Some of us weren';t fortunate enough to get to Japan. I';m working madly to complete all my chores getting ready to host IOLI in 16 (!!! yikes !!!) days.
I'm not the expert on these laces...the pictures are too small to show the details. They could be either machine or handmade, from the little I can see. If they are handmade, here are my comments. How many bobbins? Enlarge the picture until each thread is distinct, draw a line across the picture, and count the threads that cross the line. This would give a general idea even if not the exact total. A full sized picture of the item would probably be large enough to see the threads. How long? Modern speed, a 12 x 18 inch item done in average thread (cotton size 50) would take 200 hours by a lacemaker who is not a beginner. This thread was probably much smaller, so more threads per square inch, which would be more work. And a professional lacemaker, working 8 to 14 hours a day, would be faster from experience. So, I would make a wild guess of 300 to 500 hours for the small piece. (And a machine would do it in maybe 15 minutes.) Which side is the start and finish? A very well done piece would be hard to tell with a casual look. However, on the small piece, I see a little suspicious point of thread on the right side in the middle of the edge that does not have a corresponding bit on the left side. From this very small picture, I would guess the piece of started from the left side with the bobbins wound in pairs. At the other end, the excess pairs were woven in through the edge two or three pairs, and discarded, as the oval became smaller. At the very center of the end, the last 4 (probably) pairs had no place to go and would braided/tied off, and cut off. I have seen this method of living a tiny tail from the last few pairs on several pieces of both old and modern laces. Personally, I don';t like to do that....too particular, I guess. I would have tied them and then used a needle to weave the ends back in the lace. Since the lace in the picture had the tail left on, that also might be a sign that it was machine done since the machine could not weave the ends back in. Interesting questions...and interesting laces....but more detailed pictures would have been nice. Alice in Oregon -- off to spend another day on conference chores. Jul 7, 2010 11:09:25 PM, [email protected] wrote: >Dear all, >I wonder >* how many bobbins would be needed to make these laces. >* how long would it take approximately? >* wich side is the beginning and where does it end? Vertical? Horizontal? - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
