Re: [lace] "Four Great Lace Collections" & Threads of Power exhibit
Thanks, Nancy & Anne. That’s what I thought, plus that the early machines spun cotton and wool, is that correct? And yes, I am not close to my library either, but Pat Earnshaw’s thread book is subtitled ‘From Source to Sink’ if I remember correctly? I also had understood that early flax produced finer fibers which were lost. I have recently acquired some old and very fine flax stricks from Christiane Seufferlein, an Austrian who was gifted stricks from the descendants of a woman called ‘Berta’. Word got around plus an article was published in a UK journal for spinners and weavers resulting in many other families gifting Christiane with old flax stricks from doweries of ancestors. She has created a Facebook group called ‘Berta’s Flax’ named after this first flax gift, and is sharing all this flax with spinners all over the world for just the cost of postage. The flax I received is much finer than any I have seen before and I am anxious to see how fine a thread I can spin and hopefully use to make lace. Discussion in the group seems to suggest that the potential fineness may also depend upon the point at which the plant is harvested, as well as the subsequent steps (retting, breaking, scutching, etc.) Vicki in Maryland Sent from my iPhone - 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/
Re: [lace] "Four Great Lace Collections" & Threads of Power exhibit
Yes most definitely the thread for lace was hand spun. The early needle laces were made using hand spun linens which have long fibres. Anna from a windy Sydney who has just learnt to spin wool Sent from my iPad > On 1 Nov 2022, at 9:57 pm, Vicki Bradford wrote: > > Hi Devon & all, > I’m not sure if this will make it to the list because I’m one of those > hangers-on still using AOL, but on a somewhat off-topic point, I was taken by > Devon’s comments about how fine some lace threads were. While visiting the > V some years ago, the same thoughts occurred to me. As a spinner as well as > a lacemaker, it also struck me that as fine as the threads were, they were > also most likely at least two-ply, thus making the observation even more > amazing. As far as I can find, the first machine spinning originated with the > invention of the Spinning Jenny in around 1765, but some information suggests > that the thread produced from these machines was coarse and not strong. In any > case, earlier laces would then most likely have used handspun thread? What do > others think? > > Vicki in Maryland > > - > 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/ - 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/
Re: [lace] "Four Great Lace Collections" & Threads of Power exhibit
Hi Vicki et al., The very fine thread in the late 17th and early 18th C was all handspun linen, made from flax from cultivars that produced very fine and long fibers. These cultivars were completely destroyed during the French revolution, so very fine thread could not be produced again until fine cotton thread from better spinning technology and the import of long-staple cotton. I don't have a reference for these assertions right now (I'm sitting in the Archaeology Museum in Heraklion, Crete, so rather far from my library :-D), but I think the info is in Pat Earnshaw's book (do I remember correctly that there's one specifically on thread?) Nancy On Tue, Nov 1, 2022, 12:56 Vicki Bradford wrote: > ... As a spinner as well as a lacemaker, it also struck me that as fine as > the threads were, they were also most likely at least two-ply, thus making > the observation even more amazing. As far as I can find, the first machine > spinning originated with the invention of the Spinning Jenny in around > 1765, but some information suggests that the thread produced from these > machines was coarse and not strong. In any case, earlier laces would then > most likely have used handspun thread? ... > > - 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/
Re: [lace] "Four Great Lace Collections" & Threads of Power exhibit
Hi Devon & all, I’m not sure if this will make it to the list because I’m one of those hangers-on still using AOL, but on a somewhat off-topic point, I was taken by Devon’s comments about how fine some lace threads were. While visiting the V some years ago, the same thoughts occurred to me. As a spinner as well as a lacemaker, it also struck me that as fine as the threads were, they were also most likely at least two-ply, thus making the observation even more amazing. As far as I can find, the first machine spinning originated with the invention of the Spinning Jenny in around 1765, but some information suggests that the thread produced from these machines was coarse and not strong. In any case, earlier laces would then most likely have used handspun thread? What do others think? Vicki in Maryland - 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/
