For the last 10 years I have gone annually to Brugge to have lessons in Binche, and have become fairly familiar with many grounds, techniques and methods, including doing some patterns with those long, long lines of one pair going all the way across the work, through nearly all the pairs, and then back. I felt reasonably confident with most patterns, and found the satisfaction came from creating something beautiful out of just fine thread placed with the help of (a few!) pins, on card with holes marked, and yes, following a diagram. The soothing action was from manipulating the bobbins, and having to concentrate so hard on the tension, what to do next. that I could forget all else, and 'my world' became that lace.
Then this year I went to Brugge for a week on basic Flanders, starting from scratch, and have really started to learn the structure, the reasoning behind the methods - we had to work just on graph paper, no lines, no given design, just starting with experimenting with Flanders ground, how many combinations could we do? Which were pleasing? (to us) - then joining with the edge, then introducing areas of cloth, with a gimp, and so on, building up a design of our own creation. We learnt to consider each pin - an input? an output? a join? a connection? How many pairs in each area? - each aspect has rules, in order to get the smoothest, fullest effect. This consideration of structure was fascinating, and has made me much more appreciative of the complexity of designing, although I had started work on this, in Binche, with Ann Marie. We ended the week with a brief historical outline of the Flemish laces, with many actual samples to admire, from the earliest to the finest era. Earlier in this thread it has been said that the Thomas Lester laces, as well as Binche, are the 'Queen' of laces, with maybe Lester being the better designs. But do compare the timescale - the finest Binche was achieved much earlier than Lester, and the techniques much more developed, on an exceedingly fine scale. Should we not be proud of both? - they are very different, and appeal to people with varying tastes - I admire both, and only wish there were more hours, so I could master more types and techniques. My personal target is to continue with the finest lace whilst having good sight, and those using thicker threads have to wait until I can no longer do fine work. Its good to see such a discussion getting going, and realise how many of us lacemakers there are out there, working alone. Milada Marshall bored in Somerset (England are playing football) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
