[lace] Fishbone Lace Pins
While the list is quiet, I'd like to take the opportunity to put forward a theory. It's been floating about at the back of my mind for quite a long time, so I've no references to sources, only distant memories that recently came together in a new pattern. Probably since shortly after the time I started making lace, I have heard that early lacemakers used fishbones for pins. But I can't imagine any of those little rib-type bones being strong enough to be pushed into a straw pillow, nor taking the strain of tensioned linen thread. This puzzle has always irritated me. Then I caught a little of a television programme where someone was talking about those ruffs they wore in the days of Good Queen Bess, and remarked on the dozens of pins needed to hold them together. It had never occurred to me before to wonder how those amazing ruffs were actually constructed and worn. And that's when it clicked. The metal pins of the time were expensive handmade objects of rust-prone iron, or corrosion-prone brass. Fishbone pins would be cheap and in plentiful supply, and already naturally fine and white. Is it possible that a confusion has crept in between pins for holding lace in one's costume and pins for holding lace on one's pillow? My knowledge of history is vague at best - there must be someone out there who can shed more light on this for me. Please resolve this issue, so that I can ponder some other daft question. Yours sincerely, Linda Walton, (in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K., where it's a quiet Autumn morning, clear but still warm, and the beech woods are just beginning to turn colour - and I'm taking a break from what has been a very busy few months, before facing what promise to be several more busy months). - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Fishbone Lace Pins and old IOLI bulletins
When I was doing lace City and Guilds in 1987 (unfinished at that time as it was interupted by a fairly major car accident) one of my fellow students did some research on the use of fish bones and thorns as pin substitutes. I am fairly sure that her conclusions were that mostly they were not any use because if they were fine enough for the lace, they were too fragile to push into the pillow. Perhaps another of the people who were on that course with me, or AnnDay our tutor, could fill in the gaps I have in my memory from that time. On a similar theme, I have this week found the 1981/82 IOLI annual bulletin in a local second hand book shop. Among the pieces I have read so far is an article about Arlene McKinnel of Brecksville. Relevant to this topic is a reference to the early English Midlands lacemakers who had no access to standard equipment and so were forced to use the bones from sheep for bobbins and the fine fish bones to make their prickings. Obviously no NEC lace fair then! In the same article is a reference to American Ipswich lace bobbins being made of bamboo. A quote from here says It's thought that the five inch bobbins were brought into Ipswich Bay on trading ships, perhaps as part of the packing used to transport Oriental goods safely across the sea to New England. Although I remember this lace being discussed on occasion on Arachne, I don't remember bamboo bobbins, but I love the idea that bobbins could have been used as an early form of polystyrene chips; somehow though, I think the author got the idea a little mixed up. But it is perfectly possible that the bamboo used to make early packing cases could have been recycled into bobbins (and lots of other things) once in America. So, were Ipswich bobbins made of bamboo? And all of them or just some? Finally, in the July 1982 edition there was an article about a lace collection owned by a Mrs. Laurena Senter, shown to the Columbine IOL Lace Club of Denver. I would like to ask if anyone knows any contact details for either Mrs Senter or (as it is 20 years on) the current owner of this collection. Many thanks in advance, Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Fishbone Lace Pins
At 08:46 AM 10/9/04 +0100, Linda Walton wrote: Probably since shortly after the time I started making lace, I have heard that early lacemakers used fishbones for pins. But I can't imagine any of those little rib-type bones being strong enough to be pushed into a straw pillow, nor taking the strain of tensioned linen thread. This puzzle has always irritated me. The story started as an attempt to explain the name bone lace. Another name for bone lace was stick lace. If you read a lot of very old[1] books, as I did when growing up, the use of bone for small stick-shaped objects doesn't seem to require any explanation. -- Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ http://home.earthlink.net/~beeson_n3f/ west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. where it's sunny again after one damp day. [1] librarians had not yet developed the habit of trashing everything that goes six months without being checked out -- even when the *reason* it hasn't been checked out is that it's a reference book and doesn't circulate! - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
