I am on another list with a woman who worked at the Arizona State Museum. When I posted this link to that list, she said "I retired from the Arizona State Museum [in 2002] -- leaving the Tonto shirt was harder than leaving some of my colleagues. It is truly a remarkable piece."
She also says " . . . the structure should be interlinking (see Irene Emery's _The Primary Structures of Fabrics_). Sprang is a technique that can be used to produce a variety of structures -- interlinked sprang, interlaced sprang, and so forth (see Peter Collingwood's book on sprang techniques). I'm going to contact the folks at ASM to clarify the caption . . . " http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/coll/peris2.shtml The name "sprang" for this group of techniques is Scandinavian, but the technique has been found all over the world. (Another name for it, to add to the confusion, is "knotless netting".) If you have a copy of Gertrude Whiting's "Old-Time Tools & Toys of Needlework", page 79 shows a sprang frame with work in progress that looks somewhat like a piece of knitted lace. The "List of Illustrations" in the front of the book (page X) calls this "Egypto-Ruthenian Lace with Stretcher-Frame". Her description, written in the 1920's, says "Call it a loom, a frame, a stretcher -- what you will. A Greek term has been applied to the recently discovered spinning-knee of Greece, so perhaps an Egyptian word meaning "stretcher-frame" should be given to this appliance. As shown in the picture, the wires under and over which the thread is first set up can be tightened by means of pegs. By manipulating the threads in the center -- lifting one in front of the other -- a double stitch is produced, one accumulating above, a like one at the same time below, in this way forming with one set of operations two identical strips of lace." The photo appears in the chapter called "Instruments of Precision -- Measures", but the only description of the piece I have found in the book is the one below the photo itself, and the title in the list of illustrations. Lynn Carpenter in SW Michigan, USA alwen at i2k dot com - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
