(it's exciting to use lots of bobbins; the most I've ever used was 50 pairs)
<g> The most I've ever worked with -- I think -- was 48 "basic" (I don't count gimps and the in-and-out ones used for corners only). An, while working with them was no problem, I didn't find it all that exciting, either; all that pricking, all that winding, and then so many to get rid of decently... Definitely not my cup o'T, which is why the Polychrome version of the windrose ornament got pushed onto the back burner; 40 basic pairs (+6 prs gimps, +6 prs coloured weavers), all for a piece 4" long and 3" wide seemes a bit excessive... Plus undetermined number of passive prs added just for motifs? I think I'll dispense with those :)
| I'd like to aim for making Bucks at the standard size but it is not clear to me what the standard size is. My books don't go into that. I'm pretty sure the size at which I now work, using Egyptian Cotton 80/2, is too big.
Should I be aiming for cotton 100/2? 120/2? I don't know what my goal
should be.
Unlike Tonder lace which seems to use, mostly, 140/2 (120/2 if you like your lace less gauzy) both for the simple and the complex patterns, I don't think there *is* a "standard size" for Floral Bucks any more than there is for the Geometric version. You could, probably, make Floral in 80/2 if you wanted to; just copy your pattern so that the pin dots are spaced correctly... :)
Holly van Sciver's thread chart gives you a good idea what thread might "go" with which spacing. Or, you might look at the "100 Traditional Bobbin Lace Patterns" by Geraldine Stott and Bridget Cook. Although most of the patterns in the book are scaled for DMC Retors d'Alsace # 60 (which, according to Brenda Paternoster's "Threads for Lace", is *slightly* thicker than Egyptian Cotton 80/2; same size as 70/2), the one pictured on the cover -- Seascape -- is made in 120/2. It's not Floral Bucks -- the number of pairs remains constant (except for corners), even in the cloth stitched parts. But it does give you an idea of the difference in pin spacing needed for either thread.
A lot of people think of that pattern as the "cream" of the book, because of the finer thread. Me, if I ever wanted to try a Bucks pattern with 55 (basic) pairs, I'd probably go for the Rosa Perfecta in the same book, and just copy it slightly finer -- there's a much nicer balance of "thick and thin" in that one; the Seascape has too much of the plain, boring, net :)
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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