I'm with you, Clay. After reading everybody's thoughts and climbing
in and out of everybody's shoes, and sympathizing absolutely with
everybody's opinion in turn, I think you've got it, Clay! --
Aurelia
I've judged at our State Fair, and in that venue there is no
requirement for things to be hand finished. And yes, it is sad to
see a beautiful piece of lace badly mounted (regardless of *how*
it's mounted). Most competitions are specific in their requirements,
and this is the time to consider whether or not to use hand
finishing. I still say that it is up to the individual, and have no
quarrel with Devon's point.
On the other hand, I am personally committed to learning to attach
lace by hand (that's my obsessive choice. ;)). It seems absurd to
have spent ten years learning to make exquisite lace as it was made
in the 17th - 18th centuries, and then blow off the finishing. It
takes me the better part of a year to complete Binche lace for a
handkerchief, and to spend a week getting the mounting right is not
too much to expect. I'm not worried about the problem of picking it
apart again after the handkerchief disentegrates - I don't plan to
use this on a daily basis!! Part of the appeal to me is to hold the
finished object and know that 300 - 400 years ago, someone once held
a handkerchief very much like this and it was considered as valuable
as a gem. The thread and the handkerchief fabric aren't linen
because we can't get fine linen today. But otherwise, it is a
faithful reproduction.
Clay
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