I don't think a lacemaker ever gets "too proficient" for classes - as Jacquie says there are always new laces to learn, or more challenging patterns to try. If a class loses it's more experienced pupils from boredom, that probably says as much about the teacher/class structure as losing beginners because they can't grasp the basics... In the class I go to some of us have been making lace for more than a quarter-century, we don't need help every week but we do use the teacher for inspiration, ideas and for help with new techniques or lace types. And a sprinkling of more experienced lacemakers in the class can sometimes help the "newbies" with minor problems/questions so they don't spend too much precious class time waiting for the teacher (who, however good she is, still has only one pair of hands and eyes and can't sort out 5 or 6 people's different needs simultaneously). My first teacher used to spread her beginners round the class, sitting each one next to someone who would be able/willing to help them when she was busy with someone else.
Mind you, teaching lace must be one of the most difficult jobs going - pupils with different starting levels, different likes/interests and different learning speeds means each pupil has to be given individual attention/tuition yet (at least in local authority classes) class numbers have to be fairly high to secure the continuation of the class. Hats off to all of you for helping the rest of us learn this beautiful/addictive craft. Beth in Cheshire, NW England PS does anyone know a supplier for the "starting & finishing in torchon/beds/bucks" books someone mentioned recently - they sound like something I ought to have for reference. Jaquie wrote: > I have people that I have been teaching in private classes for over twenty > years. They started perhaps with Torchon, did Beds, Bucks, Honiton, > Milanese as the fancy took them. As they have got older and their eye > sight no longer allows them to do the finer lace they have changed to some > of the courser ones - Russian, Chrysanthemum, Cantu, bigger scale, more > unusual Torchon designs. Add in Christmas decorations, the patterns they > bring from lacedays and new books and want help with, the patterns they > want to design or adapt and there is plenty of new learning for them. > > I don't find anything strange in this as I have been learning lace for over > thirty years and still feel there is loads out there that I don't know. I > don't believe there will ever come a time when I know everything there is > to know about bobbin lacemaking, so why shouldn't my students feel the > same. > - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
