A refinement on the leaves as described by Tamara: The most important thing about getting them regular and smooth is tension. And this means constant tension on the two outside threads. When Tamara says that she had difficulty with this (needed the services of a chiropractor...), I know exactly what she means! I learned how to make the leaves as taught at Brioude, and those women have rubber hands! But there is a way to cheat a little bit which makes it possible for the rest of us.
Line up the bobbins as Tamara says, with the worker bobbin in position number three. Then, if you hold bobbins one and four firmly in between the last two fingers in each hand, you can keep the all- important tension steady. The trick is to hold bobbins one and four way out on each side while you flip the crossover in the middle. (Yes, that's possible.) Now for the hard part--which the lacemakers in Brioude can do without a hitch: When you are ready to make the double twist on the right, you turn your right hand over, still holding those outer bobbins firmly between those outer fingers, pick up the right hand bobbin between your second and third fingers and flip the double twist. What they do in Brioude is to pick up that right bobbin with thumb and forefinger. This is impossible, if you ask me, but they can do it. The left side, for some reason, is much easier to do. It's that right hand that just doesn't bend that far. Clear as mud? Ulrich Lohr (Kloppeln--Handbuch mit 350 Tricks und Kniffen, pp 51-53) is the only pictorial resource I have found for this. However, I notice that she is not holding the outside bobbins between the two outer fingers on each hand, and for me that is the trick to good tension. And yes, it takes practice, a lot of practice, but once you have the basic motions down pat, your leaves will really be easy and quite automatic to make. I guess you have to see it done. If I knew of someone who could make a movie of it, I'd be glad to be the model. Though I can't guarantee that my tallies really stand up to the perfection of the French lacemakers in Brioude. Maybe they should make the movie... Tess ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) in Maine USA where we are full in the middle of a glorious flowering spring! - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
