[lace] Difficult laces

[H M Clarke]

To ask what is the most difficult lace is like asking what is the most 
difficult school subject. It is subjective (sorry!) and dependent on many 
factors, only some of which are related to the innate abilities of the 
individual. 

It is important to remember that lacemakers didn’t dart about the world’s 
offerings or even tackle multiple patterns. They learnt young and made their 
lace as they were taught. Nobody told them their type of lace was easy or 
difficult just how to make it. This was true for Honiton, Beds, Bucks Point and 
presumably all the European types as well. If they developed a true talent then 
they may have worked on more complex patterns. Their focus though was to be 
able to sell their products to help their families. 

This is a long-winded way of saying that, IMHO, there is no definitive answer 
to the question of which is the most difficult type of lace. In the same way 
there is no one favourite type. 

My C$0.02 worth. 

Helen on the west coast of mainland Canada. 

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[lace] IOLI Convention roommate wanted

[Anita Hansen]

I have a friend who is looking for a roommate for the IOLI convention in San 
Antonio.
Please contact me and I will pass along her contact information.
Thanks!
Anita Hansen

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Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

[Sue Babbs]

Oh, yes, I’d forgotten to say that Joepie.  We were given the pricking to
replicate and use – either by drawing it out on graph paper and trueing it
up or by taking a rubbing of it or pricking through it.


Sue

suebabbs...@gmail.com

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[lace] more on being able to read the prickings of a lace design

[Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi]

I think this is reading in all directions at once, kind of a gestalt,
taking in the whole as an ensemble, you just see it as one continuous
thing, reading it as an imago, a whole, rather than disassembling it. Your
eyes then follow first one line than another.

It seems to me that reading doesn't have to be from left to right, right to
left, or top to bottom.

I think it is acceptable to think of what some of you call reading a lace
pricking as being able to read it "intuitively" isn't that reading? reading
in all directions at once?

This, in a way, is what the musician playing Bach's counterpoint does,
remembering forward and backwards so to speak. ...

Since I am not literate in lace, I am using the experience of reading
music... but I'm guess the equivalent of "remembering forward and
backwards" musically speaking, would find its equivalence in lace as:
looking at different lines radiating hither and yon from tight clusters of
pins

I'm groping here...

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Re: [lace] more on lace designs as writing systems

[Lorri Ferguson]

From: owner-l...@arachne.com  on behalf of Sharon
Ghamari-Tabrizi 

being able to read the prickings of a lace pattern is like being able to
read a music score

This is somewhat how I 'think'.  I didn't at first but after a few years  (I
have been lacing for some 30 yrs. now), I can look at the pricking and 'see'
the lace to be made on it.
I like to encourage my students that this will some day happen for them too.
The first big 'aha' moment is when they can 'see the mistake' and stop to
correct it.

Lorri
In sunny Washington State

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[lace] Lacemaking and music

[Tess Parrish]

I was immediately drawn to Amy Mills' comment about lace and music: "... to
make a relatively simple analogy - the pattern could easily be considered a
score, and the various stitches required to make the various parts of the
lace compared to the different values of notes, the number of stitches a
form of subdivision?"

Anyone who has read or has access to Alfred von Henneberg's book The Art and
Craft of Old Lace will find on pp 30-31
his analysis of lace construction, likening it to musical composition, and a
bit later on in the book he gives excellent examples in color describing what
he means. He was an engineer who apparently found some laces in his aunts'
attic and was fascinated with their construction.

A reprint of the original 1931 volume was recently made and is available
through one of Amazon's second-hand sellers.  Not only does it contain the
above analysis of lacemaking, but there are pages and pages of excellent
photographs of the finest laces of the period.  The book is written in several
languages. This is a classic, and worthy of being in any good lace library.

Tess Parrish (tess1...@aol.com ) in Maine USA, where
today we had our first day of summer weather: heavenly!

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Re: [lace] more on lace designs as writing systems

[Elena Kanagy-Loux]

Sharon,

This is the way for lacemaking students. Or at least, it’s how I learned and 
how I teach my students, but it seems very common. You learn one stitch at a 
time and then combine them later to create more complex patterns.

- Elena 

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Re: [lace] the logic of Binche

[Bev Walker]

Fun is the word!
I'd really like to be able to work lace intuitively.
Dance, too, but that's not going to happen except as bobbins dance, on the
pillow. Lace it is, diagrams or no, whatever works.

