here here...I love Waterlily and HATE corners. They never did corners in the old days. I don't see a need to now.
Cearbhael ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tamara P. Duvall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "lace Arachne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2003 6:55 PM Subject: [lace] Re: "Cornered" Waterlily > On Sunday, Dec 7, 2003, at 09:44 US/Eastern, Anita Awenat wrote: > > > Now, one other thing, does anyone know if there is a published pattern > > of a > > corner for the Waterlily pattern. I'd like to try it as a handkerchief > > edging, but can't seem to track down an existing corner design. (I'm > > not > > interested in the torchon hex version). > > I've never seen one. As Karen'd said, there's a pattern for Bucks > Waterlily in Stott's Visual Introduction to BP Lace, but it's straight, > no corner. Truth to tell, I've not seen all that many "cornered" PG > patterns (Buks Point or other), especially reproductions of traditional > ones, once they got past 35 pairs or so. > > I think, part of the reason is that the PG angles are not "natural" > for forming corners, the way 45 degree angle is. You have to figure on > adding a pair for every 5-7 pairs used on the straight, and, even so, > the results are apt to be awkward and/or require a lot of juggling. The > widest PG lace with a corner I've ever seen is the Seascape, in Stott > and Cook's "100 Traditional BL Patterns". It uses 54 pairs on the > straight, plus 18 for the corner. Even if one were to rework the > innermost part of it and remove the flower (which is neither here nor > there in relationship to the rest of the pattern but requires extra 9 > pairs by itself), it's still a lot of trouble for what amounts to about > two rows of ground (and, of course, you never remove the same pairs > you'd added <g>). > > Also... > > I may be entirely wrong, but I have a feeling that, until the last > 10-15 yrs, there weren't really all that many lacemakers who had both > the skills to handle really complex patterns *and* the necessary > disregard for tradition :) The amateur lacemakers of 30-40 yrs ago (and > amateur lacemakers are who the pattern books are being written for), > even if they had the skills, would have been more interested in > reviving lacemaking as it had been, not as it might be. And there's > precious little tradition of corners in PG :) There are more corners > included in newer publications but, in the older ones, the corners seem > to be aimed at "middle advanced" -- 20-36 "regular" pairs... > > Personally, I'm going "off" corners, especially in the finer laces :) > For one thing, half of the time they look "half baked", forced; Karen > Trend Nissen is exceptionally nimble at designing "logical" corners > (Tonder) and Pamela Nottingham is also very good (Bucks; mostly simple > ones though), but they're rare. For another thing, all that hanging in > and taking out of corner extras (and learning to jump through new hoops > 4 times -- usually widely spaced) is but the beginning of the > nightmare; you then have to have machine precision in mounting the lace > "just so" to fit the fabric. Gathered corners are much more > "forgiving", even if they mean making extra few inches of the pattern > (at least you know the pattern well, since it doesn't change <g>). And, > for all they don't show off the pattern as well as "flat" lace, they > seem to have more life to them; they "dance". > > ----- > Tamara P Duvall > Lexington, Virginia, USA > Formerly of Warsaw, Poland > http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/ > > - > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
