To follow the discussion I had 2 brilliant bobbin lace teachers.
I started lace when I was 26 years old and a very new Mum. Jenny Fisher was my first teacher, quite demanding and exacting but I learnt the basics when I couldn't get to regular classes, she had private classes for me (and my toddler) in her home. She would show me the next few stages, give me a few notes and a handful of prickings that kept me going for a while. I didn't have that much time since I was also completing my teacher training at the time.
Soon child number 1 was joined by his brother and the older one was at preschool. So another Mum and I hit on the idea that we would look after each other's babies while the eldest were at preschool. We would do the initial child grab at preschool, she would go and teach at the university. At lunch time she would collect our babies and take them to her home and I would go to my afternoon lace class and after class I would reclaim my 2 from my friend. This went on for 2 years and very successfully. And the children loved their mixed up days.
My second teacher was Margaret Holt to whose class I went on those afternoons. both Margaret and Jenny were instrumental (amongst others) in setting up the Australian Lace Guild in 1979. Margaret taught textiles at teachers college where her classes were first held, when she became too sick her classes were transfered into her home where her father insisted that we kept coming regardless of how sick Margaret was since we cheered her up. She encouraged us to fly, once we had the basics it was a case of what do you want to learn next, so we would all work on something different, and we would all explore different styles, a bit of beds a bit of bucks then back to torchon etc. AND she encouraged us to design. One of our number could sketch flowers and her legacy is a portfolio of sketches for lace patterns. Our job was to put in the correct fillings and work a sample.
I learnt so much from both teacher, and since then my main source has been books.
Anna from a sunny Sydney - 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/