Happy lacing everyone, however way you like to make it.

On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 11:11 AM, Adele Shaak  wrote:

> ... if you made the lace yourself from nothing more than a cartoon. It
> might actually be more fun, too
>

-- 
Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of
Canada

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Re: [lace] question about nomenclature

[N.A. Neff]

Hi Sharon,

I don't think we need more labels. We have "antique" (more than 100 years
old, which includes Art Nouveau designs of the fin de siecle), "vintage"
(50 to 100 yrs), and "modern" (younger than 50). "Modern" is also used for
a particular time period in art and design that includes both Art Nouveau
and the period from which we get vintage items:  " Modern art includes
artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s
to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophy of the art produced
during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the
traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of
experimentation." [Wikipedia] What you are calling "modern" is actually
"contemporary" (generally meant to be the work of living artists).  Art
Nouveau as a period already corresponds to a specific time (approx. 1890 to
WWI), or a subsequent design style regardless of age. Both are useful and,
I believe, sufficient.

As for the age of a particular design or piece of lace, if we can't say a
specific date (such as with a painting), we use centuries, usually narrowed
down to half or quarter centuries. I think that, and the use of particular
style terms such as Art Nouveau, is more precise than introducing new
terminology for which one would have to know approximate dates anyway.

Just my opinion of course. And by the way, Art Nouveau is my favorite
design style personally. I have a Carrickmacross collar that is pure Art
Nouveau, and I wish I could find more such pieces of lace.

Nancy
Connecticut, USA


On Sun, May 20, 2018 at 5:15 PM, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi <
shg...@mail.harvard.edu> wrote:

> I happen to like art nouveau bobbin lace. Is this considered "modern"? I
> imagine it is, but given the fact that it is more than a century old in
> design, wouldn't it make sense for people to have a third category such as
> "early 20th century modern" to distinguish it from designs created by
> contemporary lacemakers?
>
>

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RE: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

[J-D Hammett]

The husband and wife pair is sometimes used for the pair made up of one thin
and one thicker thread as used for instance in Duchess, Honiton or Flanders
lace.



Joepie.






From: owner-l...@arachne.com  on behalf of Diane
Williams 
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2018 10:10:33 PM
To: Lbuyred; Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi
Cc: Arachne
Subject: Re: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

It means very gently stroking the bobbins to tension them.?? Best used with
fine thread. Beginners are used to giving the "Torchon tug" because they
generally start out with heavier thread and need to pull harder to get nice
tension.?? Then they find themselves breaking threads when they move to
smaller stuff.
I think Christine Springett originated the term.

Diane Williams
Galena Illinois USA
 My blog - http://dianelaces.wordpress.com/

On Monday, May 21, 2018, 3:58:34 PM CDT, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi
 wrote:

 Does anybody know what "milk the fairy cow" mean?

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[lace] Re: Lace: Making lace before diagrams

[Karen Thompson]

Elena, and other friends,

I have heard that color-coded working diagrams were developed in Belgium in
the 1930s. Before that a numbering system was used by some authors, with
lengthy explanations for each number corresponding to the hole in the
pricking.

Frieda Lipperheide, 1898, Das Spitzenkloppeln

https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/lf_lace_1.pdf

developed a fascinating grid system of explaining the stitches. Even if you
cannot interpret the Old German Gothic text and writing, the illustrations
are still fascinating. See page 3 of the book (not the pdf) for the
formula, and then scroll further to see it used. Ms. Lipperheide also uses
the tiny numbers by each hole, as was also used by other authors in the
late 1800s and early 1900s, such as Sara Rasmussen in 1884, and the Torchon
Company in the early 1900s. You will find that the Torchon Lace Company
copied most of their material from Sara Rasmussens book Kloppelbuch.

https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/rs_lace.pdf

The Torchon Lace Company
https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/tor_v1_1.pdf

You can read more about the Torchon Company in my blog written for the
Smithsonian
http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/torchon-lace-company-fine-line-between-entrepreneurship-and-fraud
I am not using the umlaut and apostrophe on purpose to avoid the strange
symbols that show up in the Arachne posts.

-Karen in sunny Washington DC at the moment

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[lace] such a wonderful resource

[Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi]

This is probably not news to you, but in case anyone is interested here is
a link to the history of how laceworkers emigrated to Australia

http://www.angelfire.com/al/aslc/history.htm

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Re: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

[Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi]

Does anybody know what "milk the fairy cow" mean?

