. That is grounds that can be turned around in a quarter, third or half of a circle and still look the same. In the link above I have included an example of pinwheel symmetry in a little ground that I discovered using a computer algorithm. I have not been able to find very many examples. I have looked through Ulrike Lohr's Viele "Gute Grunde", Uta Ulriche's "Grunde mit System", Cook and Stott's "Bobbin Lace grounds" and "Moderne Grunde" by the Deutscher Kloppelverband (apologies for the lack of umlauts). So my question to you is, do you know of any grounds with rotation symmetry? Many thanks, Veronika Irvine http://tesselace.com In Victoria BC where the wind has picked up, the sky has clouded over and the temperature has dropped but that is OK because I am stuck inside working anyway. With any luck it will rain and water my garden. - 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/
Re: [lace] Thread for a boobin lace scarf
Thanks Anna. There is a good description of how to wind and secure bobbins with S versus Z twists on page 143 of Kloppeln by Ulricke Lohr. I am also left-right dyslexic so I have the page bookmarked. Your guidelines for measuring how much thread to wind on are very helpful. It is a question I often ask myself. Here is a summary of your description which I think will be quite handy for me in the future (please correct me if I have any of it wrong): Footsides: 1.5 times finished length Footside passives: 1 times finished length + 5 inches Workers: 10 times finished length * Ground threads: 2.5 times finished length ** * The amount of thread to wind on the workers depends on the width of cloth stitch band so it will vary quite a bit. It will be roughly 4 times the number of horizontal grid points spanned times the finished length. (e.g. a cloth band across . . . . grid points has a span of 3. For a 10 cm long cloth band of this width, it will take 120 cm of thread per bobbin on the workers.) ** This applies for Torchon ground and similar grounds For my scarf I bought 3 x 30 gm ball which contain 300m and another 300m of a contrasting colour. I am curious - how did you use the contrasting colour? Was it the worker in your cloth stitch sections? I would also like to thank all those who emailed me in person. Here is a brief summary of the suggestions I have received: Warp yarn has as tighter twist than weft yarn. Twist Angle - The greater the twist angle, the stiffer the cloth will be. Look for thread with an angle in the range 25 to 45 degrees. Machine spun yarns for weaving have spinning oils on them that need to be washed out after completing the project and this will change the yarn. Bloom - This is how much the thread will swell up when washed. Look for a thread with very little bloom to preserve the holes of the lace. Wool tends to have a lot of bloom but silk may also have a little bit. 8/2 Tencel and 10/2 mercerized cotton make nice scarves. Even loose threads and novelty threads with added texture can be used with caution - just keep an eye on the twists and occasionally twirl the bobbins around to add some twist back in. Many thanks, Veronika in Victoria BC, amongst the rhododendrons, thankful that it is raining today so that I can stop gardening and make lace - 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/
[lace] Thread for a boobin lace scarf
Dear Lacemakers, I have been admiring the scarf that Martina Wolter-Kampmann is wearing in the video that accompanies her book Unsichtbar\Invisible. I am thinking of designing and making something like that for myself. I wandered into a local weaving supply store (Knotty by Nature for those of you in the vicinity of Victoria BC) and was looking at their hand dyed silk threads. My question to you is, what qualities should I look for when choosing a thread for a bobbin lace scarf? I would like it to be soft and flowing so I am thinking silk or a silk blend and I want the grid size to be fairly large, maybe 8 mm between footside pins. My biggest concern is that the threads I have been looking at do not have much of a twist. Will they fall apart as I am working? The shop owner is very knowledgeable and dyes and spins some of the threads that he sells. So what questions should I ask him about his threads? Many thanks, Veronika - 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/
[lace] RE: Mathematics and lace
From Nancy Neff: By the way, have you seen Ulrike Voelker's 4-volume loose-leafed book on grounds--Viele Gute Grunde? Hi Nancy, Thank you. Yes, I have all 4 volumes of Viele Gute Grunde and it is quite an inspiration. Most of the designs she has documented are larger than what my algorithm is capable of producing. I consider her book the Holy Grail toward which I am striving. To get there, I need to solve some difficult computer algorithm problems – but that is what makes the research so much fun. Thanks for pointing it out to me. Kind regards, Veronika - 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/
