Hi everyone Just to change the subject to a less wide Field than copyright...remember we were chatting about one-handed lacing - I tried it with my Flanders ground edging - did not last long with working with one hand. Torchon no problem, but Flanders ground - it goes much better with both hands in motion (not to say it can't be done with one hand, just that the technician is happier using both).
I did learn something else about technique - I made a dandy straw bolster - the Bucks insertion needing 24 pairs, and theres' not much room for more on this bolster - is well underway. I'm using my brass pins, pricking as I go through two layers - a photocopy of the pattern (from 100 Patterns) glued to cover card - the pins go through the pattern, into the pillow, nicely, and they don't bend. I had covered the straw bolster with several firm wraps of old wool blanket. The nature of the bolster changes the way one works - it is a curved surface, with a front and back, not domed like the cookie pillow. The bobbins hang to the front when in use, and pushed to the back when not needed - most of the bobbins are at the back (I always wondered about that, in the pictures in Thomas Wright for instance - why the lacemakers had so many bobbins at the back of their pillows - perhaps this is why). I can see that if one had mastered the pattern, and would work quickly, one hand would favour putting in pins, while the other moved bobbins. I also learned that with evening light, if I didn't want to be in my own shadow, I *had* to pin with the hand away from the light, only. It is a short stretch to imagine that a lacemaker, accustomed to pinning with one hand to avoid shadow, got used to putting pins with that one hand. The insertion I'm doing has tallies scattered through it - tally-making, too, is different again on this sort of pillow. I haven't got a good method yet, for speed and neatness - but I think my hands will teach me what that should be. There's always something new to learn in lace ;) -- bye for now Bev in Sooke, BC (west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