On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 1:18 PM, Lbuyred  wrote:

> I remember hearing the phrase "milk the fairy cow" when it came to
> tightening up a picot.  But I can't remember who said that.
> Liz R, Raleigh NC
>
> > Sharon wrote,
> >
> > To my surprise I haven't heard a single comment about the characteristic
> > things lacemaking teachers say.
>
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>

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Re: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

[Lbuyred]

I remember hearing the phrase "milk the fairy cow" when it came to tightening 
up a picot.  But I can't remember who said that.
Liz R, Raleigh NC

> Sharon wrote,
> 
> To my surprise I haven't heard a single comment about the characteristic
> things lacemaking teachers say.  

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Re: [lace] the logic of Binche

[Adele Shaak]

I think it is actually more difficult to make Binche (and other laces)
following a thread diagram than it would be if you made the lace yourself from
nothing more than a cartoon. It might actually be more fun, too.

When you follow the diagram of what somebody else did, you aren’t working
intuitively. It is like when you take a dance class, and your teacher tries to
teach you a set dance routine that she created. It is so, so hard to remember
all the steps and where each one comes and what beat of the music it starts
on. Whereas if they played the music and you got up and boogied away on your
own, the steps you make up and the way you do it might be very complex but
completing a five-minute dance would be easy.

For lacemaking, probably your first few efforts at this might not look very
nice, and you might run into a lot of technical troubles. But in the old days,
you would start small and simple and work your way up to the big and
complicated. Probably at a certain point you would learn a lot more about
thread paths than most of us will ever learn by doggedly following diagrams.

Adele
West Vancouver, BC
(west coast of Canada)


> I still reflect on that, with no conclusion, but getting back to making
> lace in the present, I like the new floral designs by Fumi Kanai and her
> students, and all I do is follow the lace's diagram using lots of movable
> sticky arrows to help keep track.

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Re: [lace] Wedding Veil (Conservation begins with makers)

[Jeri Ames]

It may be of interest.that I heard today on morning TV that the embroiderers
stopped and washed their hands every 30 minutes. Cleanliness is often
mentioned in my conservation/restoration memos to you over the past 23 years,
but usually suggested every hour. Now, I am inspired to recommend 30 minutes!
 
It is known that some people have more acid in their skin than others. This
becomes very evident when they start to stitch and soon have a tarnished
needle. In addition - use no lotions when doing fine needlework. Some lotion
manufacturers claim there is no transfer to threads. However, a friend and I
tested this when working on organza white work years ago. We applied lotion
approved by a very esteemed needlework school and worked for an hour. Then, we
washed and continued. There was a difference exactly where we washed our
hands. We tried other lotions with lofty claims and got poor results every
time.
 
Seems minor. Is major. Especially now that technology has made it possible for
photographs of our work to be greatly magnified. 
 
Jeri Ames in Maine USA
Lace and Embroidery Resource Center

In a message dated 5/20/2018 8:31:40 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ameld...@ozemail.com.au writes:

 
 I finally found a good photo of the embroidery on the veil.

http://meghansmirror.com/royal-style/royal-wedding/meghan-markle-wedding-cer
emony-dress/

After enlarging and enhancing the photo I can confidently suggest that the
embroidery was tamboured with some needle applique as well.

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Re: [lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

[Malvary Cole]

Sharon wrote:
To my surprise I haven't heard a single comment about the characteristic
things lacemaking teachers say.  My guess is that since this is a public
forum the question may feel indiscreet.

This is not a characteristic comment (at least I hope not).  No names no 
pack drill.


When I was first learning on my own (about 2 weeks in with no access to 
pillow, lacemaking thread, pins etc), I heard of a group getting together 
with a teacher from another city.  I wasn't able to go to the whole weekend, 
but decided that I'd take what I'd done and have a few words and see if she 
had any bobbins for sale, or thread.  When I got there and watched her 
flitting round the room from person to person advising them - work c-t-c or 
whatever to that next pen then I'll be back it stuck me that some of them 
would be stuck when she wasn't there to tell them what to do to get to the 
next pin.  When she spared me a couple of minutes she looked at what I'd 
done, sniffed, turned her nose up and said "Not very good is it.  But of 
course, you can't make good lace unless you use linen thread and you are 
using cotton (last word said in a very derogatory tone)."  Unfortunately, I 
didn't know enough about lace at that time to challenge that, but I do 
remember making a lot of lace in cotton before I even ever thought about 
getting some linen thread.


