On Feb 14, 2006, at 11:28, bevw wrote:
On 2/14/06, Sue <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
them,so we hope to attract many future lacemakers, funnily enough it
seems
to be more little boys than girls, I wonder why?.
Hi Sue and everyone
I think it's because they are 'tool users'! Whenever I would take my
spinning wheel for a public demo, who gathers round but the menfolk,
young and old. They don't really want to use it as much as they want
to see how it works :)
It could be the same with bobbin lace - they are wondering how it
works.
There's that. And also little boys' almost reverential respect for
tools of any sort :)
One of the two times I demonstrated lacemaking a little guy (7? 8?)
stood by the lady on my right and asked the usual questions: what
you're doing, what's that, etc. She answered all those, he then moved
to the lady on my left and asked basically the same questions, plus he
wanted to know why her pillow was different. Finally, he moved on to me
(I was sitting a bit behind the other two, making the point of our
triangle. This was my first demo ever, and we decided that the two more
exprienced demonstrators would do a better job answering) and, again,
zeroed in on the one thing that was different.
"What's *that*?", he asked, pointing to my "cosmetics box, reinvented"
which combines a pincusion with slots for various bits and pieces I use
(crochet hooks, hackle pliers, pin pusher, a magnet stick to sweep the
floor without bending too far, etc). "It's my toolbox" I replied
deadpan. He was scornful and disbelieving at first -- my toolbox was
nothing like his dad's toolbox. But, once I explained/showed how each
of the tools had a purpose, and how each had to be placed in its slot,
so I could find it easily whenever I needed it, he accepted the
premise, because his dad also insists that each tool has to be returned
to its proper slot when its job is done (he told me so. Though, having
had a father and a husband, I suspected it anyway <g>.
He stayed with me like a limpet until his mother came to claim him,
offering suggestions as to which tool I might want to use next
(obviously, he had a caring father who taught by observation, the way
my mother "taught" me sewing), and told his mother I was doing an
important job -- I had a toolbox. The other two ladies, he informed her
gravely, were doing "historical stuff"...
And then there's the *subject*... All 3 of us were doing continuous
edgings -- of zero interest to a little boy. But I imagine that a snake
would be of intense interest. A snake is "bad" and "wicked" and
"scary", as everyone knows. Making one on a pillow is like taming or
conquering it, I think. The concept might have more appeal to a little
guy than a little girl, in a culture where men need to feel masterful
and women are presured in different directions.
I think that Springetts, by transforming the "bandage" into a snake
were inspired...
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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