In a message dated 1/30/2007 11:15:48 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I personally don't have (at this time) much interest in recreating authentic lace for SCA. I am probably not entitled to an opinion on this subject because I am actually a staffer of the IOLI Bulletin. However, I will offer one, anyway. When I was a lacemaker in an earlier phase of the obsession, I had no interest in braided laces. They didn't resemble what I thought lace should look like. I was more interested in the meshed laces which I thought were very complicated, and beautiful and something to shoot for. (They are.) But, I have to say that the longer I am in lace, the more fascinated I become with these older laces. They are by no means simple. They display many innovative techniques. The more you study them, the more impressed you are with the constant innovation and problem solving, in fact, in some cases genius, that they represent. They didn't seem to have any rules except what works. One issue that has caused people to be less interested in them is that only the most simple ones tend to be reproduced for SCA, etc., and so people are unaware of the extent of the complexity. When I made the piece of braided lace that I recreated from the Metropolitan Museum lace for the IOLI Bulletin, I had several other candidates that I was considering from the collection. I finally rejected them in favor of the one I did, because the others when scrutinized appeared too complex. I thought I would start with an easy one. It was challenging enough, let me tell you. Right now, I am eying a scallop from the museum collection which is more complicated than a Rubix Cube. When will I have the courage to tackle it? I think studying the old braided laces is like looking at the ancient cave paintings of Lascaux. They show amazing complexity and illuminate the skeleton that the rest of the laces are built on. Devon - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