Some of the ladies from that class and I formed the very first lace group in 
Ottawa and some of them were still struggling with the bookmark months later 
because nothing had been explained that they were doing cloth stitch 
diamonds, or whole stitch fans or whatever.  A couple of them became my 
first students so they could finish.  Unfortunately, many of them dropped 
out and never came back.


Malvary in Ottawa where it is a lovely sunny day. 


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[lace] re: posting questions about what teachers say

[Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi]

Dear Arachnites:

To my surprise I haven't heard a single comment about the characteristic
things lacemaking teachers say.  My guess is that since this is a public
forum the question may feel indiscreet.

I want Bobby to take classes (as I will take a class) but it would be
amusing for the reader and *especially for you* if I could have the teacher
repeat things from your own experiences. This novel is not intended to
be a *roman
a clef* but I plan to tuck in some Easter Eggs to amuse you Arachnites!

So: please reconsider these questions and privately email me. I vow not to
share your answers with others, unless I have your explicit permission.

Questions re teachers:
What were some of the most characteristic things your lace-making teachers
said that have stuck with you?

I can imagine that everyone has heard a teacher bemoan the falling away of
interest in lace collecting and lace-making, but surely there are other
categories that would be characteristic of a lace making class

How would you fill in the sentence:

When first looking at lace I always:
When teaching lace to a beginner I always:
When starting a new project I always:

When it comes to lace, it is always

What are remarks about a style or a project your various teachers (or
authors) have made that struck you as characteristic and

• snooty or dismissive
• angry or indignant
• humorous, amusing
• surprising
• confusing

As always, thank you
Sharon

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[lace] more on lace designs as writing systems

[Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi]

I'm following up on Elena and Sue's exchanges:

for those who didn't read my message about reading musical scores as a
writing system, the key thing I wanted to point out was knowing how to put
intervals of different lengths in a sequence. In music, it is the duration
and pitch of a note.

What about the equivalent to duration and pitch of a note in lace? the
place, tension, and angle of the thread?


Let's take the metaphor seriously:

being able to read the prickings of a lace pattern is like being able to
read a music score

In this analogy a design or a photograph of the finished lace is like
listening to a recording of the piece one is learning how to play or
sight-reading.

Ethnomusicologists spend all their time in the field observing and thinking
about how musicians in cultures without musical notation learn to play the
most intricate, complex music.
Surely this is the same for lacemakers who do not use diagrams!

The way one learns is by memorizing small bits as units, and then learning
to put them together in chunks and then learning how to memorize long
sequences of these units

Why couldn't this be the way for lacemaking?

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RE: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

[J-D Hammett]

Hi fellow Arachnids,

Much the same for me as for Sue. We also had to draw out, prick and mark out
our prickings before we were to wind the bobbins. However, it does take longer
and I find that especially younger lacemakers have neither the time nor the
inclination to learn/work this way. I must say that I prefer making lace to
making prickings, but it does teach one to be able to make decision and work
independently.

Happy lace making,

Joepie.

From: Sue Babbs


When I learned in England (1988 onwards), you were given the pricking, the
training to interpret the pricking, and if you were lucky sight of the
finished lace.  The main advantage of this is that you are not dependent on
diagrams (and not constantly looking from lace to diagram) and you learn to
make your own decisions.


Sue

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Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

[Ilske Thomsen]

Elena,
as far as I know it’s somewhere in 20th century that diagrams started perhaps 
at the time like color code.
In some regions in former time the lacemaker had little pieces of the original 
lace they had to work.
When you see old prickings thick paper or sometimes leather it’s not easy to 
find out which sort of lace it belonged to. And on some you were able to make 
different sorts of lace. Others are so often used that’s impossible to make any 
proper lace.

Ilske

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Re: [lace] basic question

[N.A. Neff]

I generally agree with Lyn's analysis, except that I would point out that
diagrams are a recent phenomenon. If one takes Sharon's question to imply
"all things being equal", then surely 17th and 18th C Binche/Valenciennes
(before they differentiated) is the most difficult bobbin lace. I can work
out how to do a piece of point ground lace, even floral, without a
diagram,  and all other kinds of bobbin lace I can think of, but I
certainly can't do that with old Binche. But that's just one data point.

