Lucky you, Jill! People like Sheila Brown will be remembered for years to come as one of the women we esteem for encouraging the revival of lace making after WWII. She and Alan, republished four 19th C. reports by Alan Cole, so we have access to very good information about the lives of English and Irish lace makers from that time. A suggestion for everyone, even for a small piece of lace: Make a little tag on which you write the maker of the lace, type of lace, country where made, and year. When you put lace away, loop the tag (soft cotton thread) through a secure section of the lace (not over just one thread), with a knot that can be untied easily. I use a orange Micron 005 pen, which contains archival ink. It is waterproof and fadeproof. If a orphan tag turns up somewhere (happens when decorating or putting away things), I know it goes with lace (because of the orange). We can give lace lovers in the future something we do not have -- maker's name(s), lace type(s), place(s), and year of laces made in the 21st C. We may think our laces not worthy of documentation, but must realize that our numbers are decreasing relative to world population, and in the future our laces may be treasured beyond imagination. I am now reviewing a documentation-less lace collection acquired in recent years. It is difficult and requires skills and reference materials few people have. If you ever bought an old lace, you know what I mean. If you collect now, please add a tag on which you write source of the lace, identification information, date of purchase, and the price you paid for the lace. Some people think they can use a electronic device for this documentation. I must warn that 100 years from now it is absolute that information on that device will be generations beyond retrieval and the laces will have separated and traveled. It is possible that only the wealthiest museums will have religiously updated documentation records of today. A few labeled laces here and there may matter in ways we cannot foresee. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center -------------------------------------------------------- In a message dated 11/26/2013 4:51:52 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
I received a lovely Christmas card from Sheila Brown yesterday, together with a wonderful Torchon bookmark in Christmas colours with a sparkly gimp. Jill - 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/
