Diana said "replacing tinsel, wire, beads, spangles - totally out of order (IMO)"
This is another "It all depends" situation to me. If he/she is passing the bobbins off as original condition, to sell them for more money then yes, it's out of order. I don't have any 'pristine condition' old bobbins and want them to use, not as a collection. But if I buy a previously wired bobbin I always replace the wire, and indeed look for them as it is often an economical way of buying old bobbins. I also respangle them to suit my needs and preferences, but sometimes photograph them first if it is a nice or unusual bobbin and always keep the beads from old bobbins in a separate box and use them to respangle old bobbins. The enormous spangles on some, and the fact that the spangles are usually bigger than I want, mean that the antique ones I get with no beads end up with at least one or two old beads. As I have said before on Arachne, I don't imagine that after a hundred plus years the spangle I paid for is always still the original. The ones on a lot of my early bobbins from 'only' thirty years ago have been re-done because they broke or I changed my mind about what I like so the same must apply to ones that took the wear and tear of being used by a professional lacemaker - I haven't smoothed any of my modern ones with handling marks in the same way as my antique ones which demonstrates how much they were used. If this damage and replacement applies to the spangles, it surely must also apply to the wire on some of them. As we don't know for sure what is really original, is it any worse to change or repair them in 2009 than if it was done in 1909, because we don't know it had been done? And as I wrote to Liz, if I have a corroded pewter leopard bobbin, I will use a fine nail board to reduce the pewter so it is not so rough on my hands, thread and pillow, and use it. On at least one occasion the pewter below was still silver coloured and smooth, but even when it's not I have a bobbin I can have pleasure using. Jacquie in Lincolnshire, hoping that a bank holiday will work its magic and give us some heavy rain, the earth is so dry. But it could do it at night so it doesn't spoil people's days out. - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
