In a message dated 4/19/04 8:18:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> I saw the most amazing piece of tatting at the Colorado State Fair last > year (or maybe the year before-can't remember). Anyway, it was snowy > white - - pure white, *gleaming* white. More white than you could get > with bleach. I swear she tatted it with gloves on! :-> > > Then again, maybe she washed it by putting it and a bit of soap in a > saucepan of cold water, waited until it boiled, then simmered for 10 > mns...just the way they used to do it in my granmother's time! ;-) > > Dear Lacemakers, Humm... Respond? My advice would be to NOT boil lace, and to NOT use just any water and soap, as was done two generations ago. Museum conservators now consider such treatment too harsh for old laces, and I would suggest it is too harsh for your precious new laces. Bleach should not be used as a whitener. Newbies will find my article on wet cleaning of antique laces at: http://www.honitonlace.com/ Your new laces will (we hope) be as precious to someone as antique ones. You might like to print the information, as there is very little available on the subject. >From Embroiderers' Guild teachers of the previous generation, and in museum conservation classes, I learned to wash my hands before embroidering and wash them whenever I thought they might be perspiring. This will differ from person-to-person and climate-to-climate. No hand cream should be left on the hands when you do needlework. It picks up any grime and will transfer it to your threads. (They never tell you this in commercials for hand creams!) When you grind cream and perspiration into working lace threads, it is nearly impossible to wash out the grubby appearance. It becomes deeply embedded in the inner fibers of the thread, and in the case of tatting that will be inner fibers inside knots. This will happen also with colored threads - it is just not as visible. Such a combination is not good for lace you make - the chemicals in creams, combined with perspiration, will very slowly "eat away" at the threads. And, if you do not wash the "dirty" lace or embroidery, there are ingredients in hand creams that attract tiny organisms that like to feed on the ingredients - leaving their own "waste", even if very tiny, behind in your work. All will add to the dingy appearance of the threads over a period of time. Another source of grime is face makeup. You do not realize how often you touch your face with your fingers. Makeup is transferred to fingers, and then to threads. When my hands become fuzzy from too much exposure to water, I put a lot of cream on them before going to bed, and wear white cotton gloves that can be tossed in the washer. The gloves hold the lotion in overnight - so it won't be as likely to evaporate - and so the lotion can do a more effective job. Another source of grime is clothing you are wearing or pet hair. Dirt, fuzz or hair may mix with threads. Also, some dyes (I've noticed this from denims and woolens) rub off on my white sofas. Those dyes will also transfer to white lace threads!! In this case, a light-colored cotton shirt (some people on Arachne call them jumpers) would be preferable to a dark fuzzy knit sweater. The important thing is to consider what the cuffs of your sleeves might do to your white threads. A white or pastel cover cloth on your lap (large dinner napkin or apron) would provide a barrier if you cannot change into something that will not transfer dirt, fuzz and dye. If you've read this far, by now you realize the best quick solutions are to wear appropriate clothing and to wash your hands when you start. Just as you would before you cook. Every time you get up to make a cup of tea when making lace, wash your hands! Sometimes, it is very difficult to keep hands and nails as completely clean as you would like. (Some lacemakers love their flower gardens as much as they love to make lace.) Wash your hands (more than once, if necessary) with gentle soap and warm water. Rinse well. Much easier than washing and blocking lace and restoring all the picots. Ideally, new lace and embroidery should not require washing. Kind regards to my friends, Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