Nancy
Connecticut, USA


On Mon, May 21, 2018, 09:05  wrote:

> ... "Difficult" is different for different people.  Binche is certainly
> difficult in that you have to follow the diagram carefully, and there are
> methods of doing that, but nonetheless, there are diagrams, so as long as
> you know where you are, it's not that difficult to figure out what to do
> next. ...
>
> -Original Message-
> >From: Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi 
>
> >What is the most difficult *type* of lace to make? I'm guessing it is
> >Binche.
>

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Re: [lace] Wedding Veil

[catherinebar...@btinternet.com]

Thank you Annette for the link. I thought the veil was probably tamboured and 
the photo would seem to confirm that. -  absolutely gorgeous and so was her 
dress!

Catherine 

Sent from my iPad 

Catherine Barley Needlelace
www.catherinebarley.com

> On 21 May 2018, at 01:31, Annette Meldrum  wrote:
> 
> I finally found a good photo of the embroidery on the veil.
> 
> 
>  remony-dress/>
> http://meghansmirror.com/royal-style/royal-wedding/meghan-markle-wedding-cer
> emony-dress/
> 
> After enlarging and enhancing the photo I can confidently suggest that the
> embroidery was tamboured with some needle applique as well.
> 
> 

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Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

[Sue Babbs]

The teacher was very flexible and taught many different laces in one group.
She had binders of samples of all sorts of laces which she had made let us
look through till we saw a design that appealed and then we were off.

We were started on Torchon (and I love the variety of stitches available in
Torchon) and encouraged to design our own patterns within the first few
lessons so we understood the structure better.

Then I move on to Bucks (as I loved the floral appearance), Beds and needle
laces.  As the teacher was one of the moderators for City and Guilds, I
decided to sign up for that. So that was a year of design classes with a group
of varied craft makers.  Then the lace element included Torchon, Beds, Bucks,
Honiton, Hollie Point, tambour, braid laces (with pre-made tape and also
Milanese), tatting (and maybe more, but I’d need to get out the folder to
remember!)


Sue

suebabbs...@gmail.com

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Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

[Elena Kanagy-Loux]

Thanks for your answer Sue! I'm wondering what kind of lace you were
learning predominantly? I could see this being easier perhaps for certain
laces than others?

Personally I learned while traveling so I studied bobbin lace with multiple
teachers across Europe, which allowed me to cobble together a personal
approach. I agree that I prefer to have the ability to "read" lace patterns
on my own and make decisions, but diagrams are helpful when I get stuck!

Best,
Elena

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[lace] maths/lace/fine art???

[Sandi Woods]

Re Jane Read's post, digest number 054:

I absolutely agreed with Jane's point of view - as a trained Fine Artist
(how pompous that sounds!) I couldn't have put it better myself.
Whether working lace monochromatically, or in glorious technicolor, surely
it's the end result that counts?!
Best wishes,
Sandi.

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Re: [lace] Making lace before diagrams

[Sue Babbs]

When I learned in England (1988 onwards), you were given the pricking, the 
training to interpret the pricking, and if you were lucky sight of the 
finished lace.  The main advantage of this is that you are not dependent on 
diagrams (and not constantly looking from lace to diagram) and you learn to 
make your own decisions.



Sue

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[lace] Making lace before diagrams

[Elena Kanagy-Loux]

Liz R brings up the point about how historically, lacemakers did not have
the benefit of detailed diagrams and would have had to keep the designs in
their head, even for complex lace like Binche. Devon and I were just
talking about this the other day at the Yale lace event and it was boggling
our minds.

Simpler types of lace like guipure would have been easy enough to figure
out but for a wide piece of something like Binche or Mechlin would be
incredibly difficult!

Does anyone have further insight on following complex patterns without a
diagram? And when we think diagrams evolved? I saw a student's workbook
from the turn of the century on display at the Rococo Lace Manufactory in
Brugge that used color coding so it was at least in practice by then. Would
lacemakers have worked out the pattern by drawing it perhaps? Or was it
really all in their heads? Any primary sources for this?

Stimulating conversation as always!
Best,
Elena

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[lace] Most difficult lace

[Lbuyred]

I think my vote would go to Mechlin as the most difficult lace.  It is not too 
bad if you use pins in the ground.  But I find it almost impossible to control 
without the pins.

