Robin and Tamara and all I think we've had similar discussions on the usefulness of diagrams before. I think in this matter I'm closer to Robin's view than Tamara's. It may be a function of the kinds of lace we are trying to make.
In learning a traditional form of lace which has a recognized set of rules, like Flanders, for instance, one first learns the recognized "authentic" set of rules accepted by the traditional experts in that form. If one then designs new patterns for that form and wants to make them available to others, it is useful to stick to the "accepted authentic" rules for that form, and to construct a diagram on how to make it that follows those rules. The reason for this is that most people who would want to make your design will probably assume, once they've seen you describe it as "a new Flanders design", that it will follow the accepted rules and that they will be able to figure it out from your diagram. My impression is that most lacemakers in America are strongly traditional in their outlook and approach to bobbin lace. I am not saying that all lacemakers SHOULD be traditional in their approach, but that most are. My impression also is that in Europe this is not the case, that there is more innovative, rules-breaking lacemaking going on there. Those lacemakers who want to authentically reproduce traditional laces in the traditional manner will probably want diagrams that they can follow to make these authentic copies. But lacemakers who are inventing their own laces may very well not care whether they follow rules or diagrams. And there is no reason why they should. In my own practice, I'm sometimes a diagram follower, and sometimes a diagram spurner. If I'm doing Flanders I am absolutely going to follow the diagram and may not even be able to MAKE the lace at all without one. Since I am still learning that form and count myself only at the intermediate level. I want to do it right and I sure as hell can't figure it out on my own, yet. If I'm doing tape lace or torchon, or even geometric point ground, I figure it out as I go, and may decide to improve on what the diagram shows. In Beds I sometimes get exasperated by the diagrams and decide to just do it my way. In my original floral free/part lace designs I mix Honiton and Duchesse techniques and get those threads going where I want them any old way I can. And I don't care whether anyone disapproves. But in the two Withof workshops I took ten years ago, I went home each evening and spent the whole evening making detailed diagrams of every little thing the teacher had explained to me. And wrote verbal notes as well. But those diagrams are my future crib sheet for the next Withof design I try to make. Without those diagrams I wouldn't be able to even start. So why is my attitude about Withof different from my attitude about my own designs? Because Withof experts have a sense of an accepted, authentic body of techniques that they have themselves been developing since the 1980s. It isn't Withof unless it uses their designs and their method, but especially their method. I personally find their method interesting because it introduces a whole new set of ideas about how to solve problems, like that crazy bundle that surrounds each motif and gives relief to lines even within each motif. Once I master their concepts you'll be finding crazy bundles popping up in my own designs (but that is years off yet). Tamara I have the impression that you are a very creative lacemaker who is constantly inventing new designs. So it makes sense that you are impatient with diagrams. It goes with the territory. But a lacemaker who is in love with the traditional forms, and is not yet such a total master of a particular form that she doesn't need guidance, will want to have a detailed diagram to follow (like Robin who learns the design after 2 repeats and then doesn't need the diagram). Now me, with Flanders I still haven't totally mastered why and when each technique is supposed to be used, and until I do understand it, I won't be able to design for it. I will only count myself as a Flanders expert, or advanced Flanders lacemaker, when I CAN design for it. But that is my personal definition of "expert". Lorelei - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
