Hi everyone and Annette who asked: > The bolster pillow - > is that a sausage-shaped (cylindrical) pillow, with the bobbins hanging off > it? Can this be used to make Torchon and Bucks Point?
In general household use, a bolster is a long stuffed pillow. The bolster pillow for bobbin lace is also cylindrical; used upright, one would likely be making Spanish laces. If used horizontal, and if it is small enough for the bobbins to hang off it, it would be used for continental laces such as edgings, many of which are Torchon-like in character. As the bobbins are hanging off the pillow, dangling in air for some of the time, you need a system of diverting the ones not in use, out of the way. I do not think the smaller bolsters would be suitable for Buckspoint. There is another pillow, called a bolster, or Midland's pillow - according to Stillwell's dictionary of lacemaking, this pillow measure 17 inches long with a circumference of 32 in. My small bolster that I'm using for the Tigne lace (a Torchon 'type') is 13 inches long and 20 inches in circumference. Its smallness permits the bobbins to hang when necessary, or pinned out of the way when in waiting. Accordingly, I think the larger size bolster would permit the bobbins to rest *on* the pillow, at an angle, but supported by the pillow itself. There is another Midlands pillow referred to as a square pillow made from a 36 inch square piece of sturdy fabric, brought together at the corners (sort of like a pastry) and stuffed with straw. I have made one, and it is very heavy. I presume it is would go on the 3-legged device called a horse (mine rest on a tall laundry basket for want of a horse <g>). If anyone has Thomas Wright's little book, Plate 47 shows Miss Warren at her pillow, which rests on a bowed horse. I would tend to call this pillow a bolster as well - but it may be the square pillow. Plates 24, 35, 36 and the frontispiece show large rounded pillows, with bobbins and work in progress - the bobbins do not dangle but hang against the pillow. I hope this helps! bye for now Bev in Sooke, BC who has come to terms with the hooded bobbins on the small bolster. It is a truce. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
