Hi Arachnids One fact has so far been neglected and that is the difference in speed between working a new patterns and familiar ones. Having to constantly cope with techniques instead of repeating the same ones. The lace teachers of the past insisted that a yard (metre) had to be made of every new pattern so that the lacemaker would become so familiar with it that it became automatic and she could go on auto-pilot.
Although I make no effort to work fast I get the same joy of experience working with my hands and having the experience of seeming to block out other stimuli but it comes not only from making lace but also from the activity of puzzling out what to do next. Regarding group projects, this idea is not new, they have been around since the early days of lacemaking. I have three pieces of early Honiton lace They are about the same width, two of them have joins. In one the two pieces are of different design. The other has two pieces of the same design but it looks like they were made by different lacemakers. The lace is very fine, finer than 240/2 Egyptian cotton, and even when made at speed would have taken a long time to make. At this rate the lacemaker could not have afforded to make much lace before she had to cut it off to sell it and therefore the pieces would have frequent joins and several lacemakers would have made the same design so they could be joined into one piece having the same design throughout. Many Honiton lacemakers would have each made only one design and become very speedy. Then the pieces from many lacemakers would have been used to make a larger item, a collar or a wedding veil, and a skilled joiner would have joined the motifs together for a collar or mounted them on net for a veil. Many Honiton collars show a variety of motifs and often the repeated motifs look like they were made by different lacemakers. Many collars look as though a handful of mixes designs had been placed together, the two sides of the collar not being the same. Some motifs are in the same place on the two sides while in other places, although the motifs are the same size and taking the same space, they are of different design. Enjoy your lace at whatever speed suits you Alex - 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/
