When I demonstrate, I tend to break it down to the essentials also. I agree... Although I usually say that "essentially", there are only two moves in lacemaking, the cross and the twist. Then I explain that it is how these are combined that lead to the lovely patterns. I also point out that whether there are a dozen bobbins on the pillow or hundreds of bobbins, only four are used at one time. I am also one who agrees that it is helpful to demonstrate on a pillow with an attractive pattern which looks like "real" lace! It is while working on "real lace" that folks can see that there is an order to things. Otherwise, folks take one look and move on, because who needs another snake?
On the other hand, those snakes are what we put on the try-it pillow, so people can actually pick up the bobbins and use them! I definitely think there is a place for both in demos. Clay Sent from my iPad > On Dec 7, 2013, at 7:01 PM, Robin D <[email protected]> wrote: > > As to the idea that there are only 2 stitches in bobbin lace; I agree! > Cross/ Twist. That's what I tell people. Once you learn that you can do > anything. Yes, I know that there is a bit more to actually creating lace, > HOWEVER, there is no rhyme nor reason to launch into some long spiel that > will most likely make the other person feel they can never learn to make > lace. As I say with tatting - you make one knot . . . over and over and > over. That's it. The rest is learning to read the patterns. I feel the > same about bobbin lace; you move the bobbin left or right that's it, the > rest is reading the pattern. > > My 2 cents > Robin > > -- - 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/
