[lace] bones and thorns and pins

[Bridget Marrow]

The only place I have actually seen fish bones used as pins on a lace pillow 
was in Finland:  in the Castle Museum, Turku.  Unfortunately my photograph 
didn't come out - the light levels were very low. As far as I remember the 
pillow was a small bolster, probably used upright, and it would not have 
been stuffed with straw, but with chaff or even dried moss. The "pins" were 
I'm sure only used at the edges.

The best-known lace in Finland comes from Rauma, where a sophisticated 
industry flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries, but in rural areas they 
used what they had: unshaped twigs for bobbins and even birchbark for 
prickings, to make "peasant" laces, often of coloured linens, which still 
trim the aprons and caps of folk costumes.

The Shakespeare quotation that Brian mentioned (Fri, 27 Jun 2003) is from 
Twelfth Night and introduces one of the songs that the clown sings to Duke 
Orsino:

"Mark it, Cesario; it is old and plain:
The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,
And the free maids that weave their thread with bones
Do use to chant it:  it is silly sooth,
And dallies with the innocence of love,
Like the old age...."
Bridget in Watford, England.

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