Hi all, I picked up on this thread when a lobster claw was mentioned as I went to the Musee des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle in Alencon last September and saw the demonstrator use a lobster claw at the finishing off of her work.
In the catalogue it states that there are 10 steps in the making of Alencon lace. Step 10 is called"Le luchage or Polishing" and it goes on to say that this is a cool iron process where the lacemaker polishes the rempli (filling stitches) with a lobster claw to accentuate the relief. When the demonstrator used the claw she pressed the claw against the raised edge to push it up and the filling stitches down. It seemed to be made for the job as it was curved and polished so didn't catch in any of the threads. The Alencon lace was so fine it took 25 hours to make a piece the size of a postage stamp, and they used a horse hair to get the picots all the same size!!! No wonder I couldn't afford a piece. It was so beautiful. The lace display in the Museum was extensive but we only had a few hours to stand and stare. Jenny Mother of Matthew Hester who turns the bobbins for me to pyrograph and add the sparklers to. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Catherine Barley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Arachne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 10:45 AM Subject: [lace] Aurelia/buffing lace > In Nenia Lovesey's book 'Introduction to Needlepoint Lace' published by > Batsford 1985 it says in the Glossary 'Afficot. An instrument used for > polishing the raised parts of the lace. Early afficots were made from highly > polished wood, bone or ivory, in the shape of a miniature golf club. On the > Continent, and later in this country, a lobster claw was cleaned and polished > and set into a wooden handle; this was common practice amongst the poorer > lacemakers' > > On page 53 of the same book you will see an illustration of 'tools of the > trade' and amongst them you will see two different types of afficots. On page > 17 of another of her books 'The Technique of Needlepoint Lace' published again > by Batsford in 1980, she describes the tasks and names given to each the > workers who performed a particular stage of the work and states 'The > Affiqueuse - checked for any inequalities and polished the surface of the > design with an instrument called an afficot' > > I do have one of each of the two types illustrated in Nenia's book but have > never used either of them on my work. They are just very nice pieces of > equipment and part of my collection. I have mentioned them and their use, > many times over the last 25 years or so, but clearly not when I met Aurelia. > > Catherine Barley > Henley -on-Thames > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > - > 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
