From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [lace] help to learn technique
In response, it is my understanding, although I could easily be wrong, that in the time when lace was made professionally, a new pattern would be taught, In the past lace workers were not 'taught' a pattern. They referred to 'learning' a piece of lace but meant interpreting a pricking, working out the best and most time efficient way of making it. Then they would go ahead and make it by the yard. In some cases pattern drafts were produced by specialist designers then prickings were made and distributed by the lace dealers to the lacemakers and the lacemaker would have to interpret it herself. You only have to look throught the 'Lace Dealer's Pattern Book' available from Luton Museum to see how varied the interpretations can be. There are also Bedfordshire and Bucks point prickings that we now consider were produced for competition purposes, possibly the judges of the competitions were not lacemakers. The arrangement of pins required for these prickings to be worked successfully would look strange to a non-lacemker hence the competitor arranged them in the way she thought gave her the best chance of winning. I have seen at least 3 interpretations of one Bucks point pricking in which there are some very unusual goings on in order to make it. The method of teaching using coloured diagrams was devised following the 2nd World War in an effort to enable those starving in continental Europe to learn to make lace as fast as possible in order to earn a living. This method proved excellent for this purpose i.e. producing yardage from a very limited number of prickings, but it does not teach you how to look at a pricking and interpret it. This is can be accomplished by starting with simple patterns and progressing slowly, introducing only 2 or 3 new techniques in each new piece and working each until you are comfortable with making the new techniques without referring to any books or diagrams and can recognise how and where they are used. A lace worker would expect her student to make a yard of each design. As you say, after producing a long piece you now understand it. There are plenty of books now available that describe how and where different techniques are used these will help you understand your lace better than using coloured route maps. Learning to 'read' a pricking, i.e. how to look at a pricking and work from it, is not a quick fix. That's where the coloured route maps come in. Happy lacemaking Alex - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