Re: [lace] mathematics and lace - compare to Whiting's research
From Karen Bovard: Follow the following link to explore Patty Dowden's work on Hyperbolic Tatting: http://tinyurl.com/kkksnzl (tiny url of original link to HyperbolicTatting.pdf) Thanks Karen. I was aware of the work on crocheting hyperbolic surfaces but had not heard of this tatted version by Patty Dowden. What a wonderful find. I am very interested in the growing collection of work about exploring mathematics through fibre arts. I do quite a bit of outreach work to get youth interested in math and computer science and look for different ways to attract girls in particular. Arts and crafts are usually much more effective than computer games and robots, or so I have found. In my paper I mention a book called âMaking mathematics with needleworkâ by Sarah-Marie Belcastro and Carolyn Yackel. Associated with the book there is a good web site maintained by Sarah-Marie: http://www.toroidalsnark.net/mkbook.html And a list of various projects (see Selected links: Mathematical Fiber Arts (but not knitting)) toward the bottom of the following page: http://www.toroidalsnark.net/mathknit.html I will send this tatting reference to Sarah-Marie and see if she will add it to her list of mathematical fibre art links. Kind regards, Veronika - 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/
Re: [lace] mathematics and lace - compare to Whiting's research
Thanks for the reference Jeri. I will definitely try to get my hands on a copy of Whiting's book. I have been trying to collect as many references as possible on lace grounds and systematic descriptions of lace. The main resources I am using right now are: Viele Gute Grunde by Ulrike Lohr Grunde mit System by Uta Ulrich Moderne Grunde by Deutscher Kloppelverband e.V. The Book of Bobbin Lace Stitches by Cook and Stott Many thanks to Lorelei and the IOLI newsgroup for helping me compile this list and to Bev Walker and the Victoria Lace Guild for helping me get access to books. As an aside, I have recently discovered the Google Translate image to text option which is helping me read some of the German text. You can take a photograph of the text and Google Translate will scan the image for words so I don't have have to type them. Now all we need is to get Google to recognize lace specific terms... Kind regards, Veronika Irvine http://web.uvic.ca/~vmi/ - 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/
Re: [lace] RE: Mathematics and lace
Hello Arachne readers, Thank you for your interest in my research and experiments. Any feedback or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Feel free to post them here, email me directly or participate in the discussion on the laceioli site. This paper is part of my PhD thesis research in Computer Science. The co-author, Frank Ruskey, is my supervisor and an excellent guide in helping me convert the ideas I have about lace into mathematical descriptions. Many thanks to Jo Pol for including my Inkscape tools on her DiBL website and also for extending and improving those tools. My computer algorithm has produced millions of lace ground patterns â too many to work on in my life time. As a result, I am currently using symmetry to filter out those ground patterns which might have more aesthetic appeal. Here is a link to one of the grounds I have generated using mirror reflection symmetry: https://www.flickr.com/photos/veronika_irvine/16263820450/in/set-721576493791 76771/ I have worked the ground with two different stitches: the top in whole stitch and the bottom in cloth stitch. I have not personally seen this ground before but I am not sure if it is ânewâ. It looks a bit like the diagonal window grounds found on pages 167 â 172 of Grunde mit System by Uta Ulrich. Have you seen it before? Many thanks, Veronika Irvine http://web.uvic.ca/~vmi/ -Original Message- From: jo Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 12:13 PM To: 'Arachne' Subject: [lace] RE: Mathematics and lace Hello spiders Actually Veronika Irvine, one of the authors of this paper I'd guess she is not just one of the authors but the major author, the other author one is just her supervisor. Veronika also has a computer code based on her work (DiBL - Diagrams for Bobbin Lace), see https://github.com/jo-pol/DiBL/wiki I can't help but defending myself as the mayor author of the DiBL project. Veronika's output was my input. She's the giant, I stand on her shoulders. Her InkScape extension were first published (and still are) on her own website http://web.uvic.ca/~vmi/ and later bundled together with extensions by me at DiBL. One of my extensions is a simplified version of an eight year old (way too complicated) polar grid generator. Jo Pol - 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/
