[lace] Difficult laces

To ask what is the most difficult lace is like asking what is the most difficult school subject. It is subjective (sorry!) and dependent on many factors, only some of which are related to the innate abilities of the individual. It is important to remember that lacemakers didn’t dart about the

[lace] IOLI Convention roommate wanted

I have a friend who is looking for a roommate for the IOLI convention in San Antonio. Please contact me and I will pass along her contact information. Thanks! Anita Hansen - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help,

Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

Oh, yes, I’d forgotten to say that Joepie. We were given the pricking to replicate and use – either by drawing it out on graph paper and trueing it up or by taking a rubbing of it or pricking through it. Sue suebabbs...@gmail.com - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com

[lace] more on being able to read the prickings of a lace design

I think this is reading in all directions at once, kind of a gestalt, taking in the whole as an ensemble, you just see it as one continuous thing, reading it as an imago, a whole, rather than disassembling it. Your eyes then follow first one line than another. It seems to me that reading doesn't

Re: [lace] more on lace designs as writing systems

From: owner-l...@arachne.com on behalf of Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi being able to read the prickings of a lace pattern is like being able to read a music score This is somewhat how I 'think'. I didn't at first but

[lace] Lacemaking and music

I was immediately drawn to Amy Mills' comment about lace and music: "... to make a relatively simple analogy - the pattern could easily be considered a score, and the various stitches required to make the various parts of the lace compared to the different values of notes, the number of stitches a

Re: [lace] more on lace designs as writing systems

Sharon, This is the way for lacemaking students. Or at least, it’s how I learned and how I teach my students, but it seems very common. You learn one stitch at a time and then combine them later to create more complex patterns. - Elena - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com

Re: [lace] the logic of Binche

Fun is the word! I'd really like to be able to work lace intuitively. Dance, too, but that's not going to happen except as bobbins dance, on the pillow. Lace it is, diagrams or no, whatever works. Happy lacing everyone, however way you like to make it. On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 11:11 AM, Adele

Re: [lace] question about nomenclature

Hi Sharon, I don't think we need more labels. We have "antique" (more than 100 years old, which includes Art Nouveau designs of the fin de siecle), "vintage" (50 to 100 yrs), and "modern" (younger than 50). "Modern" is also used for a particular time period in art and design that includes both

RE: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

The husband and wife pair is sometimes used for the pair made up of one thin and one thicker thread as used for instance in Duchess, Honiton or Flanders lace. Joepie. From: owner-l...@arachne.com on behalf of Diane Williams

[lace] Re: Lace: Making lace before diagrams

Elena, and other friends, I have heard that color-coded working diagrams were developed in Belgium in the 1930s. Before that a numbering system was used by some authors, with lengthy explanations for each number corresponding to the hole in the pricking. Frieda Lipperheide, 1898, Das

[lace] such a wonderful resource

This is probably not news to you, but in case anyone is interested here is a link to the history of how laceworkers emigrated to Australia http://www.angelfire.com/al/aslc/history.htm - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here.

Re: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

Does anybody know what "milk the fairy cow" mean? On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 1:18 PM, Lbuyred wrote: > I remember hearing the phrase "milk the fairy cow" when it came to > tightening up a picot. But I can't remember who said that. > Liz R, Raleigh NC > > > Sharon wrote, > > > >

Re: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

I remember hearing the phrase "milk the fairy cow" when it came to tightening up a picot. But I can't remember who said that. Liz R, Raleigh NC > Sharon wrote, > > To my surprise I haven't heard a single comment about the characteristic > things lacemaking teachers say. - To unsubscribe

Re: [lace] the logic of Binche

I think it is actually more difficult to make Binche (and other laces) following a thread diagram than it would be if you made the lace yourself from nothing more than a cartoon. It might actually be more fun, too. When you follow the diagram of what somebody else did, you aren’t working

Re: [lace] Wedding Veil (Conservation begins with makers)

It may be of interest.that I heard today on morning TV that the embroiderers stopped and washed their hands every 30 minutes. Cleanliness is often mentioned in my conservation/restoration memos to you over the past 23 years, but usually suggested every hour. Now, I am inspired to recommend 30

Re: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

Sharon wrote: To my surprise I haven't heard a single comment about the characteristic things lacemaking teachers say. My guess is that since this is a public forum the question may feel indiscreet. This is not a characteristic comment (at least I hope not). No names no pack drill. When I

[lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

Dear Arachnites: To my surprise I haven't heard a single comment about the characteristic things lacemaking teachers say. My guess is that since this is a public forum the question may feel indiscreet. I want Bobby to take classes (as I will take a class) but it would be amusing for the reader

[lace] more on lace designs as writing systems

I'm following up on Elena and Sue's exchanges: for those who didn't read my message about reading musical scores as a writing system, the key thing I wanted to point out was knowing how to put intervals of different lengths in a sequence. In music, it is the duration and pitch of a note. What

RE: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

Hi fellow Arachnids, Much the same for me as for Sue. We also had to draw out, prick and mark out our prickings before we were to wind the bobbins. However, it does take longer and I find that especially younger lacemakers have neither the time nor the inclination to learn/work this way. I must

Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

Elena, as far as I know it’s somewhere in 20th century that diagrams started perhaps at the time like color code. In some regions in former time the lacemaker had little pieces of the original lace they had to work. When you see old prickings thick paper or sometimes leather it’s not easy to

Re: [lace] basic question

I generally agree with Lyn's analysis, except that I would point out that diagrams are a recent phenomenon. If one takes Sharon's question to imply "all things being equal", then surely 17th and 18th C Binche/Valenciennes (before they differentiated) is the most difficult bobbin lace. I can work

Re: [lace] Wedding Veil

Thank you Annette for the link. I thought the veil was probably tamboured and the photo would seem to confirm that. - absolutely gorgeous and so was her dress! Catherine Sent from my iPad Catherine Barley Needlelace www.catherinebarley.com > On 21 May 2018, at 01:31, Annette Meldrum

Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

The teacher was very flexible and taught many different laces in one group. She had binders of samples of all sorts of laces which she had made let us look through till we saw a design that appealed and then we were off. We were started on Torchon (and I love the variety of stitches available in

Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

Thanks for your answer Sue! I'm wondering what kind of lace you were learning predominantly? I could see this being easier perhaps for certain laces than others? Personally I learned while traveling so I studied bobbin lace with multiple teachers across Europe, which allowed me to cobble together

[lace] maths/lace/fine art???

Re Jane Read's post, digest number 054: I absolutely agreed with Jane's point of view - as a trained Fine Artist (how pompous that sounds!) I couldn't have put it better myself. Whether working lace monochromatically, or in glorious technicolor, surely it's the end result that counts?! Best

Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

When I learned in England (1988 onwards), you were given the pricking, the training to interpret the pricking, and if you were lucky sight of the finished lace. The main advantage of this is that you are not dependent on diagrams (and not constantly looking from lace to diagram) and you learn

[lace] Making lace before diagrams

Liz R brings up the point about how historically, lacemakers did not have the benefit of detailed diagrams and would have had to keep the designs in their head, even for complex lace like Binche. Devon and I were just talking about this the other day at the Yale lace event and it was boggling our

[lace] Most difficult lace

I think my vote would go to Mechlin as the most difficult lace. It is not too bad if you use pins in the ground. But I find it almost impossible to control without the pins. I make Binche lace pretty regularly. You do have to watch the diagram carefully for the designs done in the last 20

Re: [lace] basic question

Interesting question. "Difficult" is different for different people. Binche is certainly difficult in that you have to follow the diagram carefully, and there are methods of doing that, but nonetheless, there are diagrams, so as long as you know where you are, it's not that difficult to

[lace] Duchess of Sussex Wedding veil

Thanks Annette! Your information could mean that LeSage was involved. I think there was/is a business relationship with Givenchy (& other houses) for tamboured work. If memory serves, I think they created the “Sunflower” jacket for Givenchy back in the day. If my memory is faulty, perhaps

[lace] Re Lace and Maths

I am finding this topic very interesting. I have been maths challenged all my life. Numbers make no sense to me. Only verbal explanations or the written word. I am a mainly self taught lacemaker. I did go to a lace tutor who told me I would never be a lacemaker if I couldn’t follow a working

[lace] Lace and STEM

>> I wonder if it is simply that bobbin lace appeals particularly to scientists and especially mathematicians. Moving on from this, is it the more 'regular' laces which appeal, I.e. Torchon, Bucks and Flanders, rather than Bedfordshire for instance? << As others have said, the links with STEM