I am in Brussels. The Museum of Costume and Lace has one room of lace. There are drawers of lace, in chronological order, as well as a film. I did buy the booklet concerning it, and tried to take good pictures, without flash, of all the lace. I do believe that lace exhibits miss the mark if they do not add what is known about the piece of lace being exhibited. I realize that lace does tend to by anonymous, but telling what you know can make a big difference. More importantly, even, modern lace, as an art form, needs to have indications of the artist's intent, as it is a new art form, and the public needs education.
There were the usual disappointing lace shops, although some did have displays of handmade lace. One shop that was quite interesting was in the Gallerie de Ste. Hubert, the Manufacture Belge de Dentelles. A lot of real lace on the walls, at least. One struck me. It was a rather small circle doily of Binche with the Antelope from Anne-Marie Verbecke-Billiet's Syllabus of Binch. The label described it as Faery Lace. Maybe it was Fairy Lace, I took no pictures in the shop. I pointed out to the sales person where this came from, and he pulled out the pages with this pattern on it from the Syllabus, maintaining that this was, indeed, a form of Binch called Fae[i]ry lace. OK, experts, is there a form of Binche called Faery Lace? Lyn in Brussels, Belgium, where the weather is cool, rather damp, and it's time to go home to the heat wave. "My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails." - 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/