I make Binche lace pretty regularly.  You do have to watch the diagram 
carefully for the designs done in the last 20 or 30 years.  I am guessing the 
ladies who made yards of Binche back 100 years ago or more had the designs in 
their heads.  Then the challenging part would be to create a lace with an even 
tension without using support pins which take extra time to put in and would 
reduce your speed.
Liz R, Raleigh NC

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Re: [lace] basic question

[lynrbailey]

Interesting question.  "Difficult" is different for different people.  Binche 
is certainly difficult in that you have to follow the diagram carefully, and 
there are methods of doing that, but nonetheless, there are diagrams, so as 
long as you know where you are, it's not that difficult to figure out what to 
do next.  

But there are other laces, Withof comes to mind, where the tensioning of the 
thread needs to be just so, and if you don't, it looks pretty bad.

Then there is the fact that mature eyes don't see as well, so if you're at that 
stage in life, fine threads, Egyptian cotton 140 or higher, means you have to 
do all sorts of things with lighting and magnification in order to see what 
you're doing, making the lace quite difficult.  There is something referred to 
as cataract lace, where you enlarge the pricking considerably and use thicker 
thread to avoid this issue.  

Brits, until recently, did not believe in diagrams at all, so a good lacemaker 
is expected to be able to know what to do just by looking at the pricking.  If 
you're not quite that good, it is very difficult.

Lyn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA where the weather is lovely, and my antique 
roses are blooming.  Heady fragrance comes in the kitchen window.

"My email sends out an automatic  message. Arachne members,
please ignore it. I read your emails."


-Original Message-
>From: Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi 

>What is the most difficult *type* of lace to make? I'm guessing it is
>Binche. Is that correct?
>

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[lace] Duchess of Sussex Wedding veil

[Susan]

Thanks Annette!  Your information could mean that LeSage was involved.  I think 
there was/is a business relationship with Givenchy (& other houses) for 
tamboured work. If memory serves, I think they created the “Sunflower” jacket 
for Givenchy back in the day. If my memory is faulty, perhaps someone will 
correct my recollection. Sincerely, Susan Hottle USA 

Sent from my iPad

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[lace] Re Lace and Maths

[Ann Humphreys]

I am finding this topic very interesting. I have been maths challenged all my
life. Numbers make no sense to me. Only verbal explanations or the written
word.
I am a mainly self taught lacemaker. I did go to a lace tutor who told me I
would never be a lacemaker if I couldn’t follow a working diagram and
insisted I work only that way. I could not understand and it caused such
anxiety I gave up.
Some years later I was given some Christine Springett videos which all made
sense to me listening and watching and working at the same time. I still work
only patterns I can understand or from books with written instructions.
Perhaps it is that an ability to understand lacemaking needs an understanding
of maths.

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[lace] Lace and STEM

[Louise Bailey]

>>

I wonder if it is simply that bobbin lace appeals particularly to scientists
and especially mathematicians. Moving on from this, is it the more 'regular'
laces which appeal, I.e. Torchon, Bucks and Flanders, rather than Bedfordshire
for instance?
<<

As others have said, the links with STEM education have often been discussed,
does anyone remember Penny Boston (?) from Nasa?  Needle lacer both
traditional and modern.

Perhaps the preponderance of STEM and teachers on Arachne is more to do with
our tech interest and early adopters? I was wanting to learn lace in the early
90s, just as evening classes were going out of fashion. First thing I did
after finding my way onto the WWW  was type in bobbin lace and found Arachne,
and a source of lace advice, books, suppliers,  and of course friends. I more
or less taught myself the basics from books, but exposure to other lace
makers, especially going to Barbara Underwood's Knuston courses really helped
me progress to the advanced florals.  Barbara certainly had a preference for
traditional lace, at the same time being a superb designer.

Speaking as a Phd chemist whose ended up working in an engineering company,
I'm not sure it is the maths, but the puzzle challenge. I've always been drawn
towards the more floral laces such as Thomas Lester's Bedfordshire. I love
these traditional laces.  I'd like Binche and Flanders if they weren't so
dominated by the thread diagrams, I want to use my brain to learn and apply
the rules or break them as necessary, otherwise its all a bit 'painting by
numbers'.

I'm not musical, three years of failing to get as far as  grade one piano
convinced me of that, but I've found there are a high proportion of musicians
and artists amongst female geophysicists.

Louise

In glorious Cambridge, wishing she had more time today for lace.

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