One of the Arachne members has goaded me into finishing off my Dictionary of Antique English Lace Bobbins. I have worked on it for years now and then do nothing.....
I have worked out a schedule to spend an hour a day editing it, mostly updating copyrighted images with my own "permission granted" images. I am stuck for a picture of one type of bobbin. I have exhausted my collector friends so now I am asking you for help. The entry is as follows: Birdcage bobbin. An East Midland's bobbin with long openings, or windows in the sides through which the contents of the windows can be seen. These windows were usually pierced after the bobbin is turned . Fine brass wire is wound spiral fashion round the shank to cover the openings, each strand of wire is slightly spaced from the next so that the contents within the windows on the shank can be seen through the "cage wire" but not fall out. The contents can be seeds, beads, or other objects. There may be single or multiple "cages" in the shank. Basically it is a mother and babe bobbin (perhaps balls inside the piercings) and the babe or balls are actually kept in by wire wrapped around the arches and spaces. It could be a "Birdcage" in the middle of the shank or sort of the full length of the shank. The "16 babe bobbin" that was a topic of ours a week or so ago is the same type as I am describing, but it is not an antique bobbin unfortunately My current illustration is from Luton Museum and I do not have their permission to use it commercially. So, do you or any of your friends have a bobbin that has the babes or balls kept in the "cage" by means of wire being wrapped around the shank..... please? ...and.. are you or they, willing let me have a picture of it use in the dictionary? It would be ok even if it is a metal bobbin (i.e. brass) These often had the wire cage. I suspect the the metal bobbins used it as they could not squeeze in the babes on a metal bobbin as easy as they could in wood or bone, and so the gaps had to be larger, and thus the possibility of the babes falling out. >From Brian and Jean Cooranbong. Australia - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
