In a message dated 12/28/2007 6:55:35 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
In their defense, they were wonderful about calling me as soon as the merge was agreed upon and offered me the chance to back out gracefully I did not mean to impune any girl scouts. I am just thinking that the equipment problem is a major problem in lace teaching, especially since many more people think they want to make lace than actually do, and the start-up costs can be considerable. One can sit around for hours debating the merits of toilet paper rolls in baskets verses building material fallen off trucks and pony beads glued to things, or even just sticks for bobbins. But better equipment results in a more enjoyable experience and a higher retention level. Our retention level is already pretty dismal, once the people who were dreaming of making table cloths realize how much time it takes to make bobbin lace. (I run into people all the time who have had a class in bobbin lace and it caused them to write it off permanently.) Most people around here who could teach, don't even particularly want to, since so few students continue, and adding in the equipment problem is enough to make them throw in the towel entirely. A former teacher I had, actually a wonderful person and teacher, handed everyone a set of instructions that required them to go sew a casing for an elaborate roller pillow out of velveteen, then go to a lumber yard and collect sawdust to fill it with. One person who actually tried to do this (to my amusement, since I was patronizing Snow Goose) returned with the information that saw dust used for decks is carcinogenic since it has been treated with some chemical. Needless to say, the saw mill doesn't sort its sawdust, so they discouraged her from collecting it and suggested she go to a special saw mill in another state that processed fine wood for fine woodworking. These kinds of requirements were barely tolerable in the 1960s, but very few people these days with the potential to join our depleted ranks are interested in first constructing a roller pillow with saw dust collected on their hands and knees at a specialty saw mill in another state. Isn't the hobby discouraging enough for our current fast paced society? Wouldn't it be nice to have the IOLI equipment library mail off 12 starter kits to the venue you are to teach at, if only so that you won't have to carry them there. This is a major issue as per teaching in New York. No one wants to haul all the equipment there. You would have drive there ( a problem for timorous drivers) and to park in an over priced parking garage and form a "bucket brigade" of your students to move it all to the class room. I do admire the "can-do" attitude of the girl scouts who are making their pillows. I hope they all want to continue with their lacemaking, or at any rate, return to it when they are forty years old. Devon Dreaming of the impossible **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
