Gentle Spiders,
When I published a reconstruction of a pattern from a Le Pompe woodcut
in the summer issue of the IOLI Bulletin, I had quite a bit of very
positive response from those among the IOLI membership who are also in
SCA. Re-enactors in the later periods have more room for manœuvre --
they can use earlier laces in their costumes, for example, since those
might have been passed on from previous generations. But lacemakers in
SCA, with its cut-off date of 1600 are in a tighter spot, given that
lace, especially bobbin-made, makes a fairly late entry into the world
of high fashion and one cannot inherit what had not yet been made...
There are only 3 books (Le Pompe Book I and Book II and Nüw Modelbuch)
devoted to Bobbin Lace which were published before that date. While
some lace from all 3 as well as from portraits and from surviving lace
samples scattered around various museums *has* been reproduced and made
available to modern lacemakers as patterns, there's still a lot that
remains to be discovered about those "ancestral laces" and many
patterns which can be "mined" for modern use, while preserving the
techniques typical of the mid-to-late 16th century.
So, as I was working on "Five Easy Pieces" (some in linen, some in
metallics, none with more than 10 pairs and all suitable both for
demonstrations and for use on period costuming) for publication in the
forthcoming (Jan '09) winter issue of the IOLI Bulletin, it occured to
me that those of the Arachneans who are in SCA (or who go to Ren.
Faires) but are not members of the IOLI might be interested in those.
And in the rest of that issue, since it will be devoted, in a large
part, to the very beginnings of bobbin lacemaking. Apart from my
contribution, there'll be at least one reconstruction from existing (in
the Metropolitan Museum, NYC) lace, possibly two. And a study of that
strange element -- which appears only in the very early BL -- which RM
(the author of the Nüw Modelbuch) calls "cushions". And a study of
another long-since-disappeared technique, for which we don't even have
a name. And some other "goodies" as well; a true New Year's gift for
the SCA lacemaker... :)
So, I would urge all those who are interested in the "ancestral laces"
to join the IOLI *now*, while there's still time, to get that issue.
If you'd like to read up on IOLI in general, go to:
http://www.internationaloldlacers.org/
then click on Membership (first "key" below HOME, on the left-hand side)
If you already know that you can't wait to lay your hands on this
issue, go directly to:
http://www.internationaloldlacers.org/membership.html
and join. The Membership Chairman has assured me that, if your money is
received before December 1 of this year, the winter issue is yours.
Oh, and in case you think a single issue of the Bulletin -- however
wonderful -- isn't worth that much money (and I'd have to agree with
you), rest assured that we aren't "done", with exploring the past.
Several of us have been bitten, badly, by the ancient lace bug... :) I,
for one, have more plans than hours in the day, so that there'll be
something "for the SCA" in every issue throughout '09. Enough to give
you money's worth.
T, who has finally given in to greed and used her b-day check to get
her own copy of Levey's "Lace: A History", so that her future guesswork
will be more educated.
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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