What are insect pins? I've never heard of them!
They're what the butterfly collectors use to anchor the specimens to display them. Very fine, and with a very tiny, round (not flat) head. They come either in black or in stainless steel and in several sizes; most are finer than the .45 Duchesse pins Roz Snowden recommends. But they're much longer -- ca 1.5" (ca 40mm)...
There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to the length of pins used for very fine work. One (and Snowden is in that group) feels that shorter is better; since only a small proportion of the pin is pushed into the pillow, shorter pins tend to bend out of shape less when they're that fine.
The second school of thought is that longer is better :) True, the danger of the pin bending is greater (though not much, IMO, if your pattern is pre-pricked properly). But one gains greater visibility because the heads (that's the "umbrella" over your lace) are so much higher, you can see the lace under them...
Holly Van Sciver explained it to me when I questioned the wisdom of spending an inordinate (to me <g>) amount of money for the Mechlin pins (about the same size as insect pins 00, I think). Since I trust her, I decided to invest, and was never sorry -- I love working with them.
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
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