My father was legally blind. His 20/20 was right up at his eyeball.
He went to blind school for a couple years as a child. Yet he drove a car,
was a thermonuclear physicist, and did everything anyone would do, except
bird watching and art appreciation. Before we went someplace new, he would
study and study the map, as street signs were probably beyond him. Daddy
did not allow me to use the word, 'can't' when I was growing up.
So when it comes to lacemaking, I keep thinking there's got to be a
way. I have heard of people who are blind making lace, but I haven't met
any. At a lace day in Ithaca, perhaps 10 years ago, I heard of someone
buying supplies for a blind lacemaker, who could do it all, except make a
pricking. Obviously her prickings were actually pricked, not prick as you
go. But I didn't ask questions, and I don't know how successful she was.
There may need to be adjustments. 'Cataract' lace, that is, using threads
that are thicker than fine hair. Perhaps a change in bobbins. Perhaps
better light, and more of it. Perhaps really good magnifiers. There are
gadgets and gizmos for sight impaired that the rest of us may not know
about. I believe lacemakers, especially those of today, are intelligent
people who are certainly capable of figuring out alternate ways of making
lace if necessary. After all, that's what lacemakers do. Solve problems.
If you have seen a Swede making lace, you understand that thumbs are not
necessary with their bobbins. While blind lacemakers are not thick on the
ground, and may be apocryphal, some people may have overcome difficulties
that come upon us as we mature, the way Alex has. Please, if you know
someone whose eyesight is 'really' impaired and still makes lace, could you
find out how they do it and let us know?
I am quite nearsighted. a -7 correction, for those with serious myopia
who know what I'm talking about. When I wore contact lenses, not good for
bifocals, I would wear a pair of storebought cheaters for reading, and add
a pair of opticaids (that's a brand name, satisfied customer, usual
disclaimers) to the mix to see individual threads. Now that I don't bother
with contacts, I just take off my glasses entirely if I need to check out
something close, instead of using the bifocals. Really good magnifiers may
be difficult to find, or expensive, but they are worth a look. There are
also electronic magnifiers so people can write a check, read a phone book.
They were large and cumbersome when I looked into them for my father with
macular degeneration in both eyes (he wasn't driving then) but that may have
changed. Putting the pillow in that area and seeing the lace on a screen
could possibly work. While everything that comes between your eyes and the
threads will distort slightly, doubling up on glasses is not uncommon, and
can work well. Personally I prefer the magnification to be near my eyes, as
opposed to being near the threads, as the area you can look at without
taking your hands from the bobbins is larger. There are catalogs of aids
for those with low vision or no vision, and something in them might work.
If there is a local blind association, talking to them might work wonders,
and I bet you could bring in your pillow and try things out. Sometimes
people donate equipment to them.
None of this is as easy as being 25 and making lace without extra light
or glasses, and what is needed to make lace may be such a trade off the
lacemaker considers it not worth it, but certainly it is worth seeing what
is out there. I think Alex's method of solving her problem is an excellent
one. Take your pillow to the optometrist, show her/him the requirements.
Also look into solutions for the low vision people and see if it will help.
Use really good lights.
Part of Susie Johnson's classes on Withof is a demonstration on the
difference between the old-fashioned light bulb and a florescent bulb. Side
by side, you see the difference, and you don't buy florescent. I asked her
a few years ago about LED lights and she said we didn't have lamps that had
enough of them. Well, I saw the right kind of lamps at the OIDFA convention
in Caen this summer, and look forward to such lamps being available for the
electric current of the US. Then I'll buy a new lamp or two.
Lyn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, where the weather is turning more
spring-like, but I still can't sit on the deck and make lace. It's too
cold.
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