On Mar 11, 2005, at 22:53, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Devon) wrote:
This bag is pictured in "Greek Lace in the Victoria and Albert Museum". They
describe it thus:
Constantinople, Purse; mid 19th century.
A fine example of Greek Needle-point lace made up fine, well-spun silk
threads. The background is in natural ecru colour, worked with the needle-made
knot technique [...]
OK then, I'll continue to save my pennies for Montreal rather than Athens :)
I don't think any of this is bobbin lace. But maybe it will be the piece
that will made needle-lace irresistible. (Take a walk on the wild side!)
If Catherine Barley's mix of stump-work and needlelace techniques didn't seduce me nothing will; seeing her creations some years ago in Ithaca had me very seriously tempted for the first time in my lacemaking life and her "Snow Queen" just blew my mind :)
Needle-made lace is not just a mental stumbling block for me (though I admit that the idea of making lots of lace with *one* thread at a time has less appeal than the idea of making it with 30 or more <g>); I have a physical problem arguing against also. Not only do my hands sweat a lot (even when the rest of me seems cool), my sweat seems to be "corrosive" somehow. Or else it's the oils in my body.
I used to do needlepoint - starting with "normal" size, and rapidly moving on to miniature (more interesting). It was difficult to hold onto the needle - it wanted to slide between my fingers instead of into the canvas - but I managed (frequent washing and drying of hands; bad for the skin, but allowed me to hold onto the needle). However, I noticed that, while the needlepoint done in wool on cotton canvas remains as good-looking now as it had 20+ yrs ago, the stuff made in cotton on cotton canvas began to discolour within a few years. Within the same time, the stuff made with silk on silk canvas not only lost colour but began to disintegrate (that's true also of the pieces which had remained rolled in well-washed cotton for years, never having been mounted, so it's not a matter of cheap mounting materials)
I am *not* a lace masochist; I refuse to spend a lot of time going through the process of making uninteresting samples to learn the basics, then a lot of time making something pretty, only to see it fall apart as if it were an antique.
With bobbins providing a handle, the direct contact with the thread is more limited; most of the time, only the bobbins have to suffer my sulphureous personality... :)
However... :) I have high hopes of being able to immitate at the pansies with bobbins and using the Rosalibre techniques and "philosophy" - few, *steady* pairs, 3-D "on the go" (not made afterwards, with a needle), not too many sewings, etc. Some of the leaves I've designed since I took the class from Cathy (Belleville) in October are already similiar to the ones on the purse (and some are prettier, IMO <g>). The "gardenias" (or whatever the white flowers are) leave me cold; I won't even try to reproduce those. It's the "bells", that both charm and elude me... :(
But, who knows... One day, I may have an "eureka experience" <g>
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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