Re: [lace] Demise of Fine Linen Lace, was Faery Lace
> Jane wrote: > > I can only imagine what 240/2 must have been like. There still was some 200/2 to be had at the end of last century. I bought a bit of it from Anna Kjems at Lorenzens Gaard. Martina Wolter-Kampmann, who measures and catalogues thread somewhat similar to Brenda Paternoster, must have gotten some, too, because in her book “Faden und Brief” it is listed with the same thickness as egyptian cotton 170/2. I never used it because I never felt I had the proper project to use it on. Also: I have no clue how much it is lengthwise and I’m afraid it’s not enough for an extensive piece of lace. I’d send it to one of you talented ladies researching and reconstructing lace, if you would have it. Gabriele - 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/
[lace] Demise of Fine Linen Lace, was Faery Lace
I haven't seen this mentioned in the emails about fine linen thread.  I heard or read somewhere that the air pollution of the Industrial Revolution had a cause on the flax plants and effected their growth. I am sure the first world war also had a detrimental effect on the growing areas.Janice Janice Blair Murrieta, CA, jblace.com - 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] Demise of Fine Linen Lace, was Faery Lace
It has taken a concerted effort, in modern times, to set up seed banks, in which seeds of strains no longer being grown or of species threatened with extinction, are saved and protected. Seed isn't viable forever: these seed banks have to maintain special conditions to store the seed. If I were an individual in a country being threatened or invaded by a hostile army, and with shortages of food and other items, perhaps a woman whose husband has been conscripted and whose children are hungry, saving some seeds of a plant no longer useful to me would be the last thing I'd bother with, even if I could keep the seed viable. We need to look at the situation from the perspective of the people under the conditions of the time. Why would they be willing to save something that could get them killed (the French Revolution scenario) or something no longer useful to them (WWI, economic pressures)? Nancy Connecticut, USA On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 3:01 AM, wrote: > "...It appears that the seeds from next years crop comes from this year's > crop. That being said, I cannot see a flax grower of the very fine flax > not saving some of those seeds..." > - 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] Demise of Fine Linen Lace, was Faery Lace
Lyn, I don't think the starvation in Belgium would have had anything to do with it. If the relevant cultivars' extinction was caused by WWI in Flanders, it would have been because of the abandonment of growing flax in the middle of the turmoil of the war, combined with the destruction of the habitat by the incredible shelling and laying waste to the land during the trench warfare. (Look at photos of Flanders at this time, and it's in the writings too: the landscape is a sea of mud, perhaps with a single dead tree still standing. The amount of the countryside destroyed was incredible.) If it helps to think in terms of animals for a minute, consider that many types of highly domesticated animals cannot survive in the wild on their own. The domesticated breeds are usually at most subspecies, perhaps only strains, of the species in question--we're not talking about the species going extinct. If all the individuals of such a dependent breed were abandoned, however, perhaps because they were no longer commercially viable, that breed would go extinct. Now apply the same scenario to flax. The strains, or cultivars, from which the finest thread could be made, might have been abandoned, whether because of the turmoil of war and habitat destruction (WWI), deliberate enforcement and extermination (French Revolution), or loss of economic incentive due to inefficiencies in manufacture (Alex's hypothesis). And because they couldn't maintain themselves without human cultivation, those particular, less hardy, strains (cultivars) went extinct. Now does that particular hypothesis about WWI make better sense? HTH, Nancy Connecticut, USA On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 2:35 AM, wrote: > "...The idea that the fine thread plants died out, I heard in WWI when > Belgium was starved makes no sense to me..." - 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/
[lace] Demise of Fine Linen Lace, was Faery Lace
It appears that the seeds from next years crop comes from this year's crop. That being said, I cannot see a flax grower of the very fine flax not saving some of those seeds. Or losing all those cultivars. And while Belgium was certainly bombed to death in places during WWI, such as Iepres, Ypres, Kortrijk and Brugge were untouched, so the farmland around it would have been fine. Don't know about WWII, but the very fine linen thread was gone by then. Do we know any linen handspinners? Lyn presently in Brussels. "My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails." - 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/
[lace] Demise of Fine Linen Lace, was Faery Lace
Alex Stillwell has stated that the reason for the demise of the really fine lace thread is that the spinning machines can't accept the long filaments the way handspinners could. I went to the Texture museum in Kortrijk yesterday, (in my opinion not as interesting as the old museum in the country) and with linen on the rise, (have you tried linen sheets? amazing) fine thread may reappear and we can jump on the bandwagon. The idea that the fine thread plants died out, I heard in WWI when Belgium was starved makes no sense to me. The texture museum said the filaments can be as long as 120 cm, and that sounds long enough to make a fine thread by hand, certainly. Lyn from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, presently in Brussels, where it's cool, sort of cloudy. Looking forward to going home on Labor Day, Sept 3. "My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails." - 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/
