At the special lace study day arranged by Devon Thein at The Ratti Center,
Metropolitan Museum, there was a microscope set up, focused on a piece of lace.
A camera sent a magnified image to a computer screen set on the same table.
This was wonderful! We could see numerous repairs to extremely fine old
laces; laces that appeared to be in perfect condition to the naked eye. Every
stitch was visible.
Those of us who chose the Metropolitan as their IOLI Convention (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, '03) had the same opportunity and, as Jeri says, it's a wonder -- a real "eye opener"...
Most of us start learning lacemaking with thicker threads, to allow for better visibility but, when it comes to finer laces, a lot of the reconstruction had to be guesswork (how many twists? ). The pictures showing on the screen put thread-by-thread diagrams to shame, even though, with the naked eye, all one sees is a solid-seeming blob :)
How wonderful it would be, if every lace collection had this capability.
Devon says the equipment is *hideously* expensive; I don't see any chance of it being installed for every lace collection, since many excellent ones are located at lesser (less well endowed) venues.
But, perhaps, the Met could *rent* it, by the hour, to researchers from other institutions/book writers? I think it's possible to capture (hard copy) the images from the screen, and those could then be included in paper pulications...
This is certainly not a direct answer to the question from Claeys, but I do
think that new technological developments and equipment will help to answer
questions about antique threads, since one way of identifying fibers is by using
magnification. The physical traits of cotton and linen are different.
Totally. And silk is still different, as is wool.
we were taught that an old
outdated microscope or a microscope sold in a toy shop would be adequate for
identifying distinguishing characteristics of cotton, linen, silk, wool, etc.
Some you can tell apart easily, some are difficult. And, if they're mixed, it might be impossible. The magnification just isn't powerful enough there. And taking photos of those is difficult also...
I rather prefer the latest props - a marriage of microscope, camera and computer!
No kidding; it was a miracle... ----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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