[lace] plioirs and acessories pictured on French site

[Laurie Waters]

Interesting comment about the heddles. Lace collectors go after these things 
because of a story that they are connected with lace. Gertrude Whiting 
describes them in Old-Time Toys and Tools of Needlework (1928). Even though 
she makes her doubts known, she's responsible for many lace collectors 
looking for these things today. The idea would have been that it was a 
winder for lace, and she even tries to speculate how a piece would be 
threaded through the slats. She says they were a traditional gift in Alencon 
to lacemakers.  It's pretty obvious to weavers that this is a small heddle, 
and I have no idea where this story originated before Whiting, but they 
often have been labled as 'lace winders' in auctions.
Personally I think there may have been a real traditional Alencon gift that 
might have a lot more credibility - something known as a 'spool winder'. 
It's a small metal or wood spool in a holder - there are examples in a Dover 
reprint called 'Decorative Ironwork' that attributes them to Alencon. I'm 
pretty sure I know how they might have been used. I've just agreed to teach 
a class in Alencon lace technique at the Minneapolis IOLI convention in 
2012, although the details haven't been entirely worked out. I'll be going 
over a lot of this in the class.
Laurie 

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