Frankly, I don't think there is a *single* suitable "beginner" book for Binche that I could heartily recommend. Because if it is out there then I would have it. In recent years we have gotten spoiled with the abundance of great lace books that have come on the market. Excellent diagrams, color, even color photos!
Years ago when I was a relatively new lacemaker I opened the IOLI bulletin and fell in love with a photo of a piece of lace that was in the convention display room. This was before I ever attended a convention! Fortunately the bulletin included the name of the design "The Tournament". Yup, the LAST design in the trio of Binche Syllabus! Meaning the MOST DIFFICULT! LOL But that started my quest to learn how to make this lace and someday I still plan to do that piece! I collected the 3 Syllabus. I often refer to them, but they aren't what I would consider a "beginner book". Next, I borrowed Michael Guisiana's first Binche book. It's okay, lots of pictures of lace but not a lot of explanation how to actually make lace. Being an older book , it doesn't follow today's conventional color coding and is thus no help to learn that. I wouldn't go out of my way to find this book. I also borrowed (from the IOLI library) his second book Binche II. If I recall, most of the book was pictures and maybe reconstructions of old Binche lace. I remember being disappointed that there wasn't much (if any) discussion as to what I was looking at. I did find helpful several pages of basic Binche grounds. I used some of these prickings and diagrams to being my Binche journey by practicing Paris Ground, Flanders Ground and a bunch of snowflake grounds (which all began to look alike so I abandoned making more!). Now I also remember being disappointed that he didn't use any of these common names in his book either. E.g. Paris ground is simply #37 on page 62. I heartily recommend practicing some of these basic grounds! Whenever I get to a large snowflake I know that if I have my 6 pairs all set and ready to go I can make the snowflake without following every line in the working diagram. (Much like in Torchon when you get set to make a spider.) I'm sure I've seen the third Binche book by Michael but I suspect it was mostly old lace reproductions (?) and thus why I don't have it in my library. I also acquired Vera Cockyut's "Binche An Introduction" and "Suggestions How to Improve Binche". If anything these are two resources gave me the best information on how to make Binche lace. They would be even better if there were color in her diagrams! I also had the great fortune to take a Flanders class and also a Paris class from Vera. She is an *excellent* teacher! With even more promise, Binche Deel I & II have basic Binche information. Written by Bep Vianen & Riet de Vries, they are not in English. I recall spending a lot of time with online translations and trying to rewrite her pages in English for my personal reference. I think that is the extent of my Binche reference library. Oh wait, I have also found Mary Niven's "Flanders Lace" quite helpful as well. As I mentioned, I started my journey making some sample swatches of the various grounds used in Binche. I suggest Flanders, Paris and some large and small snowflake variations. In 2005 I was signed up for Binche with Anny Noben-Slegers at the IOLI convention. I decided I wanted to get a little experience first so I wouldn't be wasting my time in class with fundamentals I could figure out on my own and have actual questions for her. So I put a design on my pillow by Kumiko Nakazaki, made a copy of the colored working diagram and went to it! We are so lucky in Binche to have a colored working diagram as it nearly tells you exactly what to do! Sure, there are a few tricks that an experienced lace maker learns (like where to add extra twists) but mostly you follow the diagram! What make Binche "hard" is that it rarely has a routine rhythm when you can forgo looking at the diagram. There are elements that you eventually learn to identify and can help you not get lost. (e.g. ring pairs). Oh, and you usually have a quad-zillion bobbins in a Binche design to manage. I see that Sally Schoenberg now has a DVD for Binche lace! I have her Flanders DVD but am embarrassed to say I haven't watched it yet. Our guild library has Lia's DVD on Russian tape and it was EXCELLENT!!! Stop, rewind, rewatch, repeat!!! I've also had a Flander's class with Sally and she was excellent. So I would anticipate this DVD would be a GREAT PLACE TO START! Now if there were only a book to go with it! I love the more modern Binche designs by Anny, Kumiko and others today. I'm not a big fan of the look of traditional old Binche (blobs of cloth stitch). I like pictoral designs and especially medallions. I heartily recommend Kantcentrum's magazine KANT for some wonderful Binche (and other) lace designs! I was fortunate to finally have a class from Kumiko at last year's IOLI convention. Just this week I finished my class piece and posted it on the Ning website. You can also see that earlier this week I flipped my pillow completely upside down! Rest assured you can recover and finish your lace! LOL Thanks for letting me ramble about my Binche lace journey. Anita Hansen Cedar Rapids, Iowa - 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/
