Dear Lorelei and all you other kind spiders who have responded. I'm
beginning to revise my opinion about using the snake as a starter project
since a couple of you pointed out some areas of potential difficulty.
Perhaps the boring bandage might be best after all? I hadn't thought of
tape lace as a second choice. I do have Pam Nottingham's "Bobbin Lace
Making" it's the book I used to teach myself 20 yrs ago and has been as
much my "bible" as the Cookbook :) I have to admit though, I completely
skipped the tape lace lessons because they didn't look like "real" lace to
me. What is the opinion of other lacers? Would tape lace grab you?
A *lot* would depend on how much time you have at your disposal... I'm afraid, I forgot what it was you said *you* had, so whatever I say will have to be evaluated "sideways".
If time is *realy short*, pre-wind and pre-prick, to set them up for a "meanigful experience" (gee, but I love all this PC double-speak, cloaking up the "can't do squat even if fertilised from God's loo, but one has to make an effort" <g>). A *lot* of work, but not unprecedented -- I was in a class once (Michael Giusiana's Flanders, geared for both beginners and intermediates) -- where *stacks* of prickings had been prepared against every possible need (blew my mind, but Giusiana, like Loehr, is one of those people who refuse to respond to "average" <g>)
I had a long-lasting "affair" with Russian tape lace (plain tape which outlines the shape; with highly decorative grounds executed via two pairs, and an intimate acquaintance with a crochet hook thrown in). Following a "close encounter" with Torchon, and preceding the "mutually satisfying arrangement" with Milanese (*decorated* tape)...
My *personal* "take" on "tape lace" (as in Russian) for beginners is: *stay away*. It's a lace that "sang" to me through centuries of genes but, *even so*, I was *bored rigid* with it in places. The only reason I stuck with it as long as I had was the combination of the past (the uspecified "they" had done it and it was lovely) and the greed for the future (I could immitate Battenberg -- my favourite lace at the time -- quickly). *Per se* it was deadly (of course, in '88, I didn't see much of the fancy grounds; it was tape, tape, tape, with a few plaits and some picots in between)
Tape lace requires very few pairs (a plus for beginners), but it doesn't begin to look like *anything* (much less lace") until you've done *miles* of it, to the point where it's sewn back on itsef (it may only *be* 6" but, after the first half-inch, it *feels* like -- undeserved -- purgatory <g>)
Jean Barrett's leaf/fish is far more interesting, but requires an uneven shape (skinny/fat/skinny); to look its best, it would require adding and removing pairs. Don't kno aboutt the rest of you but, for me, keeping track of a *steady* number of pairs was a chore in the beginning; adding and removing (safely!) is something "I have issues with" 15 yrs "down the road"...
I dug up the book from which I learnt lacemaking's beginnings-- Jennifer Fisher's "Torchon Lace for Today". The first two chapters are "general info" -- how to make your pillow, how to wind your bobbins, etc... Ch.3 is a "bandage" of sorts; 7prs, and you learn how to make cloth and half (and cloth again), how to make the "round the pin" footside, and how to start on a "level" line (though not with a *visible* horizontal line)... It's in colours, to help you keep track of what's happening... I messed that one *so* badly (because of the half stitch) that I didn't even throw it away; I've kept it as a sort of "memento mori", against the future excess of hubris... :)
Chapter 4 is a Torchon Ground insertion (10prs); again in colour, but with "proper" (sewing) footsides... I couldn't *see* the stitches, and Scotch plaid (which is what the b&w photo looked like) is not anywhere near my favourite design... There was a start to the project (wimpy again) and no end... All in all, I decided nothing would be lost if I skipped it entirely :)
Chapter 5, however... Chapter 5 is, IMO, a darling :) It requires 4 pairs only (I made mine with 5; by then, I was beginning to get an idea of what had to be changed on a grid to accomodate more/fewer pairs). It is -- yet again -- in colour; two passives in one (colour), two work pairs in another. The passives are shown *both*: as straight (untwisted/cloth stitched) and as twisted (one could alternate stretches of each for greater interest). The *two work pairs* are what take the cake :) On one side, they make the normal exchange, necessary for a *sewing* footside -- pin under 4 (threads). On the other side, there's no 3rd wkpr waiting, so the worker twists around the pin (as in peasant laces) and goes back through the row...
It's one of the "simple perfection" cases :) You learn cloth and whole stitch (in the passives). You learn *both* footsides at once (I've heard -- from people who got stuck on *one* and couldn't get out of the rut -- too often to be amused). There are so few passives in between, you're not likely to forget what you need to do "at the other end". There are so few pairs *altogether*, you're not likely to get in a stew because you're a novice (and 10 pairs seem like 10 yrs hard labour<g>), so that you can make *visible* progress in very little time and, possibly, learn how to sew in the end to the beginning and finish (in whichever method is preferred by your teacher). The total effect is "lacy".
The cherry on the icing on the top of the cake... :) The "sewing" footside is more rigid than the "turn around" (winkie pin?) one, even if your tension is perfect (which, early on, it's not likely to be). So you have "an edging"... Which Ms Fisher advised to apply to the central seam of one's (round) pincushion -- the rigid line at the bottom, the turn-around "teeth" at the top. I had to make a very large pincushion to accomodate all of mine -- I had so much *fun* making the "edging", I didn't want to quit :)
I think that, if I had to teach and didn't have much time to do it in, I'd try that "edging". I'd pre-wind all but one pr, pre-prick the whole pattern, and never tell them they were doing nothing but footsides separated by a narrow trail of passives...
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Tamara P Duvall
Lexington, Virginia, USA
Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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