I think this discussion is going in the wrong direction. We don't need young 'artists' to continue the art of lacemaking. If you come right down to it, it is not really an 'art form' like a painting you put on a wall. It never really was, it was mainly something to decorate clothing or household linens. It was more a beautification of a utilitarian item, not something you hung on a wall. Yes there is some of that now made, but it wasn't considered an art form that could be collected, or that increased in value. What we need is to encourage young people to study lace and become designers or teachers. Publish patterns, write books, but going in the direction of making it into an art form, and make a living out of just making items is not going to work. Really, most ordinary people don't spend money on these kind of things, unless they want some handmade lace to add to a wedding veil, or a christening gown. Even there, most of the time it is machine made lace that gets used (think royal wedding gowns). But you can make a living by designing patterns and selling them. And even there you can go the 'artistic' route, but to try and make a living selling finished lace items is just not an option, most art is bought by very rich people who could care less about a lace item, or it is an art installation put up by a big company or a government. But those things are rare, and not something where as an artist you can make money. Really, to replace the people that we are losing, we need designers and teachers, not 'artists'. And we should not be letting them think they can make money selling their creations, but they can by selling the patterns. Knitters, crocheters, quilters and for that matter tatters don't make a lot of money selling their finished products, I hear them all complaining that people don't want to 'pay' for labour, often not even enough for the materials. But they have no problem selling the patterns, and/or writing books. It just takes too many hours to create and item, which means you can't get even minimum wage for your labour.
*Marianne* Marianne Gallant Vernon, BC Canada m...@shaw.ca http://threadsnminis.blogspot.ca, https://www.facebook.com/GallantCreation/ - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
