I got a call the other day from a friend who has spent the last decade or more restoring the "Old City Cemetery" and establishing a small museum there. She wants my help in solving the mysteries of "hairwork", a lace-like art which was used to create jewelry in the 18th and 19th centuries (and earlier...). Toward the end of the 19th century, this jewelry was used almost exclusively as mourning jewelry, with the hair being from a recently departed loved one. But before that, it was a very popular form of "imtimate" jewelry, exchanged between loved ones and kept as reminders of them. When photography was invented, these momentos lost favor, and were relegated to mourning pieces.
Does anyone on this list do hairwork? In my research (there are a number of sites online) I have found that there are two types - pallette work and table work. It is the table work which is of interest to the museum, as they have acquired a hairwork table and want me to set it up with a work in progress. As best as I can tell, table hairwork closely resembles Kumihimo, but also resembles bobbin lace. In fact, many people who do hairwork use lace bobbins instead of Kumihimo bobbins. Anyone who has experience with this - would you contact me please? I expect that the list would prefer that we go "private", as this isn't strictly lace-related. (well... it IS, but only in a very broad way!) Clay Clay Blackwell Lynchburg, VA - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
