I know that I have seen it stated somewhere that there are either 1000, or 10,000 or some such large number of stitches in an inch of Venetian Gros Point. Does anyone recall which is the correct number and/or what book this information is in? Devon
======================================= Devon, What an interesting question! I would believe any number of thousand stitches in SQUARE inch of Venetian Gros Point. (Odd how we use a French name for an Italian lace. . .) The toile or cloth parts of motifs, even with ajours (decorative openings), are packed with stitches. The padded cordonnet is extremely closely worked to ultimately look like carved ivory (which the best pieces do) so Grinling Gibbons' carvings do justice to the lace he depicted so often because the carving technique so completely captures the illusion in Gros Point. Another multiplier for the number of stitches in a square inch is that Gros Point is multi-layer. So scads of stitches are heaped on top of gazillion. And the thread was exceedingly, dizzyingly fine linen. Microbiologists get bacteria count by selecting a area and counting how many it contains. Some approximation of a square quarter or eighth of an inch (Oh let's be metric, shall we? 2 or 3 mm square). That would at least put us in the ball park. If lacemakers had been paid by the stitch, no one could have afforded it, even if it was one barleycorn per stitch. When I make needle lace (not often), I gauge my progress by how I have left to do, in a motif or along the cordonnet or what have you. I only count 1-2-3-4-.... for patterns where I want to make a hole. I don't think I have the fortitude to even contemplate counting stitches while I make them, much less in a completed piece. And just think, all those stitches, however many they are, are stitches in the air (punto in aria - Italian at last). There must be a large number of stitches because one stitch cannot stand alone, it's only a half hitch, after all. (I seem to be mastering the obvious this afternoon.) Not much a specific answer, is it? Patty Dowden - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
